USB Recovery Software for Mac. macOS Sonoma Ready!

Disk Drill restores deleted data on your USB flash drive in a few clicks, including your lost photos, documents and other file types. Disk Drill is truly an all-in-one app for flash drive recovery on Mac. Disk Drill will automatically apply the optimal pen drive recovery algorithm to recover your Mac data.

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USB flash drives are a great way to transfer and store information, but what happens when files stored on them are lost or deleted by mistake? When you need flash drive data recovery software for Mac, Disk Drill is your best choice. Disk Drill will scan your USB flash drive (also called a pen drive) and find files that have been deleted. It can also help recover lost partitions.

Read on for a quick overview of the steps needed to recover files from a flash drive on Mac OS X. For detailed tutorials, see How to Install Disk Drill and How to Recover Lost Files with Disk Drill Basic in our Knowledgebase...

You can always contact us if you have any additional questions about Disk Drill and its data recovery features.

How to Recover Deleted Files from a USB Flash Drive on Mac

If you need to recover deleted files from a USB flash drive, Disk Drill is your best bet. Here are the steps you need to follow to use this efficient data recovery solution.

1. Install Disk Drill USB Data Recovery Software for Mac

Download and install Disk Drill data recovery software for Mac. Avoid performing the download and installation on the device that has experienced the data loss. When recovering from an external device, you can safely use your main hard drive for the installation. Be prepared to provide administrator’s credentials when prompted by the installation procedure.

Install Disk Drill USB Data Recovery Software for Mac

2. Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac

When the installation is complete, connect the USB device to your Mac. Launch Disk Drill and select the USB device from the application’s disk list. It is better to attach the device directly to the computer rather than using a USB hub.

If you find yourself in a situation with a failing USB flash drive, we recommend creating a disk image before attempting a recovery.

usb data recovery mac

3. Scan the flash drive for lost data

Click the Search for lost data button to initiate the scanning procedures that are at the heart of Disk Drill. The sophisticated scanning algorithms examine the USB drive for deleted files and folders.

Scan the flash drive for lost data

4. Preview the recoverable files

As scanning proceeds, the software will display a list of recoverable files. You can pause the scan at any point and restart at a later time to make it easier to find your lost data. You can preview the files that can be recovered before committing to restoring them with Disk Drill.

Preview the recoverable files

5. Perform the recovery with the selected items

You are now ready to select the files that you want to recover from among the recoverable items found during scanning. Use filters to locate exactly the files you want to recover. Click Recover button and choose a safe location at which to store the recovered data that is not on the affected USB device and click OK to finish the process.

Perform the recovery with the selected items

Advantages of using Disk Drill USB Recovery Tool for Mac

Recovering data with Disk Drill offers users multiple benefits:

  • Mount scan results as a virtual disk to make it easier to move recovered data to the location of your choice Mount scan results as a virtual disk to make it easier to move recovered data to the location of your choice.
  • Use the free trial version to preview recoverable data before purchasing the full application Use the free trial version to preview recoverable data before purchasing the full application.
  • Free data protection tools, Guaranteed Recovery and Recovery Vault, keep your valuable data safe Free data protection tools, Guaranteed Recovery and Recovery Vault, keep your valuable data safe.
  • Recover files in any format from any type of disk-based storage device Recover files in any format from any type of disk-based storage device.

USB Drive Recovery Software for Different Data Loss Situations

Disk Drill for Mac can help in many different data loss situations involving USB flash drives, including:

Formatted Flash Drive

Formatted Flash Drive

Disk Drill can scan and retrieve files from USB drives that have been completely erased using Disk Utility or another formatting tool.

Accidental Deletion

Accidental Deletion

Easily recover files that have been unintentionally deleted from your USB drive even if they're no longer present in Trash or your Time Machine backup.

Corrupted USB Flash Drive

Corrupted USB Flash Drive

A corrupted USB drive can seem inaccessible, but as long as the flash drive is displayed in Disk Utility, Disk Drill is capable of locating your data and recovering it to the fullest possible extent.

Partition Loss

Partition Loss

File system damage and subsequent partition loss don’t stop Disk Drill from recovering lost data because its powerful signature scanning algorithms can find them regardless.

