Best Data Recovery Software for Mac

It’s the worst-case scenario! The Mac is already acting up for ages, but you’ve been avoiding it or just can’t work out how to repair it, and now it won’t startup. Why didn’t you back up your data? Is it possible to recover the deleted items from the Mac? Fortunately, there are tools available that can help you restore your images and files from a broken Mac usb disk.

Before you look into one of these applications, see how you can keep the Mac up – and – running while you’re doing the backup you’ve been meaning to do. If you can’t get your Mac to reboot so you can use some of the options in the linked story below, the next option is to use a data recovery program. Fortunately, there are a few solutions here, some of these have demo versions that might be able to restore some files and it may, at the very least, show whether or not you will be able to restore whatever you require before paying a penny.

Information loss is a major phenomenon that costs a lot of money to a lot of individuals and enterprises every day. Worse, certain files have both tangible & emotional meaning, rendering them irreplaceable so necessitating data backup as a viable option.

The great news would be that all the Mac users have a variety of data recovery applications to select from, and we have compiled a list of best 17 best data recovery apps for Mac throughout 2021 to assist you in recovering your missing files as easily and cheaply as possible. Here is a list of the strongest free data recovery tools for Mac that can be found online. The features of these five implementations differ. However, they all have one thing in common: they’re all free, making them ideal for the typical viewer.

What data recovery software for Mac should do –

Both data recovery software works in the same way. The rest is simple if the folder indicating how files were initially stored can be recovered. If that’s not the case, the program would look for trends in the data that may indicate a file form. There’s a fair possibility that if it encounters a file form, it’ll find data within this file.

However, expect the task of piercing the data back together just to take some time. Many files which haven’t been overridden can be saveable if you have patience. There is always hope unless the hard disk is turning as well as the head is searching. It can take several days to thoroughly search some drives, so the higher their capacity, the longer it takes. You can choose to hesitate if it’s your marriage pictures or your Cryptocurrency vault that’s lacking.

The following are some well-known Mac online backup tech solutions to think about.

1. Disk Cleanup for Mac

For Mac OS X, Disk Drill is now a file recovery utility. In contrast to opening restored files, Disk Drill General has a number of other features, including Backup Vault & Guaranteed Restoration, missing partition recovery, master boot maker, and so forth, making this one of the greatest Mac data retrieval software programs available.

TestDisk is an open-source file recovery program that is accessible and available under its General Public License ( gpl). It is compatible with a variety of web browsers, including the most recent editions of macOS (all the users from macOS Catalina may install the TestDisk through Homebrew, but you may get some very known issues). Its founders initially intended for it to restore missing partitions and repair boot problems, but it has since evolved into the multi-purpose data recovery program that it is currently.

TestDisk allows several file types & shared folders, like FAT16 or FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, HFS+, HFS, ext2/3/4, ReiserFS, LVM as well as LVM2, and many others, while being totally open. Regrettably, not even all system components are similarly well supported, but some can be restored and retrieved while some can only be searched for missing partitions.

Still, at least for casual users, TestDisk’s greatest flaw is its functional user interface. This interface isn’t too complex or difficult to use, however less advanced users can be overwhelmed by it. If you’re scared of command-line programs, we suggest reading the official manual before giving up.

Disk Drill is compatible with internal and external hard drives, Flash drives, SD cards, as well as a wide range of other gadgets which can be attached to the Mac, like iOS & Android devices.

Its most recent version includes a large archive of file signatures which can be recovered by drives however after encryption, as well as scanned algorithms that are both powerful and quick. Disk Drill is continually upgraded and maintained by its ever-expanding staff, and it protects data corruption caused by power outages or system withdrawal before even unmounting it.

Recovery Vault is also an advanced additional layer to both the Waste Basket that holds a connection to deleted files. It is available for free.

Pros

• Open-source and cost-free
• Reliable recuperation outcomes
• Runs on a variety of channels

Cons

• Contrary to popular belief, there are a number of disadvantages of using this method.
• Computer system and a command line
• Designed for advanced users and practitioners

Overall Impression

Disk Drill effectively balances basic and advanced functionality for casual, technical, and corporate consumers, making it well worth the update investment. Assured Recovery is a program that restores a backup of every file to the user-defined folder in the background. Both data retention modules significantly minimize the risk of sensitive data being permanently lost.

This Data Backup functionality allows users to restore missing data from a byte-to-byte copy of the partition or devices without putting the general storage source at risk.

