This page uncovers 5 best completely free data recovery software for macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, older versions and morden Mac OS X, etc. All those Mac data recovery software share one commonality, they are free and useful for casual Mac users. Pick up one and let it take care of your Mac data now.
This article covers the top five completely free data recovery software for Mac, which varies from features, functions, and performance. However, they all have one thing in common: they are free.
Compare the five tools carefully, and select the one that fits your needs best.
The easiest way to empty trash on Mac is to use a third-party application. It will save up your time and will give you remarkable results. And Umate Mac Cleaner is one of the best ones to clean your Mac. The developer - iMyFone is a leading software company that focus on. Reader Len writes: I frequently use flash drives for backup and to transfer files from one computer to another. I often want to delete one or two files from a flash drive without emptying the trash. Delete an item from your Mac or iCloud Drive. On your Mac, drag the item to the Trash in the Dock or select the item, then press Command-Delete. If an item is locked, click Continue to confirm you want to move the locked item to the Trash. Download OneTrash 2.7 for Mac from our website for free. The actual developer of this software for Mac is Diego Arraez. The software lies within System Tools, more precisely File Managers. This app's bundle is identified as com.diegoarraez.OneTrash.
- Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac
- 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
- 2. Disk Drill
- 3. PhotoRec
- 4. TestDisk
- 5. Exif Untrasher
- 3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery
- People Also Ask
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Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac
When you get data loss on your Mac due to accidental deletion, partition/hard drive formatting, system crash, macOS upgrade, file system or hard drive corruption, stay calm and pick up one of the recommended data recovery software in the below for help.
1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is one of the free top and handy Mac data recovery software that enables you to recover data from the emptied trash bin, Mac notebooks, desktops, hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, digital cameras, etc. It works on internal APFS/HFS+/HFS X drives, and FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file systems used in USB flash drives and external hard drives connected to Mac.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. All-in-one data recovery software
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is fully compatible with the latest macOS 10.15(Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave) and all the former versions. It enables all Mac users to perform a full recovery of lost valuable data in only 3 steps: Scan > Preview > Recover.
# 2. HFS+ Fusion Drive Recovery
The latest update of EaseUS Mac data recovery software has improved its support of Fusion Drive, which makes it work even better in retrieving files from Mac computers which are installed on fusion drives.
# 3. Encrypted Drive Recovery
Another great update in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is that it supports encrypted drive recovery by offering guidance to assist Mac users in decrypting and unlocking their drives with password.
# 4. Data Protection
Once the data protection feature is enabled, it will automatically back up the deleted files to a safe location. If you unexpectedly delete files and want to recover later, you can quickly restore the lost files from the created backup.
Pros:
- Support to restore 200+ file types on Mac, including recovering lost Word/Excel/PPT documents, photos, videos, music files, emails, archived files, and more.
- Quick Scan + Deep Scan technology greatly enhances recovery probability.
- Real-time Preview allows you to preview found files while scanning and before proceeding with data recovery.
- No quality-loss recovery brings your lost photos, videos perfectly back in its best performance.
Cons:
- The completely free version is limited to a maximum of 2GB data recovery. (The outstanding Windows data recovery free version also provides 2GB free file recovery.)
2. Disk Drill
Disk Drill is a popular Mac data recovery application developed to recover lost partitions or files from Mac internal and external hard drives. Also, the Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery options in the free trial version support to monitor the file deletion activity and retain metadata so as to quickly undelete files.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Undelete Protected Data (Not Available in Free Version)
Being similar to the Data Protection feature in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, Disk Drill also contains an undelete protected data feature that requires Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery features to be enabled in advance.
With these two features enabled, Mac users could quickly undelete files from a Trash Bin reference or shadow copy of each file to a user-specified folder.
# 2. Allocate Existing Files
When Finder fails to read data, Disk Utility reports the drive as unformatted, Disk Drill can scan the partition and retrieve data from Mac.
Pros:
- Compatible with all the Mac OS X and macOS systems.
- Recover 200+ file types.
- It is packed with free and useful disk tools for all users.
- An intuitive user interface to recover lost files effortlessly.
Cons:
- The free version only allows a preview of data recovery.
- Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery are not available in the free version.
3. PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a free, open-source program that works very well in data recovery on older operating systems like OS X, Linux, Free BSD, Net BSD, Open BSD, and Windows.
It allows users to restore most common files, like photos, audios, documents, ZIP archives, and others from internal or external devices, such as digital cameras, memory cards, USB flash drives and partitions/hard disks.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Advanced File Carving
PhotoRec first searches for the data block or cluster size. The program will quickly load value from superblock like ext2/ext3/ext4 or volume boot record like FAT/NTFS if the file system is not corrupted. When file system corrupted, PhotoRec will check the device by a sector level, using the first 10 found files to calculate the block or cluster size so as to locate and find more lost files.