Virus Infection

Virus Infection

Disk Drill can help if a virus or malware has compromised your files and, for example, have made them invisible in Finder.

USB Connection Problems

USB Connection Problems

Connection problems can negatively affect file transfers or file system integrity. Using Disk Drill, you can effortlessly recover any files lost in the process.

File System Error

File System Error

Scary file system errors are no match for Disk Drill, whose file signature scanning capabilities allow it to recover data from RAW flash drives.

Abrupt Power Loss

Abrupt Power Loss

Disk Drill can salvage data lost due to sudden power interruptions during file transfers or operations.

Recovery is Supported on Devices with any Type of USB Connector

You can use Disk Drill to recover data from USB devices that use any of the variety of connectors popular with manufacturers. These include USB 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 as well as the Mini and Micro variants of the connectors.

USB 1.0–1.1
USB 1.0–1.1

A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B

USB 2.0
USB 2.0

A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B, Micro-B

USB 3.0–3.2
USB 3.0–3.2

A, B, Micro-B, USB-C

Disk Drill Supports Recovery From All Types of USB Devices

Recover your lost or deleted data from any kind of USB device. These are some of the types of USB equipment that can have lost data recovered with Disk Drill.

USB pen drives
USB pen drives

Patriot®, Kingston®, SanDisk®

USB flash drives
USB flash drives

Verbatim®, PNY®, Samsung®

USB external hard drives
USB external hard drives

Buffalo®, Western Digital®, Adata®

USB mobile devices
USB mobile devices

Samsung®, iPhone®, Huawei®

USB digital cameras
USB digital cameras

Nikon®, Canon®, Olympus®

Video and audio players
Video and audio players

Astell & Kern®, JBL®, FiiO®

Supported File Types of USB Device Recovery

This Mac USB recovery tool supports recovering over 400 different file types when you run a Deep Scan. You can recover photos, videos, documents, or any other type of data from your USB stick or other external devices.

Images
Images
BMP, TIFF, PSP, JPEG, JP2, GIF. Polaroid/Sigma: X3F. Pentax: PEF. Adobe: AI, APM, IDML, LRCAT, PSB, PSD, INDB, INDD, INDL, INX.
Audio
Audio
MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), WMA (Windows Media audio files), AIFC, AIF, AIFF (Audio Interchange File)
Video
Video
AVI, FLV (Flash video), MPG (MPEG video), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), M4V (iTunes video), WMV (Windows Media Video)
Archives
Archives
DMG (Mac OS X Disk Image), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), ZIP (Extended Zip File), CAB (Windows Cabinet File), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed)
Documents
Documents
XLSX (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet), DOCX (Microsoft Word), PDF (Portable Document Format), PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint)
Other Files
Other Files
DB (Paradox), OTF (OpenType Font), SQL (bundled SQL queries), ACCDB (Microsoft Database), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File)

Tips to Prevent Data Loss on USB Drive

Here are some tips to prevent unexpected data loss on your USB devices. Following these recommendations can help eliminate the need to perform data recovery to restore lost files and folders.

Don’t reformat the device

Don’t reformat the device

Refrain from reformatting the device unless you are certain that you do not need any of the files or folder it contains.

Check power levels

Check power levels

Make sure your laptop has enough battery power to successfully finish any data transfers that involve USB devices.

Take care with connections

Take care with connections

You need to be careful when connecting or disconnecting USB devices to your computer to avoid damaging the connections.

Avoid physical damage

Avoid physical damage

Take precautions to prevent physical damage to your device by keeping it away from extreme heat or excessive moisture.

Prevent power surges

Prevent power surges

Use a reliable surge protector to guard against power surges that can damage both your USB device and your computer.

Backup your data regularly

Backup your data regularly

It’s always a good idea to make backups of your data. Make it a habit to backup all of your USB devices for added protection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

How to restore deleted files from a USB flash drive on Mac?

To recover deleted files from a USB drive on Mac:

  1. Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
  2. Download and install Disk Drill for Mac.
  3. Launch Disk Drill USB recovery software for Mac.
  4. Select the flash drive and click the Search for lost data button to start scanning.
  5. Preview the files that can be recovered and choose the ones you want.
  6. Click Recover to restore the files to a designated location on a Mac.