Disk Safety Monitor, Effective Disaster recovery Boot Drives, Duplicate File Finder, Time Machine Recovery and Mac Cleaner are only a few of the free applications available.

2. Lazesoft Data Recovery for Mac

Lazesoft Mac Data Backup is a free software program that allows users to restore lost files from their Mac computers. The app helps you to retrieve data from a number of portable drives and can retrieve data from corrupted or lost partitions.

Pros

• Free unlimited recovery
• You may preview the files when the scan is already running and there are some recovery alternatives open.

Cons

• The most recent macOS versions are not officially supported.
• The operating system is outdated.

Overall experience

To be honest, there aren’t many Mac OS X file recovery program programs that provide unrestricted recovery while charging a fee. Users are usually entitled to view retrievable files for free before being required to pay for a Free unlimited recoverable or license order to restore them. In this respect, Lazesoft Mac Data Backup is a noteworthy exception, so this alone would be enough to earn it a place on the list.

3. EaseUS Mac Data Recovery Wizard

These are some of the strongest data recovery Mac tech programs in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. The developer has made three separate versions available: a free beta, a Pro edition, and an extended version.

Free Features: 

It’s free edition allows you to recover up to 2GB of files. Data can be recovered from desktops, Mac notebooks, hard drives, SD cards, flash cards, USB drives, digital cameras, and other devices using this file recovery program. It supports HFS+ internal drives as well as FAT32/FAT file systems on USB flash drives & external hard drives attached to the Apple device.

The Easeus tool restores the very common file types found in video, image, audio, & text files. This is mostly intended to restore files that have been misplaced due to accidental deletions or the drive formatting.

Overall Impression

 EaseUS data recovery software for free is a useful application for accidental file deletions.

4. PhotoRec for Mac

Although PhotoRec may not be the most effective downloadable Mac data retrieval tool, it does have the benefit from being open-source software. This essentially means that the customers have access to both the program and the system software.

Linux, Open BSD, Net BSD, OS X, Free BSD, Net BSD, & Windows are all supported by PhotoRec. It will retrieve JPEG images, MP3 audio records, OpenDocument & Microsoft Office folders, PDF documents, including ZIP archives, among other file types. Data can be retrieved from a variety of computers, including  USB flash drives, digital camera memory cards, & hard drives.

File carving is an advanced technology that this file recovery Mac program employs. There are two steps to this process.  It starts by looking for the cluster size or data block. The value is accessed from both the virtual disk (ext2/ext3/ext4) and volume boot database if the data file is not compromised (NTFS, FAT). If it isn’t feasible, the app scans each section of the system and determines the cluster or block size based on the first ten items detected.

Secondly, the application reads the system cluster by cluster or block by block, verifying each signature against by the application’s database of file signatures, compiling and recovering the available folders. It’s unknown how many of these file signs the application recognizes.

Overall Impression

PhotoRec is a useful method to have on hand if you need to restore any personal data without resorting to a specialist program.

5. Lazesoft Data Recovery for Mac

Lazesoft Data Recovery is now the free file recovery software application for Mac that lets you restore an infinite amount of information with no upfront costs. younger Computer users are unaware of its existence. This is most likely due to the fact that it does not currently support the most recent update of Mac OS X. However, we are able to have it to work perfectly on Mac OS X Catalina and then use it to restore deleted files.

Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery would restore audio recordings, videos, records, and a variety of other file formats from FAT32, HFS/HFS+, FAT, NTFS, & exFAT file systems, in addition to images. You can perform a short scan to retrieve data from a functioning storage system, or you can perform a deep scan to retrieve a missing, deleted, or disabled partition completely.

Pros

• Designed with Mac users in mind.
• It has a user-friendly gui.
• Former Mac OS X versions are supported.

Cons

• Might not support the most recent update of Mac OS X.
• Free of cost

Overall impressions:

Despite the fact that Lazesoft Data Recovery for Mac has been available for a long time, many 

Regardless of one of these 2 options you choose, you can begin searching for your files while the scan is already running, which speeds up the retrieval process. Since the last upgrade was published in 2014, it appears that the makers of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery would never upgrade the data recovery program to fully support the new edition of Mac OS X.

6. iSkysoft Data Recovery

File recovery is a difficult process, and with its user-friendly GUI with a three-step recovery period, iSkysoft Data Recovery keeps it straightforward.

