Questions.

Yes. The source is never written to. Not one byte, no repair attempts. Retriever makes a bit-for-bit copy first and works on the copy. Recovered files never go back onto the source drive.

Then it costs nothing. Scanning and looking are free. You pay only to save files you have already seen.

Usually, if nothing was written afterwards. After a quick format on FAT32, exFAT or NTFS the old directories often survive, and names, folders and dates come back with the files. In our tests, about 92 to 99 percent of files came back byte-identical from quick-formatted media. Real drives vary.

Overwritten data cannot be brought back, by anyone. Retriever tells you within seconds after you choose the drive, for example "21 % hold data, 75 % were overwritten with a fill pattern." Where the pattern is, nothing is left. You learn this before spending hours on a backup.

Deleting removes the name from the directory, not the data. Until the space is reused, the data is still there. Files deleted in the Finder often sit in the drive's hidden trash, and those come back with names.

A video that was recorded around other files on the card is put back together and checked against its own index, even from many pieces. If a piece lies out of order or was overwritten, the video stays honestly marked "fragmented". In our tests, on FAT32 cards 8 of 8 fragmented videos came back byte-identical, on exFAT 6 of 8, and no file was wrongly called intact.

Reading a drive at the raw level needs administrator rights on macOS. The app asks once, through the standard macOS dialog. Nothing is installed, nothing runs in the background.

Yes. Memory cards, USB sticks, external drives, and backup images made earlier. Not the Mac's own disk, see the next question. The drive must be FAT32, exFAT or NTFS. APFS, HFS+ and ext are not supported.

No. Apple Silicon Macs keep their own disk encrypted, so a scan would find only cipher text. Retriever is for memory cards, USB sticks and external drives. For files deleted on the Mac, look in the Photos app under Recently Deleted, or restore them from Time Machine.

Yes. Stripe handles the purchase as merchant of record: your contract partner for the payment, it issues the invoice and takes care of VAT. The license key appears in the browser right after payment and is sent by email as well.

No. One purchase covers every recovery, from every card and drive, on every Mac you own. All future updates are included, for life.

No refunds. Retriever shows you every file before you pay; you buy the saving of files you have already seen. By purchasing you agree to immediate delivery of the key and waive your right of withdrawal. Exceptions: double purchase, key not delivered.

Drag the app to the trash. Nothing else was installed.