How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac

To recover deleted files on your Mac, start by checking your Trash Bin to see if the files are still there. If they are, simply right-click and select "Put Back" to restore them. Next, check your backups, including Time Machine, iCloud Drive, or any other backup services you regularly use. When these basic methods don't work, it's time to turn to data recovery software like Disk Drill, which can scan your drive for permanently deleted files that aren't visible through normal means.

To recover files from the Trash on Mac, click the Trash Bin icon in your Dock, find your files, then right-click and choose "Put Back" to restore them to their original location. You can also drag files directly to your desired folder.

If you deleted files from an external drive, then you need to make sure it's connected to your Mac, and then the Trash folder will show deleted files from both internal and external drives. If the Trash has been emptied, you'll need data recovery software like Disk Drill to recover permanently deleted files.

Several built-in Mac features can recover deleted files without third-party software, and Time Machine should be your first choice. To use it, connect your backup drive, open the original file location, enter Time Machine from the menu bar, and restore your files. Another option is iCloud. Sign in at iCloud.com to check the "Recently Deleted" folder (files remain 30 days) or download synced files. Also worth mentioning are auto-recovery features of various apps like Microsoft Office, Pages, and Numbers. 

Yes, there is. Data recovery software enables you to restore deleted files even after you have emptied your macOS Trash. This is because when the Trash is emptied, the files it contained still exist on your computer. They are logically inaccessible and data recovery software can repair the logical links, enabling the OS and applications to access the files again.

Yes, you can recover deleted files using the Terminal command, but you must use it before emptying the Trash. Use this procedure to give it a try:

1. Open the Terminal Application.
2. Use the cd .Trash command to navigate to the Trash folder containing recently deleted files.
3. Use the mv command to move files from the Trash to new locations.

You can recover files that you have just deleted by using the Undo command by pressing the Command Z key combination. This command restores the files to their original location. It works from within a Finder window as well as many apps that allow you to create and delete files. This will not undo the command to empty the Trash.

You have a few different options to recover deleted photos on your Mac.

Here’s how to try using your Mac’s native Photo Application for recovery.

1. Open the Photos application on your Mac.
2. Click the Recently Deleted option under Library in the left-hand panel.
3. Select the photos that you would like to restore.
4. Click the Recover button in the upper right of the window.

If you use a cloud backup service such as iCloud, Dropbox or Google Photos, you may be able to use their apps to recover deleted photos. Most services keep deleted files for 30 days. In addition to making sharing files easier, the ability to restore from the cloud is one of the main benefits offered by these services. Specific steps will necessarily be based on the platform you use.

The most reliable way to recover permanently deleted photos from your Mac is with Disk Drill data recovery software. Follow these steps to get it done:

1. Download and install Disk Drill on your Mac.
2. Launch the app and choose the disk that contained the photos.
3. Click Search for lost data to start scanning for lost images.
4. Preview the recoverable photos by filtering on Pictures and make your selections.
5. Click Recover to get back your valuable pictures.

To recover deleted files on your Mac for free, begin with all the built-in options available in macOS. Check your Trash first, use Command-Z to undo recent deletions, browse through any Time Machine backups you have, and examine the trash folders in your cloud services like iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive. These methods cost nothing and often succeed in recovering recently deleted files.

When built-in methods fail, free recovery software becomes your next option. Disk Drill is an excellent choice because it can preview all recoverable files without requiring a license. For a comprehensive comparison of free and paid recovery options, check our guide on the best data recovery software for Mac.

You can get a deleted folder directly from the Trash Can with the following procedure.

1. Open the Trash by clicking on its icon.
2. Drag the items out of the Trash to the desktop or into a Finder window opened to your desired location.
3. Alternately, right-click on the items and select the Put Back option to return them to their original locations.

Deleted files are temporarily stored in the Trash Can for a predetermined amount of time or until the Trash is manually emptied. This is a special folder and you can view the files that have been deleted by opening the Trash and searching as you would in any other folder on your Mac. Files can be dragged out of the Trash or Put Back to their original location.

If you’ve enabled Time Machine on your Mac, you should be able to restore deleted files from a Mac guest account using the recent Time Machine backup.

Here’s how to restore deleted files from a Mac guest account via Time Machine:

1. Connect the drive containing Time Machine backups to your Mac.
2. Click the Time Machine icon on the menu at the top of the screen and choose Enter Time Machine.
3. Use the timeline on the right to select the needed backup version.
4. Once you’ve found the deleted file, choose it, and click Restore.

Unless you’re dealing with data loss caused by physical damage, then you should always try to recover your lost files using reliable data recovery software for Mac before resorting to a professional data recovery service because you have nothing to lose. Leading data recovery tools like Disk Drill offer a free trial that allows you to preview recoverable files before purchase so you can clearly see if the software is capable of recovering your lost data. Moreover, using data recovery software is often faster and more cost-effective than sending your Mac to a professional data recovery service.

Recovering permanently deleted files from a Mac with SSD is significantly more challenging than with traditional hard drives due to TRIM technology. When TRIM is enabled, which is the default on most modern Macs, the SSD immediately marks deleted data blocks as empty and may overwrite them very quickly, sometimes within minutes of deletion. 

Your recovery chances depend on several factors: whether TRIM is enabled, how quickly you attempt recovery after deletion, and whether the SSD has already written new data to those blocks. To increase your chances as much as possible, you should stop using the Mac immediately to prevent overwriting, then use recovery software like Disk Drill as quickly as possible.

When recovered files show corruption, there are some things you can do to make the situation better. Some file formats, such as videos, can in certain cases be repaired using readily available tools like Clever Online Video Repair. Alternatively, you can use Disk Drill’s Advanced Camera Recovery module, which is designed to reconstruct fragmented video files during their recovery. You can also always run another scan with different recovery software, as various tools use different algorithms that might recover cleaner versions of your files.