A few of the developers’ key aims is to have iSkysoft Data Backup so simple for using it that even people who may have never restored files previously will use it right away. We may assume that this target was almost completely achieved. With iSkysoft Data Recovery, the filesystem is as easy as three clicks, and the program states very clearly where you’ll have to select next to have your data back. 

You will restore up to 1 GB of data only with their free version in iSkysoft Data Retrieval. You must buy one of the 3 primary permits, which start at only $79.95, to gain access to unlimited restoration. It is $79.95 for the Essential, $99.95 for the Standard, as well as $119.95 for the Advanced.

Pros

• Effortless user interface
• Thousands of file types are recovered.
• It’s been converted into a million different languages.

Cons

• Just 1 Gigabytes of data can be recovered for free.

Overall impressions:

Every storage unit that uses a standard Windows, Mac and Linux system files is supported by iSkysoft Data Recovery. It works for Mac OS X 10.6 & later and can restore images, notes, music files, & just about every other kind of file from your Mac.

7. MiniTool Power Data Recovery for Mac

Mac MiniTool Data Recovery recovers images, songs, videos, addresses, notes, and other files from Mac computers and many other data storage. Limited email support is included in the free edition.

The Mac data recovery application has four operating modes of functionalities. The very first, “Undelete Recovery,” could be used to easily restore data that has been deleted by mistake. The next, “Damaged Disk Recovery,” restores data from internal partitions that have been damaged. The third option, “Missing Partition Recovery,” restores data from deleted or lost partitions if they can be found. Finally, the “Virtual Media Recovery” feature restores multimedia data from USB flash drives.

Free features include

The personal version of such a data retrieval Mac app is free to be used on one device and has a limited restore capability of 1MB. Isn’t that why it’s referred to as a Mini Tool? It’s possible. The app is also available in commercial, business, and technician versions, according to the developer.

Overall impression

The MiniTool Data Recovery program is a viable solution for the occasional unintended deletion of small files.

8. Softtote Data Recovery Mac

The Softtote software will help you restore files from both external and internal hard disks. Only.bmp,.jpg,.png,.tif, & .mp3 files are supported. It supports HFS/HFS+, NTFS and FAT system files on computers. Until restoring files, the program will preview file data also including image size & development date.

The free data recovery program for Mac, like the others on this series, includes free technical assistance.

Overall impression

Softtote’s app is one of the strongest backup software for Mac, which despite its lack of fame, it is worth a shot if you lose a file by mistake, but keep in mind the small file formats it supports.

9. M3 Data Recovery for Mac

M3 Mac Data Backup is a user-friendly data recovery software program with two popular scanning options as well as an intuitive recovery mechanism. It has a simple user interface that is strongly influenced by Apple’s internal style standards.

M3 Mac Data Backup will read encoded APFS files and restore deleted or missing files much as any other unencrypted volume. Fast Scan & Deep Scan are two screening modes that are equally useful. The former needs less time, and it may miss certain files that are difficult to restore. The latter takes a long time to finish, but it provides the best data recovery performance.

M3 Mac Data Recovery’s premium version allows you to restore up to 1 Megabytes of data for free. The whole file recovery program application’s cheapest paid version is $69.95, although it doesn’t allow encrypted APFS sizes. You’ll have to charge $99.95 for just a Professional license to retrieve files from them. It costs $69.95 for the standard version, $99.95 for the professional edition, as well as $299 for the technician edition

Pros

• Secure APFS volumes are supported.
• There are two scanning modes available.
• Until recovering a file, you will see a glimpse of it.

Cons

•  Just 1 Gigabytes of data can be recovered for free.

Overall Experience:

To use this format, you can recover data from practically any hard disk integrated with the Mac, including an external device, Flash drive, or Memory card. The M3 Mac File Recovery software will restore lost files from both the Trash Bin and deleted logical sizes. You can access deleted files until you restore them using the post recovery preview feature.

10. Exif Untrasher

Exif Untrasher is just a powerful Mac data recovery software utility designed specifically for recovering JPEG files from disk images & physical storage devices.

Since Exif Untrasher focuses on a single task, it excels at it. You simply choose an external storage unit or a document to recover images from, determine the destination file, then begin the process of recovery.

Exif Untrasher is compatible with Mac Os X 10.10 which is available in German, English, French, & Italian. It’s available to import directly from the developer’s website and install much like every other third-party Mac utility.

Pros

• It’s freeware.
• It’s incredibly simple to use.

