We’ve all experienced that horrible stomach-churning pang of dread when we delete a file that we didn’t mean to delete. Or when we realise that the file we trashed last week is the one we need for an important piece of work that’s due to be submitted tomorrow. The bad news is that there’s no Mac undelete feature. The good news is that, most of the time, and depending on what steps you’ve taken beforehand, it’s relatively easy to recover deleted files on Mac.
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Get Disk Drill on Setapp, a Mac tool that brings every deleted file back — instantly. Whatever the reason of data loss, you’ll rescue it all in few minutes.
Download Disk Drill FreeCheck if the file has really been deleted
The first step is to check if the file is gone. If you dragged it to the Trash but haven’t emptied it recently, it should still be there. Click on the Trash icon in the Dock and inspect the Finder window that opens. If you see the file, drag it out of the Trash and onto the Desktop. If the file isn’t there, things get more complicated, but there’s still hope.
How to recover deleted files on a Mac with Time Machine
Recover Deleted Files from Trash. Trash is the place where your deleted files are stored temporarily. Recover files in Office for Mac. If you close a file and click Don't Save, the AutoRecover file will be deleted because Office assumes that everything is ok and the AutoRecover file isn't needed. Change how frequently AutoRecover files are automatically saved in Word or PowerPoint.
This is the part where we remind you that you should have a regular incremental backup plan in place. Preferably, it should incorporate two separate backups to two different destinations, in different physical locations.
If you use a tool that makes a bootable clone, such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, and regularly update the clone, all you have to do to recover a file is mount the clone and copy the file back to your Mac. If you take away nothing else from this article, please understand the importance of backing up your Mac on a regular basis. Your future self will thank you for it.
The simplest way to backup files on a Mac is to use Apple’s Time Machine, which is installed as part of macOS. You set it up once and forget it. Assuming you use Time Machine, it’s very easy to recover individual files. Here’s how:
1. Go to the Time Machine menu in the Mac’s menu bar and choose Enter Time Machine.
2. Swipe upwards with two fingers on your Mac’s trackpad or press the up arrow next to the Finder window that appears in order to navigate to a time before you deleted the file.
3. Once you’ve reached a backup from a time before you trashed the file, click on the Finder window and navigate the Finder in the normal way until you find the file you want to recover.
4. Press the spacebar to preview the file, and if it’s the one you want, click Restore. The file will now be restored to your current Finder and you’ll be able to open and edit it.
How to recover deleted photos on Mac
When you delete a photo in the Photos app, it doesn’t get rid of it straight away. Instead, it outs in an album called Recently Deleted and keeps it there for 30 days. Then it’s removed permanently. So, if the photo you want to recover was deleted less than 30 days ago, all you have to do is go to Recently Deleted, under Library in Photos’ sidebar, click on the photo you’re looking for and press Recover. It will then be moved back to your main Library.
How to recover music files in iTunes
If you delete a track from iTunes, it asks you if you want to move the file to the Trash. If you said no, all you have to do to recover the file is go to the Finder and navigate to your iTunes music folder (usually in Music>iTunes>iTunes Media), find the file and drag it onto the iTunes icon in the Dock.
If you said yes, and the file is still in the Trash, do the following.
1. Launch iTunes and choose Preferences from the iTunes menu.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Makes sure there’s a checkmark in the box labelled 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library’.
4. Close Preferences.
5. Drag the file from the Trash onto the Desktop.
6. Drag it onto iTunes’ icon in the Dock.
7. When it’s imported, drag the file from the Desktop back to the Trash (a copy will have been added to your iTunes folder).
If you’ve emptied the Trash since you deleted the file from iTunes, you can use Time Machine to find it in the earlier version of your iTunes folder and recover it from there.
File recovery on Mac: How restore older versions of a document
Built in apps on macOS, such as Text Edit and Preview, as well as the iWork apps and many third party applications use a feature of the operating system known as versioning. That means that when you open a file and edit it, macOS retains copies of previous versions of the file so you can revert back to them if you need to.
Here’s how to use it:
Recover Deleted Files Mac Trash
1. Open the file.
2. Click on the File menu and choose Revert to then Browse all versions.
3. You’ll see that the screen changes and looks a bit like Time Machine.
4. To find the version you want to revert to, click on the tick marks on the right of the screen or click on the title bars of the documents on the right of the screen, or click the up arrow to the right of the documents.
5. You’ll see the date of each version displayed below its preview. If the document preview doesn’t display automatically, click Load Version to download it from iCloud.