Can I recover data from an inaccessible USB drive?

That depends on how inaccessible it is. If the USB drive is recognized by Disk Utility but not accessible from Finder, then recovery is certainly possible. But if the USB drive isn't recognized by macOS at all, then no data recovery software can scan it because your computer is unable to communicate with it.

Can I recover deleted files from my flash drive without software on Mac?

Yes, recently deleted files can be recovered from your Mac's Trash folder:

  1. Connect your flash drive to your Mac.
  2. Click the Trash icon in the Dock.
  3. Locate your recently deleted files.
  4. Select each file you want to recover.
  5. Right-click any selected file and choose the Put Back option.

How to restore data from a corrupt USB Drive on Mac?

Use this procedure to restore data from a corrupt USB drive on a Mac:

  1. Make a complete backup image of the USB drive to avoid further corruption. You can use Disk Drill's free byte-to-byte backup tool.
  2. Launch Disk Drill and mount the backup image of your USB drive.
  3. Select the backup image and click the Search for lost data button.
  4. Preview the files that can be recovered and select a storage location.
  5. Click Recover to perform the recovery.

How do you fix an unreadable flash drive on a Mac?

Use your Mac’s Disk Utility to fix an unreadable flash drive with the following directions.

  1. Open Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
  2. Select the unreadable USB drive from the available devices.
  3. Run First Aid on the USB device.
  4. Click Run when prompted to verify that you want to perform the operation.

Is there a Trash Bin on my flash drive?

Yes, the macOS operating system creates a hidden Trash folder on each connected storage device, and it uses this folder to temporarily store deleted files. The contents of the Trash folder on your flash drive can be displayed by clicking the Trash icon in the Dock.

Where do deleted USB files go on a Mac?

When you delete a file from a USB drive on your Mac, the file is moved to a hidden Trash folder, where it stays until the folder is automatically or manually emptied. While it's still there, you can easily recover it without any software. But once the Trash has been emptied, your only recovery option is data recovery software.

How do I make a bootable USB for Mac?

You can create a bootable USB drive for Mac with Disk Drill by following these steps:

  1. Download, install, and launch Disk Drill for Mac.
  2. Connect an available USB drive to your computer.
  3. Select the macOS Installer tool in the left pane.
  4. Locate the desired macOS installation package on your computer or tell Disk Drill to download it for you.
  5. Select the connected USB drive and turn it into a bootable macOS installer.

Why is my USB drive not showing up on Mac?

It's possible that your Finder settings have changed, causing external storage devices to not be displayed in the left sidebar. To fix this, launch Finder and open the Finder menu in the Menu bar. Select the Settings option. Navigate to the Sidebar tab and make sure the External disks option is checked.

How can I recover a deleted folder from a flash drive on a Mac without software?

You can recover a recently deleted folder from the Trash folder:

  1. Connect your flash drive to your Mac.
  2. Open the Trash folder by clicking its Dock icon.
  3. Find the folder you want to recover.
  4. Right-click the missing folder.
  5. Select the Put Back option to restore it to its original location.

How can I recover my USB on a Mac without formatting?

An easy way to recover a USB drive on a Mac without formatting it is to scan it with data recovery software like Disk Drill:

  1. Download and install Disk Drill on your Mac.
  2. Connect your USB drive to the Mac.
  3. Launch Disk Drill and select the USB drive.
  4. Click Search for lost data.
  5. Go through found files and select everything you want to recover.
  6. Click the Recover button and choose a safe destination.
  7. Confirm and verify that your files have been successfully recovered.

How to show hidden files on USB flash drive on Mac?

To view hidden files on a USB flash drive connected to your Mac, follow these three steps:

  1. Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
  2. Open a Finder window and navigate to the USB flash drive.
  3. Once you are in the root directory of the USB drive, press Command + Shift + . (period key).
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I'm recovering data from old hard drives. The software from @Cleverfiles is the best I have found. And even the free version lets you recover files.
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Disk Drill is an excellent free file recovery program because of its long list of features and exceptionally simple-to-use interface. - Tim Fisher
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