• Recover files that are deleted from Mac Trash with Remo Mac File Recovery Software. Download the free version of Mac File Recov ery tool that recovers and allows free preview of the recovered files from trash in a couple of clicks. Download and try now for free!!!
• Step 1 Mac stores the deleted files of your computer in the trash bin. However, this is not as simple as it looks. Mac stores only those files in the trash bin that you haven’t deleted permanently. If that is the case, open Trash Bin. Step 2 If you are lucky, your files may be present in the Trash Bin. Just drag the files out of the Trash.
• Now, let’s explore the five best ways to recover deleted files on mac from emptied trash. On Mac OS, if you haven’t yet emptied the trash, you can use the option “Pull Back” which appears when you right click on the file in the trash. Also read our article on free data recovery.
• Recover Deleted Files Using Mac Terminal. Enter the “cd.Trash” command to navigate to the Trash folder. Enter the “ls” command to list all files in the Trash folder. Type “mv xxx.xxx /Desktop/” to move a file to the Desktop folder. Make sure to replace xxx.xxx with the actual name of the file.

• Recovering Deleted Files On Mac
• Restore Deleted Files From Recycle Bin
• Recover Deleted Trash Files Mac Free
• Recover Deleted Trash Files Mac Free
• Microsoft Recover Deleted Trash Files

Trash Bin is a place where stores all the deleted files on Mac in case you deleted a wrong file. So, you can easily restore files from Trash bin at any time before emptying Trash on Mac. Once the trash is emptied, it is impossible for you to get emptied Trash back on Mac.

By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: August 24, 2020

Deleting files on your Mac computer is very easy to do. All you need is to click on the files or folders that you want to delete and hit on that delete button. And voila! All selected files are now deleted and now in your Trash.

But what if you mistakenly deleted one or several important files by accident? You see, deleting files can be very easy, but recovering them is a different thing. And for you to recover those deleted files, you will be needing a special tool or technique that you can use for you to get them back. And you can do this without even needing to make use of certain software.

So, with that being said, we are going to show on how to recover deleted files Mac without software the easiest and the fastest way possible.

Part 1: How to Recover Deleted Files Mac Without Software – Empty Trash

If if you have already emptied your Trash or you have already permanently deleted those files using a keyboard shortcut, then that means that you can no longer have them recovered on your Trash or have it undone.

So the best way that you can do this is by using FoneDog Data Recovery. This tool is one powerful data recovery tool that you can use for you to recover those deleted files from your Mac. Not only from your Mac, but you can also recover any deleted files from your memory card, hard drive, flash drive, and even from a Windows computer.

By using the FoneDog Data Recovery, you will be able to recover any data from your Mac easily and conveniently. It can also do a deep scanning in your Mac for you to have a higher success rate when recovering your deleted files. Also, you can have the option to preview your files before you can actually have them recovered. And the best thing about the FoneDog Data Recovery is that it is 100% safe to use so you will not lose any of your data while doing the process.

To begin using the FoneDog Data Recovery, here are the simple steps that you need to follow.

Step 1: Run FoneDog Data Recovery on Mac

On your Mac, go ahead and launch the FoneDog Data Recovery. And once that you are on the main interface of the tool, you can simply choose the area where you want to recover your files. So in this step, you have to choose the type of file and then choose Trash or Recycle Bin.

NOTE: If you are going to recover a file on a removable disk, make sure that the connection between your Mac and your removable drive is stable.

Step 2: Scan Your Files

Once that you have chosen the area wherein you want to recover your deleted files, you can now go ahead and hit on the Scan button. And from the FoneDog Data Recovery will begin to scan your Mac and will eventually show you the result of the process.

NOTE: There are two ways for you to do a scanning process. One is a Quick Scan which can only take a couple of seconds to finish. And the other one is the Deep Scan which needs a longer time to scan the content of your computer.