6. When you find the version you want to revert to, click Restore or to open it as a new document, hold down the Option key and select Restore a Copy.
If you open a document, make changes to it, then decide you don’t want to save them, go to the File menu and select Revert To, then Last Opened.
Data recovery on Mac when you don’t use Time Machine
If you don’t use Time Machine, all is not lost (though we’d suggest you start using it — it’s the easiest way to recover files you accidentally delete).
There are several options when it comes to data recovery software for Mac. One of the best is Disk Drill, which scans your Mac for deleted files, allows you to specify the kind of file you’re looking for — text document, audio, file or video, for example, and lists everything it finds. You can then preview files to check if they’re what you’re looking for and recover them if they are.
The key point when using any data recovery tool is to stop using your Mac as soon as you realise you need to recover a file. When you empty the Trash, files in it aren’t deleted immediately. Instead, the reference to them in the file index is removed and the space they occupy made available for use. If you stop using your Mac immediately, the file won’t be over-written and data recovery software will have a good chance of recovering it intact. The longer you use your Mac, the more chance there is of it being over-written completely.
How to delete files safely
If you want to delete files easily and never worry about removing the wrong ones, use a great tool CleanMyMac X. Its Smart Scan relies on just one button to scan your Mac and then remove all the junk it finds. All the files are 100% safe-to-delete as CleanMyMac always refers to the Safety Database in order to correctly select and remove the junk. Moreover, you can always view the files before removing them and decide whether you really want to get rid of them. CleanMyMac is incredibly easy to use, so give it a try. It's available for a free download here.
Mac data recovery: the last resort
If none of the above solutions work, and if the deleted files are very important, the last resort is to take your Mac to a specialist data recovery company. These services use specialist software to interrogate your Mac’s drive and rebuild lost files. However, it’s a very time consuming and expensive process and a step you should only consider if the files you need are more important than the cost of recovering them or you really can’t live without them. If you do decide to use such a service, research the companies carefully and, if possible get word of mouth recommendations from people you trust. And, as with using data recovery software, stop using your Mac immediately.
To conclude, putting a file in the Trash doesn’t delete it. And even emptying the Trash doesn’t get rid of it completely. There’s still the possibility of recovering it. However, by far the best way of making sure you don’t irreversibly delete a file you need is to make regular backups of your Mac. If you do that using the built in Time Machine, recovering a file or folder you’ve trashed is very easy indeed.
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Sep 18, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
How do I recover a deleted folder on my Mac?
I accidentally deleted the whole family folder on my MacBook Pro. I have many precious family videos and pictures on that folder. Any reliable file recovery software to help recover the deleted folder on Mac? Best regards.
Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Files on Mac?
Yes, the chances are the files and folders deleted from Mac will be recovered. For a recently deleted file or folder, you can check the Mac Trash at the beginning to restore files from Trash. Nothing you want can be found on the Trash? If you have made the backup of the folder with Time Machine, you can recover deleted folders from Time Machine. If you haven’t, you don’t have to be too worried too. Indeed, the deleted folder will be marked as inaccessible data on your Mac. So, as long as the deleted folder has not been overwritten by new data on your Mac, you can manage to restore deleted files on Mac using Recoverit Mac File Recovery software.
Part 1. A Complete Solution to Recover Deleted Files on Mac
Deleting files and folders by mistake can happen every day around the world. How do you recover permanently deleted files? A permanently deleted file or folder refers to the data that can't be restored from the Trash. It will become something inaccessible and invisible on the Mac computer. To recover permanently deleted files and folders, all you need is the ultimate solution, that's the powerful deleted files recovery software for Mac.
Recoverit - The Best Software to Recover My Files on Mac
Recoverit Data Recovery Mac is such a folder recovery program that you can use it to recover the deleted folder and files in 3 steps and a few minutes.
Recoverit is a complete and ultimate solution for most users. It supports all the data loss and deletion scenarios, including accidental deletion, permanent deletion, emptying the Trash, system crash, virus attack, hard drive formatting, etc. With the help of the data rescue program, you can easily recover at least 1000 file types from your lost Mac folder, including photos, audio files, videos, document files, archive files, and more. Currently, this data recovery tool is fully compatible with Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, etc.
Video: How to Restore Deleted Files on Mac
The next video tutorial will show you how to restore deleted files from emptied Mac trash. Also, you can check the specific steps to recover deleted folders on Part 2.
How to Recover Deleted Folder and Files on Mac Even from Emptied Trash
How do I recover permanently deleted files?
