How to Restore Files from Time Machine and Recover Files without Time Machine

Updated to Troubleshooting Tips by William on Feb 23, 2024 | Approved by Cesar C

"I heard that people can recover deleted or lost files from Time Machine backup on Mac. Is it true? Is there a guide for how to restore files from Time Machine backup?"

Time Machine is a built-in feature in macOS to help users to backup all the files people created or edited in the past 24 hours

restore from time machine backup. It makes hourly backup automatically. In this case, if you have deleted or lost any file on a Mac, you can try to recover the files on Mac from Time Machine. Here are the simple steps:

If you don't use the Time Machine to back files or not find the files on the Time Machine, please recover files with Mac data recovery tool.

Step 1. Go to the Time machine by clicking System Preference > Time Machine and select Show Time Machine in the menu bar.

Step 2. After then, all the folders backed up in Time Machine are displayed. You need to select the folder from where you have lost or deleted the Mac files.

Step 3. Looking for the target file(s) in the folder you have selected. It will be a long list there if there are hundreds of files there. You need to use the dial on the right to navigate through until you see the target file(s).

Step 4. Select the file and then you can see it is highlighted. After then, click the "Restore" button at the bottom of the window to restore the file from the backup.

Though Time Machine is a great feature to backup files, some people still think it is waste of space and are not willing to set it up to do the backup automatically. In this case, it is wise for you to backup important files regularly to your external hard drives. No one can ensure that you always get deleted or lost files back as you have wished.

To recover deleted files, some people can do it by restoring from the Mac trash or restore them from Time Machine. If you have emptied the Trash bin or haven’t backed up the file to Time Machine, you need to recover deleted files or lost data recovery with a professional Mac data recovery tool, like iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac.

Why a Mac data recovery tool is able to recover files on Mac without Time Machine?

Any deleted, formatted or lost file on Mac does not disappear right away. It is still on the Mac, marked as useless file, waiting to be overwritten by new data. It is invisible by any Mac users. A Mac data recovery tool is designed to scan for the lost, deleted or formatted data, letting users preview and recover it.

Why do I choose to use iBeesoft Data Recovery? First, it is a professional yet easy-to-use Mac data recovery tool. It never requires people any computer technology to use it. Second, it supports all the commonly used file recovery on Mac, including all kinds of videos, audio, photos, word, excel, powerpoint, PDF and more. It is very useful if you have multiple types of files to recover. Third, it works perfectly on Mac, offering two recovery modes -quick can and deep scan to ensure that you find all the data you need. Check out the detailed guide now.

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Here in the following, I introduce you the simple steps for how to recover deleted files on Mac, recover lost data on Mac with Mac Data Recovery Tool.

Install the Mac data recovery tool and click the download button below to get the installation package of iBeesoft Data Recovery. Take it easy to install it on your Mac. It is virus free and standalone.

Step 1. Install The Mac Data Recovery Tool

Click the download button below to get the installation package of iBeesoft Data Recovery. Take it easy to install it on your Mac. It is virus free and standalone.

Step 2. Select File Type(s) to Scan

All the supported files on your Mac are listed in the main window. All of them are selected. The Mac data recovery tool is ready to scan for all of them. You need to uncheck the unwanted ones, only keep the needed ones checked and click "Start". It will shorten the scanning time.

Step 3. Select the location where the file is missing, like hard drive/partition or removable drives

In the next window, you’re supposed to select the location from where you have lost or deleted the files to scan and click "Scan".

Step 4. Preview and Recover Files without Time Machine

How long it takes to scan for the target files fully depends on how many files on your Mac. After it finished, you will see all the found files listed in the result window with each of them sorted into category. Select the file types and file format in the left side, then you can see the result on the right side. Preview the files, find the needed ones and click "Recover" to save them on your Mac again.