Step 3: Preview and Select Files to Recover

After the scanning process is done, then the FoneDog Data Recovery will show you the result on your screen. The files that were scanned by this tool will be shown n category under the two types of the scanning process. Or you can go ahead and utilize the search bar of the program to look faster.

Here, you can choose the files that you would like to recover and preview them for you to make sure that you are getting the right files you need to recover.

Step 4: Recover Deleted Files on Mac

Once that you have chosen all of the files that you want to recover, then you can go ahead and hit on the recover button. From here, the FoneDog Data Recovery will then start the process of recovering those files.

Part 2: How to Recover Deleted Files Mac without Software Using Time Machine

Another way for you to recover deleted files without software is when you have a back up of your files using an external hard drive. And you can do this by using the Time Machine on your Mac. And for you to know how to recover deleted files on Mac using Time Machine, here are the steps that you need to follow.

• Step 1: Go ahead and open the Time Machine tool on your Mac. You can have it accessed through System Preferences.
• Step 2: From there, look for all the deleted files using the backup file that you made before they were deleted from your Mac.
• Step 3: And once that you have found all of the files you are looking for to recover, go ahead and simply hit on the Restore button.

You have to remember, you can only make use of the Time Machine if and only if you have set it up and made a backup before the files were deleted from your Mac computer.

Part 3: How to Recover Deleted Files Mac Without Software Using Trash

Every Mac computer comes with a Trash that can hold down all of the files that you delete from your Mac. Now, if you have just deleted a certain file that is important to you, then you can make use of your Trash to have them recovered. And to do this, here are the steps you need to follow.

• Step 1: Go ahead and launch your Trash app on your Mac.
• Step 2: Then, go ahead and check your deleted files according to its size, the date, and other details available. Here, you can also just key in a certain keyword of your file name to search for it faster.
• Step 3: Once that you have found your files, go ahead and select on them and have them dragged over to any folder that you want or you can also drag them to your desktop screen. And once you do that, you have automatically recovered that file back to your Mac.

Part 4: How to Recover Deleted Files Mac Without Software Using Terminal

The Terminal app on your Mac is one tool that will allow you to do a different task on your Mac computer. And also, you will be needing to make use of some Unix command line to go with it. Some Mac users are wondering if there are such commands that will help you recover your deleted files. As a matter of fact, there is! But You can only do that from your Trash. So that means that once you have emptied your Trash, there will no longer be any command line that you can use to recover them.

So, for you to get back those deleted files from your Mac using the Terminal tool, then here are the steps that you need to follow.

• Step 1: Launch the Terminal tool on your Mac. And on the Terminal window, you will be able to see an interface with a command line.
• Step 2: So from there, just go ahead and simply key in cd.Trash and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.
• Step 3: After that, key in mv xxx ../. You can replace the “xxx” with the file name on the file you are trying to recover. After that, hit the Enter button again.
• Step 4: Next is you have to launch the Finder app. And then using its search bar, go ahead and key the name of the file that is deleted and you want to recover and press Enter. After that, the deleted file you are recovering will show up on your screen.

Part 5: Conclusion

So, once that you have found out that you have deleted some important files on your Mac, the first thing you need to do is to go to your Trash and check if you can restore it from there. However, if in case the file has been completely deleted from your Mac then you can make use of the other solutions that we have for you above.

This article covers the top five completely free data recovery software for Mac, which varies in features, functions, and performance. However, they all have one thing in common: they are free.

Compare the five tools carefully, and select the one that fits your needs best.

Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac

When you get data loss on your Mac due to accidental deletion, partition/hard drive formatting, system crash, macOS upgrade, file system or hard drive corruption, stay calm and pick up one of the recommended data recovery software below for help.

1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is one of the free top and handy Mac data recovery software that enables you to recover data from the emptied trash bin, Mac notebooks, desktops, hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, digital cameras, etc. It works on internal APFS/HFS+/HFS X drives, and FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file systems used in USB flash drives and external hard drives connected to Mac.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. All-in-one data recovery software

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is fully compatible with the latest macOS 11.0 (Big Sur), 10.15(Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave) and all the former versions. It enables all Mac users to perform a full recovery of lost valuable data in only 3 steps: Scan > Preview > Recover.

