Mac Data Recovery software - Here are all the 20 paid and free tools, trials and services I found
Few things are as painful as losing important data from your PC. Those family memories, vital work documents, cherished movies and music, etc., are all gone at the click of a button. You’ll be excused to cry if such a thing happens to you. However, don’t fret. You can recover some deleted files using data recovery software. Check out the best data recovery software we've tested.
But how is it possible to recover files that have been permanently deleted? When you click the delete button for a file, it’s not permanently deleted at that moment. Instead, the reference to the file gets deleted from your PC. The file remains in its raw form (binary 1s and 0s) on your hard drive before it gets overwritten by newer files.
As long as a file has not been overwritten from the hard drive, you can still recover it to your PC. Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of the most popular data recovery software for Mac users.
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With these tools, macOS users stand a high chance of recovering deleted data from their hard drives and avoiding the discomfort of losing important files. The top data recovery software for Mac users includes:
1. Disk Drill
Disk Drill is one of the most popular data recovery software for Macs available. We like it because of the advanced features it offers and ease of use for recovering files. It can scan your Mac's hard drive to detect and recover lost data. It's not limited to your internal hard drive; you can also scan external hard disks, USB drives, memory cards, disk arrays, and Android devices connected to your Mac. In addition, it has an interface that’s simple to understand. You don’t need to be an IT expert to recover files with it. You can do that in a few steps by following the on-screen instructions. If you still need help, there’s an online Knowledge Base to guide you through the process. View Deal
2. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac
Stellar Data Recovery is another excellent tool that can help you recover files on your Mac. You can recover different types of lost data (documents, photos, audio, etc.) from your internal or external disk drives. You can recover files lost for any reason, such as USB faults, corrupt drives, or accidental deletion. Stellar Data Recovery is compatible with M1, M2 & T2 chip-enabled Macs. You can restore files from your Mac's Trash Bin or formatted partitions. This tool has a stellar interface (no pun intended). The layout is minimal and uncluttered, so you can easily understand what you’re doing. Like most data recovery tools, Stellar offers a free, limited plan. The free version can scan and preview your lost files but can recover only up to 1GB of data. To restore files, you can choose from one of the paid versions. You can buy Standard at $69.99 annually, Professional for $89.99 or Technician license for $149 that works on multiple Macs.View Deal
Recoverit is a data recovery software developed by Wondershare, a prominent Chinese technology company. This tool lets you easily recover deleted files on your Mac laptop or desktop. You can retrieve files from the Trash Bin or the ones you lost due to accidental deletion or computer corruption. Recoverit lets you recover over 1,000 file formats, including popular ones like DOC, PDF, PPTX, JPG, PNG, MP3, MP4, etc. You can retrieve files from your Mac’s internal or external hard drives, USB drives, digital cameras, camcorders, etc. Recoverit is very good at retrieving large files at fast speeds. You can download the free version, although that’s limited to just 100 MB of recoverable files. For anything above 100 MB, you must choose one of the paid plans.View Deal
4. Cisdem Data Recovery
Cisdem is an American software company specializing in utility tools for Mac and Windows PCs. It offers data recovery software for Mac users. This tool lets you recover your files speedily and easily. It has a seamless user flow that you can easily understand. You can detect and choose the files you want to recover; this tool will do that quickly. Cisdem supports over 200 file types, including photos, videos, audio, email, Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents, etc. You can recover files on your internal and external hard drives or external storage mediums connected to your Mac. Cisdem offers a free version of its data recovery software but with significant limitations. You can only scan and preview lost files but not recover them with the free plan. Hence, you need to pay for a premium plan.View Deal
R-Studio is a popular data recovery tool for Mac PCs. You can use it to recover files even from faulty internal hard drives. R-Studio gains direct access to your Mac's internal system disk to find and recover deleted files and partitions. You can preview and sort the deleted files before choosing the ones you want to recover. R-Studio allows you to recover a large number of files simultaneously. You can also recover files over a local network. Let’s say you're a network administrator who wants to recover data after a company-wide breach; you can deploy R-Studio remotely on multiple Mac PCs under your enterprise network and recover files simultaneously. This tool can recover files from different hard drive formats, including HFS+, NTFS, and APFS. R-Studio costs $79.99 for an annual license for each Mac. Companies can contact R-Studio’s sales team and negotiate discounted volume licenses.View Deal
6. UFS Explorer Professional Recovery
