Best Mac Data Recovery Software. macOS Sonoma Ready!

Disk Drill is an invaluable do-it-yourself data recovery OS X tool. No other data recovery software for Mac is as easy to use. Whatever the cause of your data loss — accidental deletion, Disk Utility error, data corruption — we can help you get it back.

Recover Data From Virtually Any Storage Device

No matter what type of storage device you've lost data from, if you can normally connect it to your Mac and view the contents, Disk Drill can scan it. Even if you're currently having trouble accessing your hard drive or external device, there's a good chance our free data recovery software for Mac will be able to rescue data from it. We can help with recovery on major mobile platforms as well.

Recovery For All Major File Systems

No matter what type of storage device you've lost data from, if you can normally connect it to your Mac and view the contents, Disk Drill can scan it. Even if you're currently having trouble accessing your hard drive or external device, HFS & HFS+, FAT/FAT32/exFAT, NTFS, or EXT3/EXT4, it's possible to rescue data from it.

Our Deep Scan method works on ANY file system — and even on volumes with a missing or corrupted file system. Learn more about our scanning methods...

Any File Type

The list of file types we can recover is equally comprehensive. Our Quick Scan and Undelete Unprotected Data methods can recover ANY file type, but they can't be used in all situations. Our Deep Scan method can be used in any situation and is able to recognize and recover over 400 different file types, including:

  • Photos like JPG, PNG and TIFF
  • Videos like AVI, DV and MP4
  • RAW camera images like CR2, NEF and DNG
  • Graphic files like AI, PSD and INDD
  • Music files like AIF, MP3 and WAV
  • Documents like DOCX, PPTX and XLSX

Rebuild, Rescue and Remount

If you have a failing drive, lost partition, or need to prevent precious data from being overwritten during the scan process, Disk Drill has several innovative ways to maximize the data recovery on your Mac.

Quick Scan

The Quick Scan option allows you to recover files on your Mac with all their metadata intact – including file names and locations. It is a good option if you have just deleted the file you are trying to recover.

Deep Scan

A Deep Scan takes the longest to complete, but is the most thorough scan for your Mac and can find files that the other scanning methods can’t. Chances are some files may be corrupted.

Undelete protected data

Undelete is your best option for Mac data recovery if you installed Disk Drill before you suffered data loss, and you had the Recovery Vault and/or Guaranteed Recovery features enabled.

Universal Partition Search

This function allows you to recover partitions on HFS+, FAT and NTFS volumes from your Mac. It works on a disk level and treats the disk as a binary entity, quickly scanning the disk for signatures of known partition headers.

Allocate existing files

Finder fails to read your data, but you are sure it's not lost? Disk Utility reports your drive as unformatted? Disk Drill will scan the partition and retrieve the existing data from your Mac bypassing system data reading methods.

HFS+ Recovery

Disk Drill is empowered with 3 data recovery modules created specifically for HFS+ partitions: HFS+ Catalog Rebuild, Search for lost HFS+ partitions, and HFS+ Extraction. All super-fast, powerful and effective in getting your Mac OS X data back.
Rebuild, Rescue and Remount

Protect Data and Never Lose It Again

Disk Drill also has several free data protection features that really set it apart from the pack. Once you have these features enabled, you’ll never have to worry about Mac data recovery again.

Guaranteed Recovery

Keeps an invisible copy of every file you put in your Mac's Trash to make sure that you can recover any file that is mistakenly placed there.

Recovery Vault

Keeps a record of all metadata for deleted files on your Mac, so that they can quickly be recovered with names and file locations intact.
Protect Data and Never Lose It Again

Free Extra Tools for Your Storage

Mac means work and fun for many people. But both activities mean more data is being stored on our hard drives. Statistically, we produce more data than we delete.

Clean Up

Disk Drill for Mac lets you visualize what files are taking up precious space on your drives and allows you to permanently delete from within the app.

Bootable Recovery

Bootable Recovery gives you an alternative data recovery solution if your Mac will not start or you cannot afford scanning your system drive to prevent any data overwriting.

Duplicate Finder

Disk Drill for Mac gives you insight at every level into your disks so that you can free up more space and delete unnecessary duplicate files.

Analyze Disk Storage

Disk Drill for Mac creates a map of all the files stored on your disks. From there, you can manage these files and maximize your disk space all within the app.

Disk Backup

Disk Drill for Mac makes sure that your important media, files, and documents are backed up into a byte-to-byte disk image (DMG) for later recovery if needed.

Disk Health Monitor

Disk Drill for Mac embeds S.M.A.R.T. monitoring and other disk health tools for most internal and external drives to prevent multiple hardware problems and alert you in advance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

Can I recover deleted files on Mac for free?

To recover deleted files on Mac for free follow these steps:

  1. Connect the media that contains Time Machine backups.
  2. Open a Finder window of the folder that contained the deleted files.
  3. Start Time Machine from your Mac’s menu bar.
  4. Search Time Machine for backup copies of the files you need.
  5. Select the files and click Restore to retrieve your data.

How can I recover permanently deleted files from Mac without software?

To recover permanently deleted files without software you can try this procedure:

  1. Connect your backup storage media to your computer.
  2. Fire up your backup/recovery tool which may or may not be Time Machine.
  3. Search the backup catalog for older versions of the deleted files.
  4. Choose the files to be restored.
  5. Initiate the recovery process and retrieve your files.

What are the best data recovery tools for Mac?

Top 5 Best Data Recovery Tools for Mac:

  1. Disk Drill for Mac
  2. Minitool Mac Data Recovery
  3. Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac
  4. Easeus Data Recovery Mac
  5. Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery

Is Disk Drill Safe?

Disk Drill is safe to use when recovering lost data. One precaution you should take is to use Disk Drill’s backup tool to create a byte-level backup when recovering a failing drive. You should also install and run the app from a different disk than the one that will be recovered to protect against data being overwritten during recovery.

What macOS versions does Disk Drill 4 support?

Disk Drill 4 supports Mac OS X 10.6 and newer, including macOS 12 Monterey. You can also download older versions of Disk Drill for use with Mac OS X 10.5+.

How do I recover data from an external hard drive on a Mac?

Use this procedure to recover data from an external hard drive:

  1. Connect the external storage device to your computer. Mount it as read-only to avoid overwriting data.
  2. Launch Disk Drill and select the external drive from the app’s list.
  3. Click the Recover button.
  4. Preview the files that can be recovered and select the ones you want.
  5. Click Recover to restore the files to your chosen storage location.

What is the best data recovery software for Mac?

The best data recovery software for Mac is:

  1. Disk Drill Data Recovery for Mac
  2. R-Studio for Mac
  3. PhotoRec Recovery Software for Mac
  4. EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard for Mac
  5. Stellar Mac Data Recovery Professional
  6. Data Rescue for Mac
  7. Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac
  8. Ontrack EasyRecovery for Mac

Data Loss May Sink Your Business

No matter what type of storage device you've lost data from, if you can normally connect it to your Mac and it's detected, Disk Drill can scan it. Even if you're currently having trouble accessing your hard drive or external device, there's a good chance our free data recovery software for Mac OS X will be able to rescue data from it.
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