Aug 14, 2020 This Mac file recovery software has an easy-to-use interface, which helps you to recover your deleted files either from Mac’s internal storage drive or from Apple’s external Time Machine backup drive. The software uses advanced scanning techniques to quickly locate and recover your videos, photos, music, etc. Besides images, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery can also recover audio files, videos, documents, and many other file format families from HFS/HFS+, FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. You can either run a fast scan to quickly recover files from a working storage device or select the deep scan option to first recover a lost, deleted, or damaged.

This page uncovers 5 best completely free data recovery software for macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, older versions and morden Mac OS X, etc. All those Mac data recovery software share one commonality, they are free and useful for casual Mac users. Pick up one and let it take care of your Mac data now.

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

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:

• 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 Now' 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)

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

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.

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.

Nov 18, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

It is possible to recover permanently deleted files from Mac for free. This post offers reviews on the top 10 Free Mac Data Recovery software. Read on and pick up the most suitable one for you to rescue Mac data without paying anything. It is the best way to recover deleted files from Mac.

Top 10 Free Data Recovery Software for Mac

1. Recoverit Mac Data Recovery

When it comes to the free data recovery software for Mac, Recoverit Mac Data Recovery is reckoned to be the best one. With a 96% recovery rate, it enables you to recover lost or deleted data on Mac without any effort and knowledge. It is a 100% safe and reliable free Mac file recovery program to help you retrieve any data from Mac hard drive or any external device on Mac.

Features:

Seagate File Recovery For Mac

Apple File System (APFS) is now the default file system for the latest macOS, coming with safer data storage, faster write-and-read speed, and larger space available. However, the encryption feature makes data recovery more difficult and even impossible on iMac and MacBook. Recoverit is the software for you to recover lost data from APFS-based Mac. Even more, it supports the Mac data recovery from other different file systems, like HFS, HFS+, FAT/exFAT, and NTFS.

Besides, it supports to recover data from various devices in different situations, such as accidental deletion, power failure, computer shutdown, damaged and corrupted hard disk drive, formatted hard drive, virus attack, lost partition or other data loss scenarios.

On top of that, the best free data recovery tool for Mac is capable of recovering data from a variety of data storage devices, for example, Mac hard drive, external hard disk, USB flash drive, SD card, media players, digital cameras, Drone cameras, camcorders, Android phone, etc. That's why you can be reassured no matter where you lost your Mac data.

Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: all-around scan and deep scan; thumbnails and preview of lost files; recover 1000+ formats of files for free in all situations; intuitive interface.

Improvement: RAID hard drive recovery is not supported; recover 100 MB Mac files for free.

2. Ontrack EasyRecovery Home for Mac

Ontrack EasyRecovery is a user-friendly program for you to perform Mac file recovery precisely under different data loss scenarios, especially for accidentally deleted files. The free Mac file recovery version, with a 1 GB limit, supports you recovering lost data from Mac-based device or recovering deleted backup files from Apple Time Machine for free.

Features:

You can use the free version of this Mac data recovery tool to recover hundreds of file types on different macOS like macOS 10.15, 10.14, 10.13, 10.12, 10.11, and legacy OS. The quick scan and deep scan options search through the storage device more effectively, including internal hard disk, removable media, and RAID hard drive.

Moreover, the free Mac data recovery software claims that it can recover lost data from a hard drive that is encrypted or password protected. After the test, we find that it does sometimes. Like Recoverit Mac Data Recovery, EasyRecovery for Mac also provides the preview function of recoverable files and recovers files with the original file names.

Data Recovery Software Mac

Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: hundreds of supported files, data preview function, a full version of the software available for use in the trial version.

Improvement: low success rate, time-consuming recovery process.

3. Mac Free Any Data Recovery

Mac Free Any Data Recovery can help you reclaim a variety of files from the depths of damaged drives. It is one of the first free data recovery software that provides free trials for users - this data recovery solution is one of the few that allows users to experience the full version of the software for free. This Mac data recovery software is easy to use and kept simple with two scanning modes: quick and deep.

Features:

The common files can be recovered with the free data recovery software for Mac, including photos, videos, music, emails, PDF documents, Office documents, RAR/ZIP files, game files, system data, and so on. It supports the Mac data recovery on Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later. So if you want to recover your lost data from Mac OS X 10.8, it is not the option for you.

Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: very speedy scan, retrieve a wide range of files, preview files before Mac recovery.

Improvement: recover 20 files for free only, need to upgrade to the paid version for all features.

