About testsdisk.com
An independent resource dedicated to TestDisk — the trusted open-source partition recovery tool built by CGSecurity.
Accidentally deleted a partition? Corrupted your boot sector? Lost access to an entire drive after a power failure? These are the kinds of problems that make most people panic. TestDisk exists to fix them.
Since its first release in the early 2000s, TestDisk has quietly become one of the most reliable data recovery tools available anywhere — and it costs nothing. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and even DOS. It recovers lost partitions, rebuilds partition tables, restores boot sectors, and makes unbootable disks bootable again. For IT professionals and system administrators, it has been an essential toolkit staple for over two decades.
The Story Behind TestDisk
From a personal side project to the go-to partition recovery tool used by thousands of IT professionals worldwide.
The Beginning
Christophe Grenier, a French computer scientist and digital forensics expert, started developing TestDisk as a personal tool for recovering lost partitions. Working from his own experience with disk failures, he built a command-line utility that could scan drives and rebuild damaged partition tables. He released it as free, open-source software under the GNU GPL v2 license.
PhotoRec and Growing Recognition
TestDisk gained a companion tool: PhotoRec, a file carving utility that recovers deleted files regardless of filesystem type. Together, the two tools covered both partition-level and file-level recovery. Linux distributions and rescue CDs started bundling TestDisk by default, and forums everywhere began recommending it as the first thing to try when partitions go missing.
Cross-Platform Expansion
Support expanded to cover 30+ filesystems including NTFS, FAT12/16/32, exFAT, ext2/3/4, HFS+, btrfs, ZFS, XFS, JFS, and many more. The tool became truly cross-platform, running on Windows, macOS (Intel and PowerPC), Linux (x86_64, ARM), FreeBSD, and other Unix-like systems. The GitHub repository grew past 2,000 stars.
Version 7.2 — Current Release
Released in February 2024, version 7.2 added APFS partition detection for modern macOS volumes, along with disk serial number display for easier drive identification. PhotoRec now supports over 480 file formats. Development continues with rolling 7.3-WIP builds available for testing.
What TestDisk Does
Partition recovery, boot repair, and disk diagnostics in a single portable tool.
Partition Table Recovery
Scans the entire disk surface to locate lost or damaged partitions. Rebuilds corrupted MBR and GPT partition tables so your operating system can find your data again.
Boot Sector Repair
Restores FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS boot sectors from their backups. Fixes drives that won’t boot due to corrupted boot records.
File Recovery
Undeletes files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS, and ext2 filesystems. Copies files from deleted or damaged partitions even when the filesystem is partially broken.
30+ Filesystem Support
Works with APFS, BeFS, btrfs, exFAT, HFS+, JFS, LUKS, LVM, NTFS, ReiserFS, UFS, XFS, ZFS, and many others. Handles both modern and legacy storage formats.
The Developer
Built and maintained by one person with deep expertise in digital forensics.
Christophe Grenier
Creator of TestDisk and PhotoRec — CGSecurity
Christophe Grenier is a French computer scientist who specializes in data recovery and digital forensics. He developed TestDisk and PhotoRec as open-source tools and has maintained both projects for over 20 years. His work is published under the GNU GPL v2 license, keeping the tools free for everyone.
Through his organization CGSecurity, Grenier provides documentation, support forums, and regular development updates. The official website at cgsecurity.org serves as both a wiki-style documentation hub and the primary download source for both tools.
What TestDisk Means to Users
Trusted by system administrators, forensics experts, and everyday users who need their data back.
TestDisk holds a unique position among data recovery tools. While commercial alternatives like R-Studio, Disk Drill, and Recuva offer polished graphical interfaces, TestDisk remains the tool that IT professionals reach for when partition tables are destroyed or boot sectors are corrupted. Its text-based interface can feel unfamiliar to casual users, but the trade-off is raw power and reliability that GUI tools often lack at the partition level.
On Reddit, forums, and tech support communities, TestDisk is consistently the first recommendation when someone posts about a lost partition. It ships pre-installed on many Linux rescue distributions, including SystemRescue and Hiren’s Boot CD. For a free, open-source tool maintained by a single developer, that level of trust says everything.
About This Website
What testsdisk.com is, and what it is not.
testsdisk.com is a fan-made, independent informational website. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Christophe Grenier, CGSecurity, or the official TestDisk project in any way.
We built this site because TestDisk deserves a clean, organized resource that makes it easier for people to find what they need. The official CGSecurity wiki is thorough but can be hard to navigate for someone who just wants to download the right version or learn the basics.
Here is what we do:
- Provide clear download links to official TestDisk releases hosted on cgsecurity.org
- Write guides and tutorials to help new users get started
- Answer common questions about TestDisk features and usage
- Link to the official project for source code, bug reports, and advanced documentation
We do not host, modify, or redistribute TestDisk binaries. All download links point to the official CGSecurity servers. We respect the developers and their intellectual property, and we encourage every user to support the official project.
Get in Touch
Questions, corrections, or feedback about this website.
Have a question about this site or found something that needs correcting? Visit our Contact page.
For official TestDisk support, bug reports, or feature requests, visit the official CGSecurity website.