How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac

Computer data should be treated with care and responsibility. Everybody seems to know this, however, more and more cases happen when important files or last holiday photos suddenly disappear from your laptop or PC. Accidentally deleted, damaged drive, system errors – there can be many reasons. For example, after upgrading to macOS Catalina, I accidentally deleted a folder with displaced objects, and they were really important. In such a case, you just need to have a special tool on your computer to restore the necessary information.

We can’t deny, there are many programs for this on the Internet. But I was just looking at the Stellar Data Recovery program (ex. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery). Not only does it support OS X but Windows as well (just because you have an iPhone doesn’t mean you’re using a Mac). Secondly, this utility has a free demo version that you can try out before you buy the program.

You don’t have to know all the details of the process to get your stuff back. This data recovery software will figure out how to recover your files by itself, you just need to select files you want to recover. Stellar Data Recovery has a simple and intuitive interface that is easy to use even if you’re the most inexperienced user that has never encountered the need for this kind of software before. You can select all files at once with the Restore All key or select a specific type of files to be recovered.

With the help of two types of scanning (regular and deep), the application finds even those files that you may not have known existed. The regular scan was enough for us to find accidentally deleted video files and photos, required for a review.

If the files are lost on a particular drive or memory stick, you can select it immediately and reduce the scan time.

The utility is also available on Mac – the interface is slightly adapted to the Windows style. The algorithm of actions is very similar: drive selection – file type – advanced scanning. Deleted files are marked with an appropriate icon. All you have to do is to select files you need, click “Restore,” choose a scanning method as well as a location to save your data. In the settings, you can adjust volume limits, enable previews, and much more.

Stellar Data Recovery finds almost any data, from accidentally deleted and corrupted data files when copying or updating your OS, to data that disappeared when your drive was corrupted and an error occurred. The software works not only with your computer’s drive – you can also recover data from an external drive, memory card, or Time Machine.

By the way, this utility is not only a tool for recovering deleted files. It’s also a program to control a hard drive/SSD. The developers may not have bolted on such functionality, so we can consider it a bonus. Still, the application is not cheap but if you need to return your lost data (especially when it’s truly important), it all becomes relative. Plus, this program is also a disk health monitoring application.

To see if you need a professional version or not, try the free version for Windows or Mac. By the way, Stellar also has applications to recover deleted photos and videos separately.

Of course, it’s better to archive and back up your data or find out how to recover deleted files on Mac with Disk Drill so you don’t have to worry about accidentally deleted files. At the same time, it’s better to keep the backup on a separate medium. The latter, by the way, also needs to be chosen wisely. But if an important document, photo, or video file is missing, such applications are very helpful.