4. Cisdem Data Recovery

This Mac data recovery tool provides a free trial for you to scan and preview lost files due to hard drive crash or corruption, formatting, unintentional deletion, improper operation, factory reset, macOS upgrade, and virus attack. It provides five recovery options: Basic Data Recovery, Mac Trash Recovery, External Drive Recovery, Formatted Drive Recovery, and Advanced-Data Recovery. But, after our test, we think that you can directly use the option of 'Advanced-Data Recovery' to make sure your files will not be further damaged after the repeated scan.

Features:

It is an easy-to-use software that allows you to recover a wide range of files quickly. Like Recoverit, the well-recognized powerful data recovery software, it requires you to take 3 steps only for recovering lost data on Mac, that's choosing a data loss scenario, scan and preview recoverable files and finally choose the files to recover. The simple recovery process simplifies your job in Mac data rescue and does save much time.

Overall Reviews: ★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: intuitive design, easy-to-use, powerful recovery capacity, preview before recovery.

Improvement: free version only allows files scan and preview, not compatible with other types of operating systems, and has no filtering option for scanning.

5. Data Rescue 5

This Mac hard drive recovery software that allows you to search for and restore data that are lost from damaged drives and accidental deletion from the disk they are stored in. Its free version allows you to recover 2GB of data and it can perform a quick scan, deep scan, deleted files scan, and clone recovered file.

Features:

It comes with 4 options at the beginning to meet your different needs, namely, Start Recovering Files, View Previous Scan Results, Clone, and Create Recovery Drive. The data rescue software for Mac can recover data backups from Time Machine, recognize the duplicate files, and eliminate the recovery of duplications.

Overall Reviews: ★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: Intuitive interface, offers a low entry-level pricing plan (PaperByte?) for those who do not need to recover massive amounts of data.

Improvement: slow scanning and recovery speeds, need to fill in an application form to use the free version, only scan and preview available with the free version, only support 100+ file types.

6. Disk Drill

Disk Drill Mac is a great Mac data recovery software that does not only provide data recovery solutions but also data protection capabilities with its Recovery Vault feature. This will prevent accidental deletion and backup failing disks. Like most great data recovery software, it allows users to preview files to help you decide which files to recover.

Features:

The same as many other Mac data recovery tools, it provides a quick scan and deep scan options. With the quick scan, you can recover missing files on Mac in a quick way, while the deep scan technology can dive deeper into your device for lost data. Also, like Recoverit, it supports you recovering files from emptied Mac trash easily and quickly.

It works well with Mac 10.8 or later OS and allows you to filter files and recover data selectively. The drawback is that only 200 different file types are available for data rescue through the Mac file recovery software, including pictures, videos, and documents.

Overall Review: ★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: comes with a SMART disk to monitor your hardware's disk status, a preview of files, Recovery Vault feature.

Improvement: free version only allows files scan and preview, difficult to navigate, scan result does not show original file names and folder paths.

7. M3 Mac Data Recovery Free

This free Mac data recovery software is one of the many freeware available to recover deleted data and lost files on your Mac. You will be able to apply the tools to a wide range of file formats that have been compromised by a corrupted hard disk, virus attack, system error, power failure, etc. It can be used on non-Apple products as well.

Features:

Wondershare File Recovery For Mac

It is the free undelete Mac software, compatible with Mac OS 10.7 through High Sierra. What makes it stand out from other Mac data recovery software is the Bitlocker Recovery feature. It allows you to recover Mac data from a deleted or lost Bitlocker encrypted partition. The drawback of the feature is that you have to offer the password for decrypting data.

Overall Review: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: high success rate, easy-to-use user interface, full version available for a free trial.

Improvement: slow scan speed, can only use a free trial for a limited amount of time.

8. Lazesoft Data Recovery

It is one of the truly free data recovery software out there that offers data recovery capabilities of the OS X operating system. You can scan and recover an unlimited amount of data using this tool.

Features:

You can recover data from resized partitions, formatted hard drives, memory cards, and iPods. You can also recover photos, videos, music, documents, and applications on Mac HFS/HFS+/FAT/NTFS file systems.

Overall Review: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: completely free, easy-to-use user interface.

Improvement: does not allow you to preview files, not support the newest Mac OS.

9. PhotoRec

PhotoRec Data Recovery is a free data recovery tool for your Mac. It can recover data that was lost due to a variety of reasons. It offers users 8 recovery modes for users to support you restoring Mac files lost due to deletion, formatting, lost partition, virus attack, and system crash.