# 2. Block or Cluster Level Recovery
This program will read the Mac device block by block, cluster by cluster, checking against different file signatures so to recuperate available files.
Pros:
- Support data recovery cross-platforms, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
- 100% open-source program, not only the software but also the source code.
- Nice tool to recover personal files.
Cons:
- Not very user-friendly for ordinary computer users.
- Technical skills required. It uses command lines to operate.
4. TestDisk
TestDisk, like PhotoRec, it's also an open-source, freeware product that allows for multiple file types recovery.
It mainly focuses on partition recovery. It enables users to find deleted or lost partitions by fixing the partition tables due to software crash, virus attack, mistaken formatting, etc.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Partition Recovery
When a partition lost or disappeared on Mac due to corrupted partition tables, Mac users can apply TestDisk to rebuild and repair the corrupted partition table.
# 2. Rebuild Boot Sectors
When the Mac bootable drive fails to boot, it corrects problems in bootable drives that are failing to boot.
Pros:
- Completely free and open.
- Runs on several operating systems, including macOS and Mac OS X versions.
- Recover lost partitions and rebuild the partition table.
Cons:
- Use the command line to make data recovery.
- Not user-friendly for regular computer users.
5. Exif Untrasher
Exif Untrasher is another completely free Mac data recovery tool that mainly restores deleted or JPEG files from digital cameras, external drive, USB stick, SD card, etc. You can easily download and install this software on your Mac running Mac OS X 10.10 and all the later versions.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Highly Efficient in JEPG Recovery
Exif Untrasher is a tool that mainly designed to locate photos in JEPG formats on any kind of storage device like SD card, CF card, memory stick or Mac hard disk.
External storage device needs to be mounted as a volume on Mac for the utility to access and attempt a restore.
Pros:
- Simple and quick to recover lost images from the memory card.
- Free with no quantity limits.
- It is updated by the developer regularly.
Cons:
- It only works for JEGP file recovery. It doesn't support extra file formats.
3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery
To help more Mac users to bring their lost files are soon as possible, we are here to show you a 3-step tutorial of free Mac data recovery. If you are eager to bring your lost files back on Mac or external storage devices, apply the brief and innovative EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help.
Remember to connect your USB, SD card, or external hard drive to Mac computer if your lost data were saved on it.
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.
Conclusion
On this page, you are presented with the top 5 completely free Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher. When you are facing unexpected data loss on Mac, the programs demonstrated above can help you recover lost files effectively.
What's more, if your lost data is less than 2GB, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is highly recommended as it provides the most user-friendly interface and most powerful data recovery function.
If you simply want to restore JEGP images, Exif Untrasher is worth to try.
People Also Ask
Some Mac users may still have doubts about Mac file recovery. Here we have collected the top frequently asked 4 questions and left brief answers below. Check out and find your own answers here.
1. Is Mac data recovery free?
It depends. If you lost deleted files to Trash, you can restore them from the Trash for free.
When you lost files on a local Mac hard drive or an external storage device, if you apply free Mac data recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help, it's free.
If you take your computer to a local data recovery center, it will charge you a big bunch of money.
2. What is the best free data recovery software?
- For Windows users, you may refer to Top 10 Free SD Card Data Recovery Software.
The Recommended software also works perfectly in Windows OS for data recovery and you can find out the most suitable for you to apply and restore lost files with ease.
- For Mac users, as we recommended on this page, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher are all good to help.
3. Is there any free data recovery software?
Sure! Many data recovery software producers all have released their free data recovery software. Here we have collected some of them for you to pick up one and apply to guard your own data.
10 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Windows Users:
- 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free
- 2). Recuva
- 3). Stellar Data Recovery
- 4). Disk Drill
- 5). R-Studio
- 6). Acronis Revive
- 7). Remo Recover
- 8). Recover My Files
- 9). Puran Data Recovery
- 10). TestDisk
5 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Mac Users: (We have uncovered on this page)
- 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
- 2). Disk Drill
- 3). PhotoRec
- 4). TestDisk
- 5). Exif Untrasher
4. How can I recover deleted files without software Mac free?
There are two ways for you to recover deleted files on Mac for free without using data recovery software.
- One way is to undelete files from your Mac Trash bin.
When you mistakenly deleted files on Mac computer to the trash, and you didn't empty the trash, you can undelete them from your Trash for free.
- The other way that you can try is to recover deleted files from your Mac Time Machine backup.
