How to Recover Data from Hard Drive on Mac
While you’re using a Mac to work or study, it is very likely you need to recover data from a Mac hard drive. There are multiple reasons for why you lost the data from Mac hard drive. Basically, they are:
- 1. Unintentionally deletion. You select a photo and tap the "Delete" button, or drag them unconsciously to the trash bin.
- 2. Intentionally deletion. You may think you don’t need the files and delete them. After then, it proved you need them back. Or someone, but not you, used your computer and deleted the files you need deliberately.
- 3. The hard drive on your Mac failed. Due to system errors or corruption, your hard drive failed, and you can’t open files on it or even worse can’t access it at all.
- 4. Mac hard drive was incorrectly formatted due to upgrade or reinstall the system.
- 5. Due to virus attacks, software crashes, improper operation results data loss from Mac hard drive
Whether how you lost the files, and want to recover data from hard drive on Mac, you should do the task as soon as possible. Otherwise, you’ll lose them forever.
The theory of Mac hard drive data recovery: whether the lost data are deleted or missing, they are still on your Mac. Even being deleted, they are still somewhere on your computer, but become invisible, and waiting to be overwritten by new data. In this case, the sooner you recover them, the better result you’ll get. Here are the 2 most commonly used ways to recover data from Mac hard drive.
- Quick Navigation
- Method #1. Recover Files from Mac Hard Drive with Software
- Method #2. Restore Data from Hard Drive on Mac by Time Machine
Method #1. Recover Files from Mac Hard Drive with Software
To Mac hard disk recovery, iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac can be helpful. From its name, you can see what it is. It is a professional Mac HD recovery tool for users to recover deleted/lost photos, videos, audio files, emails, RFT, documents, PPTs, Excels, and more from Mac hard drive or other removable devices. It is a lightweight tool only focusing on data recovery.
Your Safe & Effective Mac Hard Drive Recovery Software
- It can completely recover files from external hard drive, memory card, Mac hard disk, USB drive, and more within 3 steps.
- Powerful 2 scan modes, can ensure the success of data recovery from the Mac hard disk.
- Fully compatible with recover data from Mac hard drive in Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), macOS 10.12 (Sierra), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.14 (Mojave), and more
Here are the simple steps for how to use iBeesoft Data Recovery to recover the target files from your Mac hard drive. First, please click the download button to get the Mac version of HDD data recovery software. It is a normal software tool with .dmg file as its installation package. Please install it on your Mac. It is very safe to use it, since it is virus free and does not collect any of your personal information at all.
1. Launch the Mac hard drive recovery software
After you install the utility, please launch it on your Mac. In the startup window, all of the file types are selected by default. If the target files you want to recover are in 2 or 3 types, you should uncheck the unwanted ones, shortening the scanning process. Next, click "Start" to begin the restore Mac hard drive process.
2. Select hard drive to scan
In the next window, all drive on your Mac are displayed there. You’re supposed to choose the hard drive from where your files have lost and click the "Scan" button to scan and recover data from Mac hard drive.
3. Recover data from hard drive on Mac
It takes a few minutes to finish the scanning process. To be honest, the longer it takes, the better result you’ll get. You know, the time it takes to scan fully depends on how many files it find and scan. In the result window, when you find the files you want to recover, click "Recover" to save them back to your Mac.
It is the best and efficient way to recover data in Mac hard drive. You know, you can do nothing manually to recover lost files, especially you deleted them and emptied the trash can. The sooner the better. Of course, if you have enabled the auto backup feature in Mac Time Machine, you can try method #2 to restore files from hard drive on Mac.
Method #2. Restore Data from Hard Drive on Mac by Time Machine
It is a nightmare to lose data from hard drive on Mac. That’s the reason why Apple use Time Machine to keep an updated and exact copy of files from Macintosh internal hard drives. When you find you have lost files and want to restore files from Time Machine backup, you can try the following steps:
1. Type in "Time Machine" in the Spotlight search box and search for it. Find Time Machine in the search result and open it.
2. Click the folder where your target files used to be.
3. Click the upward arrow to the right the Time Machine window, scroll through backup files until you see the deleted files appear.
4. Hold Command button to select the target files and click "Restore".