Download and install Recoverit Mac Undelete software on your Mac computer. Please do not install the app on partition/volume that your folder is deleted from on your Mac. If you are working on a Windows computer, you can check the guide and learn how to recover the deleted folder in Windows.
Step 1 Select a Location for Deleted Files
Launch Recoverit Data Recovery Software. To restore deleted files and folders on Mac, you need to select a location or hard disk where your data were deleted or lost.
Step 2 Scan the Partition or Disk
The deleted files recovery tool will start scanning the selected partition or hard drive to search for your deleted files and folders on Mac. During the scan, you can check the scanned files.
Step 3 Preview and Recover Deleted Folder from Mac
After the scanning, you can select deleted folders and preview some recoverable files like images, movies, music, and documents. Then you just need to mark the folder or files you want to recover and click 'Recover' to save them back to your Mac.
Note: To avoid data being overwritten, please do not save the recovered folder or files back to the original partition or volume on your Mac.
Part 2. How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Software
How do I recover deleted files on my Mac for free?
Besides the Mac data recovery software, we find 2 more native solutions on Mac, namely the Mac trash and Time Machine. Unlike Recoverit, they are not always workable and also time-consuming in the long run. But in some cases, they are really simple and prompt. Let's have a look at how they work and why they fail in recovering deleted files.
Solution 1. Recover Files from Trash on Mac
The simplest way for Mac deleted files recovery must be restoring the data from Trash, if the files are deleted by dragging to the Trash, using 'Delete' or pressing 'Command-Delete'. Otherwise, Solution 1 is not a workable and feasible way to help you retrieve your permanently deleted files. Anyhow, you have three options to recover files from trash.
- Option 1: Open 'Trash' and drag the deleted items out of the trash
- Option 2: Open 'Trash', select the items you want to restore and select 'File' > 'Put Back'
- Option 3: Open 'Trash', choose and copy the items, paste them to a safe and different location
Recover Deleted File Mac 10.13.6
Following the steps, you can get back deleted files in a minute. How easy and simple it is, right? However, if you deleted files permanently and find the way unworkable, use Time Machine or Recoverit Mac Data Recovery.
Solution 2. Restore from Time Machine Backup
Time Machine is another inbuilt program on Mac for data backup and restoration. If you have regular backups of Mac files, you can always restore them from Time Machine, whatever makes your files deleted and lost.
Deleted Files Recovery On My Mac
- Ensure the Time Machine backup disk is connected and turned on.
- Open the folder that stored deleted files and click the Time Machine icon.
- Use the timeline, scroll the screen, or use the search field to find the deleted files.
- Select the files you want to restore and press 'Spacebar' to make a preview of it.
- Click 'Restore' to restore files from Time Machine.
Recover Deleted File Macbook Air
Extra Information: Where Do Deleted Files Go on Mac?
The deleted files won't disappear from your Mac permanently. They will first go to the Mac Trash or start invisibly existing on your Mac. What decides the destination of deleted files and folders in the following situations.
- Drag the unwanted items to the Trash in the Dock
- Select the file and press 'Command-Delete' to remove the file
- Select the item in the Trash and choose 'Delete Immediately'
- Empty the Mac trash to delete files and folders permanently
- Use 'Option + Command + Delete' shortcuts to delete files forever
- Click the 'Finder' icon in the Dock and select 'Empty Trash'
- Make the preference settings: 'Remove items from the Trash after 30 days'
- Virus-attacked or system-crashed Mac can delete your files
Oftentimes, most of us will delete a file or folder on Mac by simply clicking 'Delete' or moving it to the Trash. And the deleted file or folder usually goes to the Trash. If we don't configure the preference settings, the Trash can help us retain the data for a long time. That's why we can restore deleted files from Mac trash.
Besides, a few of us might keep backing up important files stored on Mac regularly, daily, weekly, or monthly. And the backup location is usually Time Machine. Once we want to get back a deleted file or folder, Time Machine can help us do that.
Nevertheless, most of us have no habit of taking regular data backups. If the files are erased due to the permanent deletion, virus attack, or system crash, it is impossible to find the deleted files on the Mac Trash or Time Machine. The deleted files are marked as inaccessible data. But you can resort to Recoverit Data Recovery to bring back the deleted items on Mac.
To Wrap Up
When you realized that the files or folders you want are deleted from your Mac or external device, you should first check the Trash or the Time Machine Backup, which can save you much time and effort. If the solutions don't work, turn to Recoverit Mac File Recovery immediately. It is your final resort to recover lost or deleted files on Mac. It supports Mac data recovery in all situations. Free download it now.
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