How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac [7 Proven Ways]

Along with the daily usage of your Mac, a large number of files will gather on MacBook. From time to time, you have to clean up various useless data on it. But here comes the problem: You are more likely to perform an accidental deletion while data managing. Do you know how to recover deleted files Mac? This guide will talk about how to recover deleted files on Mac OS Sierra/X. Just follow us and check it out.

Recover Deleted Files Mac

Method 1: How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac [99% Success Rate]

If you unfortunately lose some treasured files on your Mac computer, you can rely on the professional Mac data recovery tool to get the lost data back. Here we recommend you Aiseesoft Data Recovery, which supports both Windows and Mac, to help you recover deleted files on Mac even after emptying trash. Now, you can free download it and have a try.

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Aiseesoft Data Recovery

  • Recovers various file formats including documents, photos, videos, audio files, and archives from your Mac.
  • Supports data recovery from hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, and other external storage devices.
  • Offers a deep scan option for thorough search and recovery of files, even from formatted or corrupted drives.
  • Offers a deep scan option for thorough search and recovery of files, even from formatted or corrupted drives.
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Now, follow the steps below on how to recover erased files on Mac using Aiseesoft Data Recovery:

Step 1.
Download Aisee Data Recovery and install it on your Mac. After launching it, select a location where your data is lost.
Scan Disk
Step 2.
Click Scan to quickly scan the selected location.
Step 3.
After scanning, you can see all the lost files listed in the interface. Employing the Filter feature to locate the deleted files.
Recover Data on Mac
Step 4.
Click Recover All to recover your recently or permanently deleted file from Mac.

Method 2: How to Restore Deleted Files from Trash Bin on Mac

The approach above it is super useful and can recover even emptied trash on Mac easily. However, if you just move the file to the Trash bin on Mac, you don’t need to rely on such a professional tool. The following steps will show you how to recover deleted files on a Mac without software.

Recover Deleted Files Mac from Trash Bin

When you notice that you lost some valuable data and want to undelete them, the first place you should check is Trash Bin on Mac. Actually, if you have not deleted the files permanently, you can easily find them there. The following steps will show you how to recover deleted files on Mac without software.

Step 1.
Open "Trash"

Generally speaking, from the lower right corner of your Mac desktop, you can find the "Trash" icon, just click to open it.

Step 2.
Find the files you want to get back

You can scroll through the Trash to find your deleted files or you can "Search" your deleted data to find it.

Step 3.
Recover deleted data on Mac Trash Bin

When you find the file(s), just right-click and choose "Put Back" to recover the deleted files. And you can find the files in the original place you put them.

Method 3: How to Restore Files on Mac from Time Machine

Restore Mac Data with Time Machine

If you have emptied your Trash Bin carelessly, and you don't want to use a paid-Mac data recovery, the method you can use is checking your Time Machine. But the precondition is that you must have opened and used Time Machine function to back up your Mac data. Now, see how to retrieve deleted files on Mac with Time Machine.

Step 1.
Open the window that contains the file you want to recover

If you deleted your files from your "Mail", just open your Mail folder.

Step 2.
Enter Time Machine

If you have backed up your Mac data to an external drive or network drive, please ensure that you have connected the drive with your Time Machine. And click the Time Machine icon and then choose "Enter Time Machine".

Step 3.
Find the backup of your deleted files

Use the arrow or timeline on the right side of the screen to find the backups of your deleted files. Or you can use "Search" button to find the files.

Step 4.
Restore deleted files from Mac

After you find your deleted files, you can open it to find the version that is the one you want. And click "Restore" to restore your Mac data to the original place.

Method 4: Recover Using Shortcut Key for Mac to Undo Delete

If you accidentally delete something or perform an action you want to reverse, you can undo the emptying recycle bin action on Mac using the shortcut key Command + Z. This shortcut key works in most applications on macOS, including Pages, Notes, and Finder.

Undo Shortcut on mac to Undelete

If you want to redo the last action you reversed, you can press the Command + Shift + Z.

Method 5: How to Recuperate Deleted Files on Mac from iCloud

If your data was deleted within 30 days and you’ve chosen to upload the lost data to iCloud before, you can also use iCloud's automatic recovery feature to recover deleted files on Mac. Let’s together have a look at how to recover emptied trash on Mac from iCloud:

Step 1.
Sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID and choose the Drive part.
Drive in Icloud
Step 2.
Click Recently Deleted from the left menu bar and choose the file you want to recover.
Recently Deleted Recover icloud
Step 3.
Now, click the Recover button to recover recently deleted file on Mac.

Method 6: Recover Mac Deleted Files Using Terminal

The command line is used to communicate with Mac with the help of the Terminal tool. Users using the “rm -rf ./Desktop/myScript.sh” command line to delete files in a Mac terminal won’t find their deleted files in Trash. So, they also can’t recover them from the Trash directly. However, you can use the Terminal itself to get back the deleted files with the correct command line. Let’s discover how to restore deleted files with Terminal:

Step 1.
Go to Applications > Utilities. Here double click the Terminal icon.
Step 2.
Type the command line cd .Trash and hit Return.
Step 3.
Now type mv filename ../ and hit Return. Note you must replace the word “filename” with the full file name of your lost file.
Step 4.
Type Quit to exit the Terminal.
Step 5.
Now you can find the deleted file in Finder.

Method 7: How to Undelete Files on Mac using Disk Drill

Disk Drill is a popular data recovery tool for macOS X 10.8.5 or later. It can help you recover deleted files. While Disk Drill primarily has a graphical user interface (GUI), you can use it to scan your drive and recover files. Let's take Disk Drill as an example to tell you how to recover deleted files Mac in detail:

Step 1. Download and install Disk Drill.

Go to the Disk Drill official website to download it. And then install and open it.

Step 2. Choose the deleted files you want to recover.
Disk Drill to Recover

Click "Recover" button, Disk Drill will run through all of its scanning methods to scan and find the deleted files. And after scanning is finished, you can choose the ones you want to retrieve, and then to recover them.

We mainly talk about how to recover deleted files Mac in this post. Now, all 3 methods have been told. You can choose one according to your situation. Anyway, Hope you can handily find your deleted files back after reading this guide.

You may need the best free data recovery software for Windows/Mac to get all your data back.

Part 8. FAQs about Recovering Deleted Files on Mac

How can I prevent data loss in the future?

To avoid data loss, you can enable Time Machine for regular backups and use cloud storage services like iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

Can I recover files deleted years ago?

It’s unlikely to recover files deleted years ago unless the drive has not been used since the deletion and the files were backed up using Time Machine or another backup solution.

Is file recovery safe?

Yes, file recovery is generally safe if you use a trusted recovery software like Aiseesoft Data Recovery, save recovered files to a different drive to avoid overwriting data and avoid writing new data to the drive where files were deleted.

Conclusion

Recovering deleted files on a Mac is a task that can range from straightforward to complex, depending on the circumstances of the deletion and the tools available. Whether you’ve accidentally deleted files or emptied the Trash, there are multiple methods to attempt recovery. Tools like Aiseesoft Data Recovery, Disk Drill, Time Machine backups, and even Terminal commands can help you retrieve lost data, providing you with a proper solution on how to recover deleted files on Mac. By staying prepared and using the right tools, you can effectively restore lost files and minimize the impact of accidental deletions.

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