Cons

• It could only restore JPEG files
• Free of charge

Overall impressions:

It is created by software engineer Carsten Blüm, and is by far the most basic free data recovery program that we can recommend to any Mac user. It really is made to retrieve JPEG images via physical storage units and disk files with ease. Yes, certain file recovery programs do not support some other document file types, so if you require to restore images or photographs, you should look around.

11. PhotoRec Restoration for Mac

PhotoRec is a complementary product to TestDisk, so it focuses on restoring missing images via hard disks,  USB flash drives, memory cards, CD-ROMs, as well as other storage media.

TestDisk is a filesystem recovery program, while PhotoRec is a broad sense file recovery program framework that supports over 480 different file additions (not only the image file formats, like its name infers).

And there are no unique features to help you through the procedure, restoring files using PhotoRec isn’t substantially more difficult than restoring files with such a data recovery software program with a graphical interface.

Pros

• Free open source software
• Runs on a variety of operating systems.
• Also on badly compromised file systems, this works.
• Free of cost

Cons

• The command-line interface is inconvenient.
• For advanced consumers only.

Overall impressions:

PhotoRec and its sister program, TestDisk, have a lot in common. They both are distributed underneath the Gnu Lesser General Public license (GPL v2+), so they both restore lost files from such a wide range of storage systems. They each have a present predominantly that is notorious for turning away people with little familiarity with data recovery including computers in general.

12. Ontrack EasyRecovery for Mac

Following an unintentional deletion and formatting of files from the storage medium, Ontrack’s EasyRecovery program performs precise data backup. It can be used to restore data through your computer’s hard disk or some other external storage unit.

Pros

• Data retrieval tool that is fast
• Optical media that has been destroyed can be recovered.
• Repairs photo & video files that have been destroyed or damaged.

Cons

• Restores up to 1 Gigabytes of storage for free
• It’s difficult to choose the right tool when there are so many models.
• There is no way to produce a disk file that can be used for recovery.
• In comparison to competing methods, the gui is less intuitive.

Overall impressions

Ontrack EasyRecovery’s user experience allows a lot to be allowed in terms of polish & intuitiveness, which is why it receives more attention from experts than from casual Mac users.

13. Data Backups for Mac with Wondershare Recovering Data for Mac

On a machine running macOS 10.8–10.14, this Wondershare program is intended to retrieve missing or deleted records, such as images, photographs, music files, notes, and several other types of documents (macOS Catalina).

Pros 

• Have a free trial to see if the files can be recovered.
• The user interface is simple.
• High levels of video and photo retrieval

Cons

• Subscription license for a year

Overall impressions

The creators of this data recovery program for macOS are best known for their basic video editor, Filmora, but they’ve also created a wide variety of utilities aimed at solving problems that Mac users all across the planet face every day, like Recoverit.

14. Minitool Power Data Recovery

It is a common free version data recovery program that should be able to meet the requirements of the vast majority of Mac users who may have recently missed or inadvertently deleted a valuable file and still want to retrieve it on their own.

Pros

• Simple to use
• The search function is very useful.
• Capable of retrieving partitions that have been destroyed

Cons: 

• There is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• Recovery of music and video files is below average.
• Just 1 Megabyte of data can be recovered in the free version.

Overall impressions

While Minitool Power Data Recovery is more common between Windows users than it would be between Mac users, this does not imply that perhaps the Mac version is inferior. The fact that only allows you to restore 1 Megabyte of data for free seems to be the only reason it isn’t more well-known.

15. Tenorshare Data Recovery for Mac

Tenorshare UltData for Mac gives you a real-time snapshot of the data that can be recovered, so you can quickly decide which files to retrieve. An easy three-step procedure using the latest and advanced algorithms will help you recover the files.

Pros

• PROS Supports around 550 file types for recovery
• Can restore data from an iPhone 
• The user interface is simple and easy.

Cons

• There is no way to retrieve individual files or data so there is no scanning.
• Data on recovery is not logged.
• There have been several instances of sluggish recovery times.
• NTFS isn’t supported.

Overall impressions

Tenorshare has a lot of experience creating apps for macOS, but they used that experience to create Tenorshare UltData for Mac, which is one of the most customer-friendly data retrieval software applications on the market.

16. EaseUs Mac Data Recovery Wizard

The ability to generate an immediate bootable Flash drive & restore missing data from such a Time Machine recovery drive are among the important features of this popular data recovery application, which follows macOS 10.9–10.15.

Pros

• Mostly with the free version of the software, you can restore up to two GB of data.
• Support via live chat
• It’s simple to sort retrievable files.
• The wizard guides you through the healing process step by step.