# 2. HFS+ Fusion Drive Recovery

Recovering Deleted Files On Mac

The latest update of EaseUS Mac data recovery software has improved its support of Fusion Drive, which makes it work even better in retrieving files from Mac computers that are installed on fusion drives.

# 3. Encrypted Drive Recovery

Another great update in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is that it supports encrypted drive recovery by offering guidance to assist Mac users in decrypting and unlocking their drives with password.

# 4. Data Protection

Once the data protection feature is enabled, it will automatically back up the deleted files to a safe location. If you unexpectedly delete files and want to recover later, you can quickly restore the lost files from the created backup.

Pros:

• Support to restore 200+ file types on Mac, including recovering lost Word/Excel/PPT documents, photos, videos, music files, emails, archived files, and more.
• Quick Scan + Deep Scan technology greatly enhances recovery probability.
• Real-time Preview allows you to preview found files while scanning and before proceeding with data recovery.
• No quality-loss recovery brings your lost photos, videos perfectly back in its best performance.

Cons:

• The completely free version is limited to a maximum of 2GB data recovery. (The outstanding Windows data recovery free version also provides 2GB free file recovery.)

2. Disk Drill

Disk Drill is a popular Mac data recovery application developed to recover lost partitions or files from Mac internal and external hard drives. Also, the Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery options in the free trial version support to monitor the file deletion activity and retain metadata so as to quickly undelete files.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Undelete Protected Data (Not Available in Free Version)

Being similar to the Data Protection feature in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, Disk Drill also contains an undelete protected data feature that requires Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery features to be enabled in advance.

With these two features enabled, Mac users could quickly undelete files from a Trash Bin reference or shadow copy of each file to a user-specified folder.

# 2. Allocate Existing Files

When Finder fails to read data, Disk Utility reports the drive as unformatted, Disk Drill can scan the partition and retrieve data from Mac.

Pros:

• Compatible with all the Mac OS X and macOS systems.
• Recover 200+ file types.
• It is packed with free and useful disk tools for all users.
• An intuitive user interface to recover lost files effortlessly.

Cons:

• The free version only allows a preview of data recovery.
• Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery are not available in the free version.

3. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free, open-source program that works very well in data recovery on older operating systems like OS X, Linux, Free BSD, Net BSD, Open BSD, and Windows.

It allows users to restore most common files, like photos, audios, documents, ZIP archives, and others from internal or external devices, such as digital cameras, memory cards, USB flash drives and partitions/hard disks.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Advanced File Carving

PhotoRec first searches for the data block or cluster size. The program will quickly load value from superblock like ext2/ext3/ext4 or volume boot record like FAT/NTFS if the file system is not corrupted. When the file system corrupted, PhotoRec will check the device at a sector level, using the first 10 found files to calculate the block or cluster size so as to locate and find more lost files.

# 2. Block or Cluster Level Recovery

This program will read the Mac device block by block, cluster by cluster, checking against different file signatures so as to recuperate available files.

Pros:

• Support data recovery cross-platforms, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
• 100% open-source program, not only the software but also the source code.
• Nice tool to recover personal files.

Cons:

• Not very user-friendly for ordinary computer users.
• Technical skills required. It uses command lines to operate.

4. TestDisk

TestDisk, like PhotoRec, it's also an open-source, freeware product that allows for multiple file types recovery.

It mainly focuses on partition recovery. It enables users to find deleted or lost partitions by fixing the partition tables due to software crash, virus attack, mistaken formatting, etc.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Partition Recovery

When a partition lost or disappeared on Mac due to corrupted partition tables, Mac users can apply TestDisk to rebuild and repair the corrupted partition table.

# 2. Rebuild Boot Sectors

When the Mac bootable drive fails to boot, it corrects problems in bootable drives that are failing to boot.