Features:

Different types of data can be recovered on Mac, including photos, videos, audios, and emails. The recovered data remains intact in the original condition. The biggest drawback is that it is very hard for even an experienced person to use the Mac data recovery tool. Recovering Mac files with PhotoRec is a little like using the computer command line to perform the recovery process. And it is very easy to do wrong operations and cause further damage to your data.

Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: The ability to preview files before recovering data on Mac, free Mac data recovery without any limit.

Improvement: slower than average scan and recovery speeds, not user-friendly, need professional skill

10. Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery Software

The Mac data recovery tool is one of the best software users can use to get back deleted or lost files from your Mac machines. The name of this app is very significant as it equates to recovered files with a phoenix rising from the ashes!

Overall Review: ★★★ (5-star rating)

Advantages: fast, reliable, easy-to-use.

Improvement: no automated previewer, the free version is for scan and preview only.

Comparison of the Best Free Data Recovery Programs for Mac

Video Tutorial on How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac

FAQ About Free Data Recovery Software for Mac

How can I recover permanently deleted files from Mac without the software?

Although there is a free file recovery software for Mac, you may wonder if there is a way for you to recover deleted files on Mac without any software. To be honest, it is very nearly impossible to recover permanently deleted files without software. However, if your files are not permanently deleted from the Mac, you can try to restore the deleted files without software by using Terminal.

• Open Terminal;

• Enter cd.trash;

• Type mv xxx ../ and replace the xxx part with the name of the deleted file; Hit Enter;

• Now you can open Finder and search for the deleted files by name. The deleted file will appear.

Is there any completely free data recovery software for Mac?

You might have noticed that although there are lots of 'free' Macintosh file recovery programs, they are not completely free. Most of the free Mac data recovery programs offer the free version with limited features or provide a free trial of the full version with limits.

You can find some open-source data recovery tools that enable you to recover deleted files for Mac completely free, but open-source tools can be modified freely and are not supported by professional developing teams. Most of the completely free data recovery programs have been updated for years. Therefore, using completely free recovery tools is not safe and might fail to get back the files you need.

How does data recovery on Mac work?

Data recovery is trickier for Mac computers than Windows since SSDs are more commonly-used in MacBook and there is System Integrity Protection (SIP) on OS X El Capitan and later. With SIP enabled on your Mac, applications are unable to access the essential data in the system disk, which is a must for accessing the deleted files.

To use data recovery software on a Mac, you need to disable SIP first. Although SIP is disabled, it doesn't necessarily mean that the deleted files can be recovered. What a data recovery program does is to detect the bits of the deleted files from the hard drive and piece them back together. That's why the data recovery program usually takes hours or days to deeply scan the hard drive. Data Recovery is a time-consuming process.

How to select your Mac data recovery software?

After testing and reviewing the 10 best free Mac data recovery software, we can conclude all the key attributes that a piece of powerful Mac data recovery software should have.

• Support a wide range of files. There are so many types and formats of data we need and use every day. So Mac data recovery software needs to recover almost all kinds of data, at least photos, videos, music, audios, and Office documents.
• Support for Mac data recovery in all situations. Data loss can happen due to numerous factors, such as accidental deletion, virus attack, emptied Mac trash, hard drive corruption, formatting, and lost partitions.
• Support a variety of devices. We need different electronic devices to help us keep data preserved and protected, especially digital cameras, Mac computers, external hard drives, cell phones, flash drives, and so on.
• Straightforward interface. Not everyone is an expert in computer running algorithms or data recovery technology. So for an ideal Mac data recovery program, ease of use is necessary.
• Free Mac data recovery. As we can see, not all free Mac data recovery software can help you recover files on Mac free. If the software comes with only free scan and preview functions. It is not recognized as a free one.

What is the best free data recovery software for Mac?

After viewing the above content, we think that everyone has their own choice. You can choose your software according to your own needs. For example, if you are a professional computing expert, you can choose PhotoRec Data Recovery. It needs professional skills and has a very complicated recovery process, but it can help you recover files on Mac for free. However, if you want to recover Mac data more quickly and easily, it might be not a good option.

In contrast, Recoverit can help you recover lost or deleted files on Mac in 3 steps. It requires no professional skills in computing and technology. It also enables you to preview different types and formats of data on Mac.

The Bottom Line:

All the free Mac data recovery software above mentioned can help you recover lost data on Mac. If you want an easier and effective way to recover your deleted or lost data, we recommend Recoverit Data Recovery software. It is a reliable and safe Mac data recovery program. Download and try it for free now