Prosoft Engineering
Prosoft Engineering is a privately held California software company founded in 1985 that develops data recovery software (Data Rescue) and hard drive protection software (Drive Genius) for Mac and Windows. It serves home users, IT professionals, and SMBs through direct-to-consumer e-commerce and annual subscription tiers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1985
- HeadquartersLivermore, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Prosoft Engineering does
Prosoft Engineering, Inc. is a privately held California software company founded in 1985 by Greg Brewer, specializing in data recovery and hard drive protection software for Mac and Windows platforms. The company originally pioneered plug-and-play mass storage drivers for the Macintosh, technology that was subsequently acquired by Apple as the basis for Mac OS mass storage support and iTunes CD writing. Since 2002, Prosoft has focused on its Data Rescue software line, and in 2009 it established sister company The Data Rescue Center in Livermore, California, to provide physical hard drive and RAID recovery services; the physical lab closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Prosoft operates from a single headquarters in Pleasanton, California, and is founder-owned with no external institutional investment.
The company's product portfolio centers on Data Rescue (data recovery software for Mac and Windows) and Drive Genius (Mac-only hard drive protection with 18 features), supplemented by Data Rescue ONE All-In-One (entry-level recovery with pre-purchased data allowance), Data Backup, and CleanExit. Proprietary technical capabilities include a Bootable Recovery Drive that functions even when the operating system is non-functional, FileIQ pattern detection for unsupported file types, DrivePulse automated monitoring, and Reverse Clone technology for failing drives. The technology stack is built around low-level file system and storage device interaction, reflecting the founder's decades of expertise in mass storage firmware, drivers, and file systems.
Prosoft employs a product-led growth model with direct-to-consumer sales through its proprietary e-commerce store (store.prosofteng.com) processed via 2Checkout/Avangate, and a free-demo strategy that lets users scan and preview recoverable files before purchase. Revenue is generated through consumer one-time licenses (Data Rescue Standard starting at $19, Data Rescue ONE from $49), Professional annual subscriptions for IT professionals ($399/year for Data Rescue Pro, $299/year for Drive Genius Pro with auto-renewal), and historically through The Data Rescue Center's professional recovery services. The customer base consists of home users recovering accidentally deleted files, IT professionals and SMBs using professional-tier tools, and enterprise/server environments requiring RAID recovery; the company distributes globally with multi-language and multi-currency support.
Prosoft Engineering firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Prosoft Engineering
- Legal name
- Prosoft Engineering, Inc.
- Website
- https://prosofteng.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1985
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Prosoft Engineering is a privately held California software company founded in 1985 that develops data recovery software (Data Rescue) and hard drive protection software (Drive Genius) for Mac and Windows. It serves home users, IT professionals, and SMBs through direct-to-consumer e-commerce and annual subscription tiers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Prosoft Engineering industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Data Recovery Software
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data Recovery, Device Unlocking & Software Repair Services (CRACAJAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Backup & Recovery Software (HDABAEAD)
Keywords
Where Prosoft Engineering is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Livermore
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Prosoft Engineering business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Licenses (Consumer): One-time purchase and annual subscription licenses for Data Rescue and Drive Genius software to individual consumers. Standard tier offers pay-per-recovery starting at $19, Professional tier offers unlimited use via annual subscription.
- Professional/Enterprise Licenses: Annual subscription model for IT professionals and businesses with unlimited system activation, unlimited drive recovery, and auto-renewal options. Data Rescue Professional at $399/year, Drive Genius Professional at $299/year.
- Data Recovery Services: Professional physical data recovery services through The Data Rescue Center for complex cases requiring cleanroom environment and specialized tools. Pricing based on assessment after receiving damaged hardware.
- PaperByte Data Allowance: Pre-purchased data recovery allowance tiers for Data Rescue ONE All-In-One personal license products
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid | Pay-as-you-go | Data Rescue Standard - Free scan with pay-per-recovery starting at $19 |
| Subscription | Annual | Data Rescue Professional - $399 annual subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | Drive Genius Professional - $299 annual subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | Drive Genius Standard - Starting at $79 |
| One time/ perpetual license | One time/ perpetual license | Data Rescue ONE All-In-One - Entry-level at $49 |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Prosoft Engineering product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Prosoft Engineering develops and sells data recovery and hard drive protection software for Mac and Windows platforms (Data Rescue, Drive Genius, Data Backup, CleanExit) and operates professional physical and RAID data recovery services through its sister company The Data Rescue Center. Products are sold directly via the company's e-commerce store with free demos and tiered licensing (Standard for consumers, Professional for IT/business), backed by US-based technical support.
Product overview
Prosoft Engineering offers a unified software and services portfolio centered on data recovery and hard drive management. The core products include Data Rescue (data recovery software for Mac and Windows) and Drive Genius (Mac-only hard drive protection software), each available in Standard and Professional license tiers. Professional licenses target IT professionals and businesses with unlimited activation and technician seats. The company also operates The Data Rescue Center, providing professional hard drive and RAID recovery services. Supporting products include Data Rescue ONE (entry-level recovery solution with preset data allowances), Data Backup (multi-option backup software for Mac and PC), CleanExit (drive wiping), and Hear (audio enhancement). The ecosystem is designed to address the full data lifecycle from prevention and backup through recovery and disposal.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Data Rescue: Award-winning data recovery software for Mac and PC that recovers deleted, lost, or corrupted files from hard drives and storage devices.
- Drive Genius
- The Data Rescue Center
Products and services
- Data Rescue Award-winning data recovery software for Mac and Windows that recovers lost, deleted, or corrupted files from hard drives, USB flash drives, and SD cards. Designed for everyday home users and professional business users, with free scanning to preview recoverable files before purchase.