Pros:

Restore Deleted Files From Recycle Bin

• Completely free and open.
• Runs on several operating systems, including macOS and Mac OS X versions.
• Recover lost partitions and rebuild the partition table.

Cons:

• Use the command line to make data recovery.
• Not user-friendly for regular computer users.

5. Exif Untrasher

Exif Untrasher is another completely free Mac data recovery tool that mainly restores deleted or JPEG files from digital cameras, external drive, USB stick, SD card, etc. You can easily download and install this software on your Mac running Mac OS X 10.10 and all the later versions.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Highly Efficient in JEPG Recovery

Exif Untrasher is a tool that mainly designed to locate photos in JEPG formats on any kind of storage device like SD card, CF card, memory stick or Mac hard disk.

External storage device needs to be mounted as a volume on Mac for the utility to access and attempt a restore.

Pros:

• Simple and quick to recover lost images from the memory card.
• Free with no quantity limits.
• It is updated by the developer regularly.

Cons:

• It only works for JEGP file recovery. It doesn't support extra file formats.

3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery

To help more Mac users to bring their lost files are soon as possible, we are here to show you a 3-step tutorial of free Mac data recovery. If you are eager to bring your lost files back on Mac or external storage devices, apply the brief and innovative EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help.

Remember to connect your USB, SD card, or external hard drive to Mac computer if your lost data were saved on it.

Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.

Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover' button to have them back.

Conclusion

On this page, you are presented with the top 5 completely free Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher. When you are facing unexpected data loss on Mac, the programs demonstrated above can help you recover lost files effectively.

What's more, if your lost data is less than 2GB, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is highly recommended as it provides the most user-friendly interface and most powerful data recovery function.

If you simply want to restore JEGP images, Exif Untrasher is worth to try.

People Also Ask

Some Mac users may still have doubts about Mac file recovery. Here we have collected the top frequently asked 4 questions and left brief answers below. Check out and find your own answers here.

1. Is Mac data recovery free?

It depends. If you lost deleted files to Trash, you can restore them from the Trash for free.

When you lost files on a local Mac hard drive or an external storage device, if you apply free Mac data recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help, it's free.

If you take your computer to a local data recovery center, it will charge you a big bunch of money.

2. What is the best free data recovery software?

• For Windows users, you may refer to Top 10 Free SD Card Data Recovery Software.

The Recommended software also works perfectly in Windows OS for data recovery and you can find out the most suitable for you to apply and restore lost files with ease.

• For Mac users, as we recommended on this page, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher are all good to help.

3. Is there any free data recovery software?

Sure! Many data recovery software producers all have released their free data recovery software. Here we have collected some of them for you to pick up and apply to guard your own data.

10 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Windows Users:

• 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free
• 2). Recuva
• 3). Stellar Data Recovery
• 4). Disk Drill
• 5). R-Studio
• 6). Acronis Revive
• 7). Remo Recover
• 8). Recover My Files
• 9). Puran Data Recovery
• 10). TestDisk

5 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Mac Users: (We have uncovered on this page)

Recover Deleted Trash Files Mac Free

• 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
• 2). Disk Drill
• 3). PhotoRec
• 4). TestDisk
• 5). Exif Untrasher

Recover Deleted Trash Files Mac Free

4. How can I recover deleted files without software Mac free?

There are two ways for you to recover deleted files on Mac for free without using data recovery software.

• One way is to undelete files from your Mac Trash bin.

When you mistakenly deleted files on Mac computer to the trash, and you didn't empty the trash, you can undelete them from your Trash for free.

• The other way that you can try is to recover deleted files from your Mac Time Machine backup.

Microsoft Recover Deleted Trash Files

If you have the habit of backing up files on Mac computer using the Time Machine, congratulations. When you delete some of them, luckily, you can bring them back immediately from your Time Machine backup. You can follow to Recover Files from Time Machine Backup for a detailed guide.