If you have the habit of backing up files on Mac computer using the Time Machine, congratulations. When you delete some of them, luckily, you can bring them back immediately from your Time Machine backup. You can follow to Recover Files from Time Machine Backup for a detailed guide.
By Vernon Roderick, Last updated: July 15, 2020
The Trash Bin is a special place for Mac users. For one, it’s the place where the files that they delete go to. Simply put, there they can recover the files that they accidentally deleted. However, things don’t always go the way you want.
The best example is when instead of recovering the files in the Trash, you empty it instead. And that’s perhaps why you are here now learning how to undo empty Trash Mac. Fortunately, it is definitely possible to do so. However, it won’t be as simple as you expect. You will have to first learn about how to manage files on the Trash, so let’s first discuss the basic things about the Trash Bin on Mac.
Part 1. Everything You Need to Know About the Trash
Besides the method to undo empty Trash Mac, there are a lot of other things to know about the Trash. For one, it’s important to know the concept of how the Trash works. The Trash is basically a function on your Mac that can be considered as the Mac counterpart of Recycle Bin on Windows.
Simply put, it is a temporary sanctuary for files that are deleted. It is so that if you realize that you deleted a file that was actually important, you can get it from the Trash. However, you will find that there are some situations wherein you won’t be able to do so. The most common case is when you empty the Trash, in which case you’ll have to first learn how to undo empty Trash on Mac.
But before that, how can you avoid such issues:
- Check first if there’s o important file on the Trash bin.
- Don’t take any action after recognizing that data loss has occurred.
- Remember the names of at least some information to identify the files you lost.
- Make sure you know where the files will go if ever you are successful to restore them.
- Create backups once you finished with recovering the data so as to avoid such situations again.
Now if you weren’t able to do these and you are currently suffering from data loss, is it still possible to recover your important files? Fortunately, the answer to this is Yes. It can easily be done in many ways, although it’s not a guaranteed 100 percent chance of success. So without further ado, here’s our first option on how to do undo empty Trash on Mac.
Part 2. To Undo Empty Trash on Mac Using Data Recovery
We chose this as our first option simply because it was the easiest. It involves using a third-party software named FoneDog Data Recovery. FoneDog Data Recovery is a software created for users that are having trouble recovering their data on their computer. This includes both Windows and Mac.
Data RecoveryRecover deleted image, document, audio and more files.Get deleted data back from computer (including Recycle Bin) and hard drives.Recover loss data caused by disk accident, operation system crushes and other reasons.
The data recovery supports most file systems, including hard drives, partitions, flash drives, memory cards, and even the Trash bin. For that reason, FoneDog Data Recovery is one of the best-suited tools to undo empty Trash on Mac.
Here are the steps you need to follow if you ever decide to use this software:
Step 1. Choose Recycle Bin Option on Mac
Once you download and install the software on your PC, the next step is to run the tool. The interface should show you a couple of options in each section. In the first section, you can mark the types of files that you want to recover. The next section will indicate the location of the file. In our case, you’d want to mark the Recycle Bin option, which is to say you will recover files from the Trash Bin.
Step 2. Wait for Scanning
After you are done with the configurations in Step 1, click the Scan button. The tool should start the scanning process automatically. After the scanning, you’ll have the option to select the Deep Scan option, which would scan the computer further with more accurate results.
Step 3. Select Files in Trash on Mac
Once the scanning is done, be it from Quick Scan or Deep Scan, you’ll see a selection of items. These are files that you will be able to recover. On the left, you’ll see their corresponding locations. You can navigate through here to find your file. Then to select an item, click on the appropriate boxes.
Step 4. Recover Files - Undo Empty Trash on Mac
When you’re done with selecting the files, all you have to do is click the Recover button. Then just wait for the process to complete.
Many people tend to steer away from such methods mainly due to their distrust of such tools. However, if you can’t afford to delay the recovery, this is your best option. Now if you have more time in your hands, you might want to check our other options as well.
Part 3. To Undo Empty Trash Mac via Mac Built-in Settings
#1. Check If it Really is Deleted
Although we’ve already discussed our first method to undo empty Trash on Mac, you still haven’t checked whether the file really is deleted. This is a common misconception of others that try to recover their files. Just because you can’t find your files doesn’t mean they’re gone and needs to be recovered.
There are steps you need to take to ensure that your assumption was right, and that is by doing a systematic search. You may do this by simply going to the Trash bin and searching for your file. If it’s not there, don’t lose hope yet. You may also launch a session of Finder then do a search there.
If this still didn’t work, then you can use the Spotlight search or even use the Siri assistant to search for your file. Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that Mac has a lot of features for searching for files. But if the file really isn’t on your device, then the situation may be far worse than we thought.
