10.08.2020

Best Free Hard Drive Recovery Software Mac

Best Free Hard Drive Recovery Software Mac 4,8/5 221 votes

Our personal and professional data stored in Mac, if lost, can cause serious financial & emotional damage. There are many scenarios which can lead to such data loss; some of them include accidental deletion, hard drive failure, etc. In order to prevent such mishaps, you need to regularly backup your Mac storage drive.

List of best top free windows, antivirus, utilities & tools, security, games, video & audio, browser software and apps for computer, iOS and Android devices. Hard drive recovery mac Archives » Best Free. Choosing the best hard drive recovery software can be the biggest challenge especially when you need to urgently access the data. If you already know about the hard drive recovery, want a tool to recover deleted files from hard drive asap, then you can download Advanced Disk Recovery tool from here. Jul 07, 2020  Here is a list of the five best data recovery software applications for macOS: Disk Drill Data Recovery for Mac; EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac; Softtote Mac Data Recovery; Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac; Stellar Data Recovery Professional.

May 31, 2020  Disk Drill is unquestionably a formidable hard drive data recovery software that ranks high in the information technology industry. This application, developed by CleverFiles, is uniquely tailored to scan both external and internal storage devices, from your local disk drive to. From Green Data Recovery: Easily provides complete hard drive recovery solutions for Mac users to recover deleted or missing pictures, videos, music, Word documents, PDF files, etc. From external.

Having a backup of your data gives you peace of mind against sudden data loss and its consequences. Nevertheless, there can be many scenarios where you fail to keep a backup leading to permanent data loss. In such cases, only a professional Mac data recovery solution can help you recover your lost data

A data recovery software recovers lost files from any storage medium. The software scans the storage media and recovers your lost documents, PDFs, audio, video, emails, documents, etc. Let us look at the best free backup and data recovery software for Mac.

Free Backup Software for Mac

1. Time Machine

Time Machine backs all files, apps, music, photos, emails, and documents, etc. on your Mac. It is a built-in app on MacOS which when turned on, automatically backs up your Mac and performs hourly, daily, and weekly backups of your files in an external drive.

Features:

  1. Inbuilt feature on Mac systems
  2. Automatic backup feature
  3. Backup scheduling functionality

Cost

Free

2. Stellar Drive Clone

Stellar Drive Clone can clone and create a disk image of your Mac hard drive, SSDs, partitions and external hard drives. This way, it allows you to take backup of all your important files and folders. You can use this clone of your hard drive as a backup to protect you against various data loss scenarios. The software can even clone encrypted hard drives and volumes and ensure backup of your most sensitive files.

It is one of the most comprehensive backup software, which supports multiple file systems and provides complete disk utility features, including resizing of drive volume. A complete list of features is listed below:

  1. Clones Mac HD, Recovery HD and local volumes to any other storage medium
  2. Supports multiple file systems, such as HFS, HFS+, FAT, and ex-FAT
  3. Creates snapshot of your hard drive surpassing any bad sectors and unused file space.
  4. Restores Mac HD or HFS volume to their original state
  5. Allows you to create a bootable disk image

Cost:

Free to download – Evaluate features such as, Cloning, Imaging, Restore, etc.
Paid version: $39

Download

3. Backblaze

Backblaze is a cloud backup solution provider which backs up your files in its secure servers. You also have the option to schedule backup and set an upload limit. If you need to restore these files later, you can easily download them from the Backblaze’s website.

Features:

  1. Keeps old and deleted files for 30 days
  2. Option to increase the backup limit for up to 1 year (with additional charge)
  3. Automatic backing up of all data
  4. Back-up scheduling feature
  5. Can locate your lost/stolen Mac

Cost
Free download. 15 days of free trial.
Paid versions: $6 (monthly), $60 (year), $100 (2 year)

4. DropBox

Dropbox is a secure storage platform which stores all your valuable info at one place. It offers flexible storage plans and is a global leader in sharing & storage systems. A cloud platform, The software allows faster access, storage, and retrieving of data. You can manage your files on the go and the files can be accessed from any device.

Features:

  1. Easy recovery of deleted files and restoration of previous file versions
  2. Can access any device
  3. File sharing
  4. Offline backup and recovery
  5. Third party integration with over 300,000 connected apps
  6. Remote wiping feature which allows you to wipe data from stolen/lost devices

Cost

Free download. 30 days Free Trial.
Paid versions: $12.50 per month (standard) and $20 per month (advanced)

Free Mac Data Recovery Software!

