Looking for Mac Free File Recovery Utility

[rich_mark]

Recently I installed the macOS Catalina 10.15 and found that my MacBook Pro is running slow after this upgrade. So I started deleting unwanted files to get some free space .. Accidentally, I deleted a few critical files including JPEG, PDFs, and PPTX. Unfortunately, my Time Machine also doesn’t seem to have an updated backup. Is there any way to get back those files?

 

[chscag]

First thing I advise you to do, is stop using the machine as you may overwrite those deleted files on the drive. If that happens, they may be gone forever.

I recommend Disk Drill for file recovery. They have a free version you can use. Note that you will need an external drive to copy the recovered files to. You can not copy recovered files on the same drive as that will cause corruption.

Disk Drill - Best Free Mac Data Recovery Software in 2025!

Disk Drill: The best data recovery software for Mac OS X. Recover deleted or lost data from any storage device, iOS and Android. Free scanning.

www.cleverfiles.com

And, buy a copy of either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper and use one of them to make backups in addition to Time Machine.

 

[toMACsh]

For "critical" files, you want a free utility... ????

Hope you get them back!

 

[Slydude]

Unfortunately, my Time Machine also doesn’t seem to have an updated backup. Is there any way to get back those files?

You've probably thought of this already but here goes anyway.

The files that you are looking for won't be in an updated Time Machine. When you examine the Time Machine backups make sure that you are looking at a date that is before you deleted the files.

 

[ethanjarvis]

Recently I installed the macOS Catalina 10.15 and found that my MacBook Pro is running slow after this upgrade. So I started deleting unwanted files to get some free space .. Accidentally, I deleted a few critical files including JPEG, PDFs, and PPTX. Unfortunately, my Time Machine also doesn’t seem to have an updated backup. Is there any way to get back those files?

Were you backing up the data to Cloud? If yes, then you still have the chance to recover your files without you needing a data recovery software.

1. Sign into iCloud.com
2. Go to Setting.
3. Then to the Advanced section.
4. Click Restore Files.

1. Choose the files and Restore.

Otherwise, you can look online for free data recovery tools for Mac. Here is a helpful list of free software.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Recently I installed the macOS Catalina 10.15 and found that my MacBook Pro is running slow after this upgrade. So I started deleting unwanted files to get some free space .. Accidentally, I deleted a few critical files including JPEG, PDFs, and PPTX. Unfortunately, my Time Machine also doesn’t seem to have an updated backup. Is there any way to get back those files?

There is some very powerful, free, file recovery software available. It requires that it be run from the command line, but it doesn't require any special knowledge to do so.:

PhotoRec (free)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

However, there is potentially a HUGE problem with using this recovery software, or ANY recovery software. Catalina reformats your internal hard drive as APFS. It does this automatically without asking. Apple hasn't released the full specs for APFS. That means that NO THIRD PARTY has the specs to create file recovery software that depends on knowing the APFS file system. PhotoRec isn't really meant for APFS formatted disks. (Which doesn't mean that it won't work, according to their documentation. But it's a guess as to whether it will or not.) I'm not sure what (if anything) there is that will work to recover lost files from a disk formatted as APFS.

 

[IWT]

To to add to Randy's excellent summary, the situation is even worse if your Mac's Internal Hard drive is an SSD. Is it?

Recovering data from a SSD even if formatted in the older Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), is highly problematic.

So, if you have a combination of APFS and a SSD............ well, good luck.

Ian

 

[chscag]

To to add to Randy's excellent summary, the situation is even worse if your Mac's Internal Hard drive is an SSD. Is it?

What hasn't been mentioned about recovering data from an SSD is that if TRIM is activated, your chances of recovering anything is greatly diminished.

And, it should be pointed out that all Apple SSDs have TRIM activated. Still the best way to recover data is make backups!