Hard drives are like the brains of computers and are therefore very crucial components. Other than data, they also contain all the critical operating systems making the computer the very important tools they are today.

Hard drives can accommodate very large files going into hundreds of gigabytes and millions of files. That is why you must ensure that your hard drive remains in good health at whatever cost at all times. Otherwise, the drive will experience a number of challenges and will require a lot of effort to repair and recover deleted files. 

Fortunately, you can now easily repair hard drives with the available hard drive repair tools such as Disk Drill by Cleverfiles. The tools also help you recover files from external hard drive just in case you lost files before. In this article, we will focus on the top 5 tools. 

How Do I Know I’m Using the Best Tool?

The tools we are about to show you are some of the best in the market today, which is why they feature in our top 5 list. But how did we arrive at it? The following criteria was used in refining the list to ensure every hard drive repair software listed here deserves it by merit. 

Usability

Users want to be able to enjoy their time using every software they pick. A poor user-interface for instance can lead to many user-errors, takes a longer time to learn, and generally leads to a poor user-experience. 

The top group of software we present have naturally intuitive, well-designed, and well-thought-out user interfaces. 

Recovery Rate

Picking a software to fix a hard drive is not a lot of fun. This is because you usually get there after some files have been lost or when a drive is in bad condition and repair is required. That is why you are only looking for tools that can get the job done, efficiently and effectively. 

In our top list, we picked software with high ability to repair file systems, fix bad sectors, reconstruct a file system, and recover partition data without data loss. They are also top performers when it comes to RAW hard disk repair and RAW data recovery. They therefore generally have very high recovery rates.

Operating System Compatibility

People work with different operating systems. However, whether you use Windows computers or Mac, you should still be in a position to get good service from the software you choose. 

Price

Good service should not usually mean expensive. We understand that many people use the price as the main deciding factor especially when they are not so sure about what to buy. We have put in consideration the performance; of all the apps we list below vis a vis their price. This also ensures that you are not overpaying for the service. 

Best Data Recovery Tool: Disk Drill

Overview

Disk Drill by Cleverfiles is the undisputable top software for repairing hard drives on Mac and Windows. It can be used to recover all forms of data from all sorts of challenges including data lost due to malfunctioning hard drives. It works perfectly well on Windows 7 to 11 including older versions. 

Despite having a premium version, you can try the software for free and recover up to 500 MB of data for free. We will look at the pros and cons of the full-featured Pro version of the software.

Pros

• Superb recovery capabilities – it can recover data even from corrupted hard drives
• SMART monitoring – it actively runs in the background and monitors the health of your hard drive
• Byte-to-byte images – creates full copies of damaged or malfunctioning hard drive then saves it to image file
• Make drives read-only – this feature helps you secure hard drives by forcing them into read-only modes to secure them from overwrite
• Recovery vault – stores metadata of your important files to increase their recovery chances in case of data loss

Cons

• Lack of phone support – users cannot receive on-the-phone technical support
• Bootable disks – the software cannot create bootable disks
• Over the network recovery – this is not supported
• Video and photo repair – not supported

Best Partition Recovery Tool: TestDisk

Overview

Repairing hard drive partitions can be so easy with the best partition repair software. That is where TestDisk excels. If you want to recover entire partitions together with the data in them, this software will be the top tool to pick for the job.

Pros

• Free – this is an open-source tool that is completely free
• Portable – the software can be used without installation
• Compatibility – it is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux
• Lightweight – it is lightweight and can even run in older hardware
• File system recovery – it can fix file system issues and restore partitions

Cons

• Not easy to use
• No SMART support 
• No user support 
• No signature scanner 

Best Tool for Multiple Tasks: DiskGenius

Overview

DiskGenius is a data recovery software that performs a wide variety of tasks so well. Other than data recovery, it also supports disk management and allows users to manipulate and even back up hard drives and partitions among other tasks. 

Pros

• Disk management and data recovery all in one window
• Can create backup images of disks and partitions
• Can create bootable USB drives especially when system drive is damaged
• Supports operating system migration to other drive
• Can be used to edit whole disk using hex editor
• Can find and attempt to repair bad sectors in disk

Cons

• User interface is not easy to use
• Software does not offer convenient way to preview files
• No scan session manager
• Signature scanner is not available

Best for Hard Drive Management: AOMEI Partition Assistant

Overview

AOMEI Partition offers access to more features that you will not find in other disk management tools like DiskGenius. It therefore tops the list for users looking for tools that pay more attention to disk management. 

Pros

• The standard license is freeware
• Can create exact clones of disk and partitions
• Supports hard drive wiping in a more secure way
• It can free up space by removing junk files 
• Can execute CHKDSK to check and report partition errors

Cons

• Backup can only be performed manually
• Clones can only be created direct to disk

Best for HDD Health Monitoring: Hard Disk Sentinel

Overview

Hard Disk Sentinel earns this spot for doing an excellent job monitoring storage space and making it very easy for users to see how their hard drives are performing. This is just more than what the basic Windows health check tools. 

Pros

• Portable version is available
• It is very affordable
• Provides very comprehensive health overview
• Can configure email, sound, and message alerts for particular disk events
• Runs surface tests

Cons

• An advanced tool best suited for professionals
• No icon labeling
• Poor user-interface