In general, as long as no information is written to the released room, files remain recoverable, with only a few exceptions: Still, the space occupied by a file gets marked as available for new data, which may be generated either by the user or by the system. Only the information describing them is partially destroyed by the system while the actual data remains intact. Although each of them employs different deletion algorithms described in Peculiarities of data recovery depending on the OS, in most cases, files deleted from macOS do not get immediately erased from the hard disk.
Recover deleted files from the file systems of macOSĪt present, macOS applies three types of file systems: HFS+ is used on older Macs up to macOS 10.12 Sierra, APFS – on modern ones with macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later while FAT/exFAT can be found on portable devices. Also, using this utility, it is not possible to recover deleted files from an external hard drive, USB flash drive or a memory card. However, the main disadvantage of this method is that Time Machine can restore deleted files only if a timely backup has been made. Select the required file and click "Restore". Use the up/down arrow keys to navigate through time and the Space Bar to preview items. If such an icon is missing, open System Preferences, select Time Machine and tick "Show Time Machine in menu bar".įind the file you want to recover in the Time Machine folder. To launch Time Machine click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose "Enter Time Machine". To find and restore the files you've mistakenly deleted, follows the steps given below: Once configured, it automatically creates backups of Mac's internal drive to an external disk or a Time Capsule device. Time Machine is a built-in backup feature of macOS. Restore deleted files from Time Machine backup Just follow the right path and get them back before they are gone for good. The good news is that even under such circumstances it may be still possible to recover deleted files. Also, one should mention the situation when the Trash has been eventually emptied, either automatically or by the user command. The items can be removed with the help of the Command-Shift-Delete or Command-Shift-Option-Delete shortcuts, the "Delete Immediately" option from the Finder file menu. Though in most instances they can be easily dragged out of the Trash can located at the end of the Dock, this macOS "undelete" feature doesn't cover all cases of deletion. Mistaken deletion of necessary files or folders clearly ranks first in the list of user errors. Still, being much less vulnerable to malware when compared with PCs, Macs remain equally exposed to the consequences of inaccurate human actions. Increased security has always been the hallmark of Apple's Macintosh computers. How can I restore deleted files from macOS?