UFS Explorer is a Ukrainian software company that develops data recovery and access tools. It offers a sophisticated recovery tool for Mac users known as Professional Recovery. This tool is expensive, starting at $640 per personal license or $1070 for a corporate license for 10 PCs. UFS Explorer Professional Recovery is designed to resolve complex data loss cases. It can run deep scans on internal or external hard drives to find deleted files. You can also scan virtual machines like VMware, Hyper-V VHD/VHDX, QEMU, Parallels, etc. You can deploy this tool remotely to several Macs under a shared enterprise network. The scanning process is visualized for you, and you can generate interactive HTML reports to present to corporate stakeholders. UFS Explorer lacks the modern, responsive interface you’d find in many other recovery tools. However, it performs its job very well. View Deal
7. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
EaseUS is a Chinese technology company that develops many utilities for Mac and Windows PCs. It offers a data recovery tool for Mac users. The free version allows you to recover up to 2 GB of files. However, for anything above 2 GB, you'll need the paid version, which costs $89.95 monthly or $119.95 annually. You can also pay $169.95 for a lifetime license that guarantees indefinite upgrades. The paid version has no storage limit; you can recover as many files as you can discover on your internal or external hard drives. You can search and preview files before recovering them and save your search records to avoid re-searching for the same files. EaseUS allows you to recover files locally or upload them to the cloud. Paid users can access 1-on-1 remote assistance if they need any help. View Deal
8. DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software (DMDE)
DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software (DMDE) is an advanced tool for searching, editing, and recovering your disk files. This tool is ideal for recovering RAID drives. To the uninitiated, RAID means Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a method of storing files on multiple disks instead of a single disk to improve performance. DMDE lets you find and recover files easily. Unlike the modern, responsive interface you’d find on many rival tools, this tool's interface looks outdated. However, DMDE is still easy to use and understand. DMDE has free and paid versions. The free plan lets you recover a maximum of 4,000 files, but the Professional version has no limitations. The Professional edition costs $95 for a lifetime license for one Mac PC or $133 for the multi-OS version (Mac, Windows, Linux, and DOS). View Deal
TestDisk is unique because it is a free and open-source software. You don’t need to pay any dime to use it. You can recover your Mac files for free instead of paying significant amounts. But there’s a catch: TestDisk doesn’t have a graphical user interface. It only works via a command line where you type instructions your Mac understands. The absence of a graphical user interface rules out most people from using TestDisk. It’s ideal for technical people who work their way around the internals of a computer. Most people aren’t technical and will find TestDisk almost impossible to use. But if you’re an IT or programming expert looking to recover files from your Mac’s internal storage, TestDisk is a great option. It has powerful scanning algorithms to detect deleted files that haven’t been overwritten on your hard disk.View Deal
AnyRecover is an effective Mac data recovery software. It lets you find and restore lost, formatted, or corrupt devices from your Mac PC. You can restore over 1,000 file types, including photos, videos, word documents, etc. This app lets you preview your files before restoration so you can be sure of the ones you choose. If your macOS suddenly refuses to boot, AnyRecover can still recover the lost data via a bootable USB drive. This app doesn’t stop at recovery; it also lets you back up files to cloud storage and retrieve them when needed. This tool is simple to use. Download it, scan the hard disk, preview the detected files, and choose the ones you want to restore. AnyRecover offers separate plans for individuals and businesses. Individuals can pay $59.99 monthly, $79.99 annually, or $99.99 for a lifetime license. The business plan starts at $139.99 annually for 3 PCs.View Deal
11. Alsoft DiskWarrior
DiskWarrior is an advanced disk recovery tool built by Alsoft, a Utah, USA-based company. It is designed specifically for Mac users to recover their lost files. This tool can read damaged directories to detect all files that it can possibly salvage. Then, it'll restore those files to a newly created directory. DiskWarrior also helps repair errors that your Mac's Disk Utility tool reports. For example, you might encounter errors like "Keys out of order" or “Invalid node structure” when opening specific files. DiskWarrior can troubleshoot and fix these errors. Like many other disk recovery tools, DiskWarrior lets you preview the files you want to restore before restoring them. You can preview how your disk will look like after the restoration. DiskWarrior costs $119.95 for a lifetime license. You can also pay $59.95 to upgrade from an existing version to a new release.View Deal
GetDataBack is a data recovery tool developed by Runtime Software, an American technology company. It enables Mac users to easily get back their lost data from internal or external hard disks. It supports Apple’s native file systems, including HFS+ and APFS. GetDataBack offers a colorful, responsive interface that provides a good user flow. You can find and recover your data with just one click. This tool has advanced algorithms to find lost files and restore them as before, including their file names and the correct directories. GetDataBack can recover your data in seconds or minutes, depending on size. This tool costs $79 for a lifetime license. You can test it with a 30-day free trial before paying. View Deal
13. iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac
iBoysoft is yet another company that specializes in utilities for PCs. It offers a data recovery tool for Mac users. This tool is fully compatible with Apple Silicon and T2-based Macs alongside older models. You can recover lost photos, videos, audio, etc., from your internal hard disk or externally plugged flash drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), and SD cards. If your Mac refuses to boot, this tool can still help you recover files. You can launch it in macOS recovery mode and still restore lost files. It’s easy to use; just install it, find the lost files, and choose the ones you want to recover. The free version can only recover up to 1 GB of files. For anything above 1 GB, you’ll need the premium plan, costing $89.95 monthly, $99.95 annually, or $169.95 for a lifetime license.View Deal
14. Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery
Lazesoft is an American software company specializing in recovery tools. It offers a completely free data recovery tool for Mac owners. The company specializes in Windows tools but released a free Mac data recovery tool in 2013 for goodwill efforts. This tool can recover data from various file systems, including HFS/HFS+, FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and EXFAT. You can recover files from internal or externally mounted disks. It works on both Intel-based Macs and the newer models with Apple Silicon chips. Recovery is noticeably fast with this tool. The interface is also easy to understand. Users can access free email support, but response times are slow. View Deal
15. Exif Untrasher
Exif Untrasher is a free app designed for a specific purpose: to restore lost JPEG photos from hard disks. It was built by Carsten Blüm, a German software developer with a broad portfolio of free and open-source projects. Exif Untrasher does one thing and does it excellently. You can download it on your Mac and find JPEG photos you lost for whatsoever reason. Afterward, you can choose the photos you want to recover and wait for the process to complete; you’ll get them just as before. This tool works for Mac OS X 10.10 or higher. It's multi-lingual, supported in English, French, German, and Italian. View Deal
Ontrack is a subsidiary of KLDiscovery, a Minnesota, USA-based data recovery software vendor. It offers an advanced data recovery tool for Mac users with an intuitive interface to match. This tool can recover files from damaged, deleted, or reformatted hard disks. It works with both internal and external hard disks. It also works via external bootable media, so you can still recover files from a Mac refusing to boot. You can preview your files before restoring them, and be sure to choose the right ones. You can recover up to 1 GB of files with the free version. You need a paid plan for anything above 1 GB, which costs $107.49 for a one-year license.View Deal
17. Do Your Data Recovery for Mac
Do Your Data Recovery is yet another suitable tool for recovering data on your Mac. It can recover many types of files, including photos, videos, audio, documents, etc. You can recover files from your internal or external hard disks. You can download the free version of this tool to scan and preview your lost files. However, you can’t recover them without paying for the premium plan. It costs $69 for a monthly license, $99 annually, or $129 for a lifetime license. Each license covers two Macs. Do Your Data provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can request a refund within this period if you’re unsatisfied with your purchase. View Deal
Tenorshare is a Chinese software company that builds utilities for Mac and Windows PCs. It offers a data recovery tool named 4DDiG for Mac PCs. This tool can run a deep scan of your Mac to discover lost files in its internal disk. You can also run deep scans of externally connected storage devices, e.g., USB drives. Scanning and restoration are noticeably fast with this tool. It works with macOS Sierra (10.12) and above. You can scan and preview lost files with the free version. But, you need a paid plan to recover files, costing $55.95 monthly, $69.95 annually, or $119.95 for a lifetime license.View Deal
19. iCare Recovery
iCare is another suitable data recovery tool for Mac users. It works with all types of Mac devices, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, etc. You can recover files lost for several reasons, such as wrong partitioning, disk corruption, malware, etc. You can restore photos, videos, music, etc., from the Mac HFS, HFS+, FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems. You can pay $69.99 for an annual license for 1 PC, $99.99 for 2 PCs, or $399 for unlimited PCs.View Deal
20. D-Back Hard Drive Recovery Expert
D-Back Hard Drive Recovery Expert is a great tool for recovering lost or deleted files from your Mac’s internal disks or external storage devices. macOS users can preview their files before restoring them and choose the exact ones they wish to retrieve. You can recover over 1,000 file types with this tool, including photos, video, audio, documents, etc. You can recover individual files or partitions as a whole. This tool has quick scanning and recovery speeds. You can pay $49.99 monthly, $69.99 annually, or $79.99 for a lifetime license covering 2 Mac PCs.View Deal
