Disk Drill 4 makes it easier to recover Raw image, video files from damaged drives and memory cards

The macOS version of disk recovery software Disk Drill has received a major 4.0 update that adds, amongst other features, a dramatically improved ability to recover RAW image formats from drives and memory cards.

Disk Drill for macOS 4.0 is now ready for the latest versions of Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems, macOS Big Sur and iOS 14. Using ‘state-of-the-art scanning methods and updated recovery algorithms,’ Disk Drill 4 can recover more than 400 different file types from drives with FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, and APFS file systems.

CleverFiles, the team that develops Disk Drill, says it’s ‘invested a lot of resources into researching and implementing unique search and recovery algorithms aiming bring back many raw images.’ Specifically, CleverFiles says it’s dramatically improved the ability to recover Raw image and video formats, including 3FR (Hasselblad), ARW (Sony), CR2 and CR3 (Canon), DNG (multiple mobile devices and cameras), GPR (GoPRO), HEIC (Apple), RLE (QuickTime videos), CVID (Cinepak), H263 and H264, MP4V, BRAW (Blackmagic RAW), CinemaDNG, Canon CRM, multiple MOV-container-based formats and many others.

CleverFiles specifically notes the success rate of being able to reconstruct Raw photo and video files has increased to 99% and 96%, respectively, compared to the respective 68% and 51% success rates with Disk Drill 3.8.

A breakdown of the success rate for recovering Raw image and video files from disks and memory cards compared to its previous version and competing products.

Other benefits of Disk Drill includes the ability to browse recovered files in real-time as they’re reconstructed, rather than having to wait for the entire disk to be scanned, and a secure ‘data shredder’ option for ensuring no data can be recovered from drives you’re looking to get rid of.

You can download Disk Drill 4 for free to try out basic functionality and to get familiarized with all the recovery methods, but if you actually need to recover files from a drive, you can pick up the ‘Pro’ version for $89. A single purchase is good for activation on up to three computers. Disk Drill has a great overview of all the new features on its website.