- Drive Genius Mac-only hard drive protection and optimization software with 18 features including Instant DrivePulse scan, Malware Scan, Physical checks, duplicate finding, defragmentation, and drive partitioning.
- Hard Drive Recovery Service Professional data recovery service through The Data Rescue Center for recovering data from internal, external, Fusion/Hybrid, desktop, and laptop hard drives across Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, handling both logical and physical failure scenarios.
- RAID Data Recovery Service Professional RAID data recovery service handling all configurations from JBOD to RAID 0 through RAID 6, including proprietary RAID systems like DROBOs, supporting multiple manufacturers and file systems including FAT, HFS+, NTFS, Reiser, XFS, and ZFS.
- Data Rescue ONE All-In-One Entry-level all-in-one data recovery solution with pre-purchased PaperByte recovery allowance. Designed for home users to recover data up to a preset limit, with option to purchase additional recovery capacity.
- Data Backup Backup software offering multiple backup types including Clone, Versioned, Simple Copy, Synchronize, Incremental, and Full backup options, with scheduling, text/email notifications, file compression with Gzip, and AES-128 encryption.
- CleanExit Hard drive wiping software for secure data destruction.
Quantifiable outcome
- Successfully recovered over 1 TB of data including media files and management documents from external hard drive
Companies that use Prosoft Engineering
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Prosoft Engineering technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
Prosoft Engineering partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- The Data Rescue CentercoreSister company providing professional physical data recovery services. The Data Rescue Center is based in Livermore, California and handles complex recovery cases requiring cleanroom environment and specialized tools. Both Prosoft Engineering and The Data Rescue Center are recognized as industry leaders in computer data recovery.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Prosoft Engineering competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- EaseUS: Direct competitor offering data recovery and backup software for Mac and Windows, with consumer and professional tiers, freemium model, and very similar feature set (file recovery, drive cloning, partition recovery). Most direct competitor by product overlap and target audience.
- Stellar Data Recovery: Directly competes with Prosoft's Data Rescue in Mac and Windows data recovery software, offering similar tiered licensing (free scan, professional, technician tools) and RAID recovery services. Closely comparable product portfolio and pricing strategy.
- CleverFiles (Disk Drill): Directly competes with Data Rescue in the Mac and Windows data recovery software market, with free scan-to-preview model, multiple recovery algorithms, and consumer/professional tiers. Near-identical PLG go-to-market motion.
- Ontrack (KLDiscovery): Professional data recovery services provider handling HDD, SSD, RAID, and enterprise storage recovery. Directly comparable to the now-closed Data Rescue Center service offering and a bellwether for the data recovery services category.
- DriveSavers: Professional data recovery services company offering cleanroom hard drive recovery, RAID recovery, and enterprise storage services. Closest direct competitor to The Data Rescue Center in the physical recovery services category.
- R-Tools Technology (R-Studio): Professional data recovery software (R-Studio) for IT professionals, supporting multiple file systems (NTFS, FAT, HFS+, Reiser, XFS) and RAID reconstruction. Comparable to Prosoft's professional tier for IT users with similar technical depth.
Broad incumbents
- Acronis: Large incumbent offering backup, disaster recovery, and cyber protection software for consumers, SMBs, and enterprises. Broader portfolio including anti-ransomware that subsumes Prosoft's data recovery and backup use cases into a unified platform.
- Backblaze: Cloud backup provider offering both consumer/SMB backup-as-a-service and B2 cloud storage. Adjacent positioning where data loss prevention through continuous backup reduces the need for recovery software, making it a category-substitution competitor.
- Carbonite (OpenText): Established cloud backup and disaster recovery provider for consumers and SMBs, offering endpoint and server backup. Competes with Prosoft's professional tier by addressing the same IT/SMB customer with a different prevention-first model.
Emerging players
- Piriform Recuva (Gen Digital): Free Windows data recovery tool by the makers of CCleaner, now part of Gen Digital. Competes at the lower end of Prosoft's consumer Data Rescue tier with a purely free model that pressures pricing in the entry-level recovery segment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Prosoft Engineering social profiles
Digital presenceProsoft Engineering financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Prosoft Engineering leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Prosoft Engineering subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Prosoft Engineering funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Prosoft Engineering M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Prosoft Engineering
What does Prosoft Engineering do?
Prosoft Engineering develops and sells data recovery and hard drive protection software for Mac and Windows platforms (Data Rescue, Drive Genius, Data Backup, CleanExit) and operates professional physical and RAID data recovery services through its sister company The Data Rescue Center. Products are sold directly via the company's e-commerce store with free demos and tiered licensing (Standard for consumers, Professional for IT/business), backed by US-based technical support.
Is Prosoft Engineering a public or private company?
Prosoft Engineering is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Prosoft Engineering founded?
Prosoft Engineering was founded in 1985. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Prosoft Engineering based?
Prosoft Engineering is headquartered in Livermore, United States, in the North America region.
How does Prosoft Engineering make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Software Licenses (Consumer) is the primary driver. The others are professional/Enterprise Licenses, data Recovery Services and paperByte Data Allowance.
Who are Prosoft Engineering's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are EaseUS, Stellar Data Recovery, CleverFiles (Disk Drill), Ontrack (KLDiscovery), DriveSavers and R-Tools Technology (R-Studio). Broad incumbents are Acronis, Backblaze and Carbonite (OpenText). Piriform Recuva (Gen Digital) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Prosoft Engineering have an API?
No public API is recorded for Prosoft Engineering.
What industry is Prosoft Engineering in?
Prosoft Engineering's product category is Data Recovery Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRACAJAJ, Data Recovery, Device Unlocking & Software Repair Services, with a secondary code of HDABAEAD, Backup & Recovery Software. Its SIC code is 7372.