#2. Check Other Devices
As we’ve mentioned before, it’s crucial to first make sure if the file really is deleted. And that doesn’t only involve checking the storage device on your computer. Remember that in this era, file transfer is as easy as it gets. So it’s not so far off to say that your file was copied to another device as well.
This includes a computer, a mobile device, or a storage device like a flash drive or memory card. Either way, this would only take a while so there’s no harm trying it out. Now if even after all this, you didn’t find your file. You might be better off learning more ways to undo empty Trash on Mac.
#3. Recover Photos from Recently Deleted Folder
Your Mac is capable of more things than you think. This is especially true when it comes to data recovery. Mac has all kinds of file recovery systems in place for different file types. Unfortunately, in our case today, the only file type you can easily recover are photos.
Mac Trash Settings
This is because the Albums app in Mac has a Recently Deleted folder where, as the name suggests, files that are recently deleted can be recovered. Here’s how you can use this:
- Go to your Albums app.
- On the left sidebar, select the Recently Deleted folder which should be at the bottommost area.
- Select the photo that you want to recover. To select multiple photos, hold Command while selecting items.
- Now click on the Recover
This should bring back all the selected photos to their corresponding places. On the Recently Deleted folder, you may also notice a number indicated under the photo. These numbers are the number of days with which the photo will remain recoverable. For that reason, you may not see the photo that you want to recover because the days have already expired. If that’s the case, then let’s head to our next option to undo empty Trash Mac.
#4. Enter a Command on Terminal
A better yet more complicated method is to use the Terminal to enter a code in order to recover your deleted files. The Terminal is Apple’s counterpart for the Command Prompt in Windows. It allows you to accomplish many tasks such as configuring your device, changing permissions, and of course, restoring files.
To do this, you will have to follow these steps:
- On your Mac, go to Applications.
- Proceed to Utilities.
- Select the Terminal
- Now on the Terminal, type in “Cd. Trash” then press Enter.
- Next, type in the command “mv filename ../” then press Enter. Take note that the “filename” should be replaced by the name of the file that was deleted.
- Type in “Quit” to exit Terminal.
In the right conditions, you’ll be able to recover just about any deleted file. The only downside to this is that you won’t be able to use this method if you don’t have permission to for the Terminal, which is a pretty common cause for Mac users. If that’s the case, then let’s proceed to our next method to undo empty Trash Mac.
#5. Undo Move on Mac Finder
We have the Trash against Recycle bin, the Terminal against Command Prompt. Now it’s the Finder app that is the counterpart of File Explorer on Windows. The Finder app is where you can see files in different folders. Fortunately, like File Explorer, Finder has some very useful functions available for users, and one such function is the Undo Move.
You can use this function by following these steps:
- On your Mac, launch a session of Finder.
- Now click on the Edit menu at the top bar of Finder.
- Select Undo Move which should be located on the very first line.
This will undo the most recent movie that you just did. If that move is the deletion of the file, then you can absolutely recover the file as if it were never deleted. However, this method is very limited since it can only undo one move. This means if you’ve emptied your Trash and did another movie after that, you won’t be able to undo empty Trash Mac.
Mac Trash Can Computer
That concludes our different methods. If these methods didn’t work for you, then you should find time to place some countermeasures to avoid this happening again.
#6. Time Machine
The best preventive measure for data loss is, without a doubt, creating a backup. To create a backup on a Mac, you will have to use the Time Machine feature. This will allow you to restore files individually, or even restore an entire file system.
In your case, it would be the former. To restore from a backup, you will have to acquire a Time Machine backup disk, then follow these steps:
- Connect your Time Machine backup disk on the Mac.
- Turn the backup disk on.
- Find your files from the backup disk, then select an item once you find it.
You can press the Space Bar key to preview the file so you can avoid making a mistake.
- Now click on the Restore button to recover the selected items.
With this Time Machine feature, you can easily recover all kinds of files from your Mac. The only difference between this and the previous options is that it can only be done if you created a backup disk. In short, there’s a preparation that you must do, which requires you to accept the fact that data loss is inevitable and preparing is a must.
One Trash For Mac Os
Data RecoveryRecover deleted image, document, audio and more files.Get deleted data back from computer (including Recycle Bin) and hard drives.Recover loss data caused by disk accident, operation system crushes and other reasons.
Part 4. Bottom Line
Your files are very important. That’s already a given. That is why it’s only natural to prepare for the worst that might happen to those files, that is, getting deleted. Fortunately, the Trash is there for you to save your back. Nonetheless, there are also problems with the Trash, which is when files are permanently deleted because of emptying the Trash.
As luck would have it, there are many ways to undo empty Trash Mac. Even though our methods can help you, you should still make sure to be careful next time.