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Trust, Security & Ethics

Our commitment to open-source transparency, user safety, and responsible data recovery.

Open Source Transparency

TestDisk is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). This means the source code is openly available for anyone to inspect, modify, and redistribute.

Unlike closed-source commercial software where "black box" code could hide vulnerabilities or backdoors, our open model ensures complete transparency. Security researchers and developers worldwide contribute to maintaining the integrity of the project.

No Malware Guarantee

The official releases of TestDisk are strictly free from adware, spyware, viruses, or any form of malicious code. We do not bundle third-party toolbars or unwanted software installers.

Note: Due to the powerful nature of low-level disk access required for recovery, some antivirus heuristics may flag the tool. We recommend verifying the GPG signature of your download to ensure authenticity.

Ethical Usage Policy

TestDisk is a tool designed for data recovery and repair. It must be used ethically and legally.

  • You should only use TestDisk on hardware you own or have explicit permission to access.
  • Do not use this software to attempt to recover data from drives that do not belong to you without authorization.
  • Respect the privacy of data recovered from multi-user systems.

User Responsibility Disclaimer

Data recovery involves inherent risks. While TestDisk is designed to be safe (read-only by default), writing changes to a partition table or boot sector can lead to data loss if done incorrectly.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.