Cons

• The paid version costs higher than other rivals.
• Files that can’t be retrieved are sometimes shown.

Overall impressions

EaseUS is a very well tech provider with a diverse portfolio of valuable tools, however EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard with Mac exemplifies the company’s ability to combine outstanding capabilities with excellent usability. One such data recovery program, which is accessible for Windows and Mac, has now assisted thousands of users around the globe in recovering data that so many other related programs have failed to retrieve.

17. Stellar Mac Data Recovery Professional Software

It is software that allows you to recover data from your Mac Stellar Data Recovery Professional only for Mac is really a data recovery program for Mac computers that allows you to retrieve lost files. It will help you restore a variety of files, including images, notes, and videos, that have been accidentally deleted or formatted incorrectly on your hard drive.

Pros

• Data through Time Machine copies can be recovered.
• For data retrieval, build clone disks.
• Can restore data through encrypted drives that has been removed

Cons

• The device’s Premium version is used for volume restoration.
• When compared to other rivals, there are limited different formats accepted.

Overall impressions

Stellar Mac Data Retrieval Expert is a perfect option for all Computer users who would like to restore lost documents, images, audio, video, and other data without very much effort, thanks to its excellent data recovery capability and user-friendly GUI.

How to Choose the Perfect Mac Data Recovery Software

As you will get many potentially better solutions available, choosing the right data recovery program for Mac could become difficult. There are many types of relevant collection factors you can consider to help you select the data available recovery tools for Mac:

• Performance

For ages, the perfect data recovery tech applications for Mac have already been mastering their data retrieval algorithms to locate all missing files easily and accurately. Because data backup is a time-sensitive process, choosing the most competent app available then recovering all lost data on the first attempt makes sense.

• Supported File Formats

There are lots of different file formats, and no data retrieval program can accommodate them all. Certain implementations, on the other hand, can restore practically all file formats you’re likely to encounter, and we strongly advise you to choose these over the data recovery software which can only recover a few of the most common image file formats.

• Versions of Mac OS X

Apple made several significant updates to macOS in recent releases in order to create the user interface safer for its consumers. Unfortunately, several data recovery applications for Mac programmers have failed to upgrade their products to support Apple’s new operating system models.

• System Support for Files

 HFS+ (Mac OS Extended), Apple File System (APFS), MS-DOS (FAT), FAT32, & exFAT are the most popular file systems used by Mac users, so choose a data recovery software tool that supports them. The program must also support NTFS if you wish to restore Windows drives.

• A set of features

Although all data recovery tools for Mac can restore deleted files, many have additional functionality that allow the operation faster and much more likely to succeed, such as the opportunity to view encrypted data, retrieve data from failing, missing, or damaged computers, or search RAW & lost directories. You may also find repair applications that can even serve as backup options, giving even more bang for your buck.

• Security

File recovery is the exception to the rule that not all operating systems are stable. As all of the applications mentioned in this article are safe to use, the same cannot be said about all of the lesser-known data recovery methods available online.

When choosing data recovery tools for Mac, keep the above-mentioned guidelines in mind. You’ll have no problem finding the right option and retrieving your details in no time.

• The cost

File recovery software for Mac is available at a wide range of prices, although it’s not entirely fair that more costly applications always are stronger than those that are either inexpensive or free. Paying data recovery applications that allow you to preview recoverable files and test their data recovery efficiency without spending any money are particularly appealing. Please remember that some rehab applications bill you once during a lifetime license, while others charge their customers on a monthly or annual basis, which can lead to significant price increases over time.

Final Thoughts

We suggest Disk Drill Recovery Software for Mac because it consistently recovers data. This fantastic data recovery solution comes with great looks, a more user-friendly graphical user, and a whole slew of free disk software that could come in handy for just about any user.

And if you adopt industry standards and periodically backup your computer, you can need to restore lost or incomplete files for a variety of reasons.

Physical and logical damage to your portable hard drive will cause files to vanish. Upgrades to the software or operating systems applications may result in files being lost or removed unintentionally. Human error is still a probability, such as forgetting you wanted a report right afterward you cleaned the garbage or recycling bin.

Whatever the cause, whether you lose or erase files on your Mac, you’ll require to use data recovery tools. The ability to remain calm and to immediately avoid using the drive where you’ll be undertaking data recovery. If you keep using that drive or partition, the files will be overwritten because you won’t be able to restore them. Instead, avoid doing that and install it after downloading the data recovery software on some other disk or division.