A data recovery software rescues your lost data in no backup scenario i.e. when you had failed to back your data. The list below demonstrates the top free Mac data recovery software.

1. Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac

Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac offers a free data recovery software for macOS, which recovers all types of files such as documents, folders, photos, videos, audio, etc. from all kinds of storage devices, such as Mac hard drives, external hard drives, memory cards, SSD drives, SD cards, etc. The software is designed to recover files from all loss scenarios.

The software scans your Mac systems, previews the lost files, and allows you to recover up to 1 GB of deleted data.

Features:

  1. Recover lost or deleted documents, photos, videos, audio, email & more
  2. Preview before you recover
  3. Intuitive interface, which is easy-to-use.
  4. Save up to 1GB of deleted data with the Free version.
  5. Offers Professional version for unlimited and advanced recovery

Cost
Free version offers scan, preview and recovery of up to 1GB of lost data.
Professional version: $79.99

Download

Click on the button below to download the software for free.

2. Disk Drill for Mac

Disk Drill is designed to recover files seamlessly on your Mac systems. The software comes with additional features, which enables you to also recover archived, hidden, and compressed, or encrypted files.

Features:

  1. Supports a wide range of file formats and systems on your Mac system.
  2. Additional tools such as diagnostics, cleanup, duplicate finder, etc are also offered.
  3. Offers multi-level scans
  4. Sleek user interface with a preview feature.

Cost

Basic: Free
Pro: $89
Enterprise: $399

3. AnyRecover

AnyRecover is an advanced data recovery software, purpose-built to recover lost or deleted files from multiple data loss scenarios. The new version of the software also supports Mac Recovery with MacPE bootable media.

Features:

  1. Recover more than 1000+ file types on Mac with a single click
  2. Access multi-level scan features
  3. Recover from all loss scenarios such as emptied trash, corrupted device, partition error, etc.
  4. The tool supports APFS encrypted hard drive with password
  5. Get free technical support and lifetime free updates with the Pro plan.

Cost

Basic: Free
Pro: $49.95

4. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free data recovery tool, which recovers photos, files, videos and other files. The open-source tool also has a diagnostics feature, which scans the corrupted file and recommends if restoration is possible.

Features

  1. Open Source software which is completely free
  2. The file diagnosis feature checks the device sector by sector.

Cost

Free

Conclusion

In this blog, we looked at various free data backup and recovery software for Mac, which can protect your data against accidental loss, hardware/software crashes, virus attacks, etc. The first defense is backing up your data, so that you don’t lose your valuable info, even if there is fatal damage to your Mac device. In case of no backup, a data recovery software can come to your rescue by recovering your lost data from a variety of loss scenarios. Stellar Drive Clone and Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac are highly recommended products, which provide comprehensive and effective data backup and data storage services, respectively.

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Summary

If you lost or deleted important files, you can turn to hard drive recovery software for help. There is 15 best hard drive recovery software introduced here. Among them, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard outranks its equivalents. Download this data recovery software to recover all your lost data from your hard drive immediately or read on to get all the details and choose the one you prefer.

Causes of Hard Drive Data Loss

Data loss on hard drives, be it internal or external, occurs more frequently than you expect. Usually, it's caused by the following reasons:

  • A file or folder was accidentally deleted.
  • Some or all of the partitions have been formatted (e.g., using Fdisk).
  • The system displays the message 'NTLDR is missing, Press any key to restart'.
  • The partition table is corrupt or damaged.
  • A file or folder on your hard drive became inaccessible due to virus attack or virus infection.

At this point, most people learn the importance of a backup. But people often lost data without any backup. That’s what makes the hard drive recovery software necessary for users.

What Should You Consider While Choosing Disk Recovery Software

Many software producers claim their hard drive recovery software to be the best in the field. But what makes a great data recovery tool? The higher the price is, the better the software will be? Or you just want the freeware regardless of its quality. Actually, while choosing hard disk data recovery software, you should consider the following factors.

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First, It should meet your needs well

Here 'needs' indicates the situation in which you need to perform data recovery. An excellent software tool should be able to recover data from a hard drive in different data loss scenarios, like deletion, format, partition loss, partition/disk becoming RAW/inaccessible, virus infection, and more. Make sure the software you choose supports the data recovery from your specific data loss situation.

Second, it should be reliable

The hard drive recovery software should be virus-free, plugin-free and won't cause further damage to the lost/deleted/formatted data.

What's more, the Hard disk recovery software shouldn't crash during the data recovery process.

What equally important is that there should be both pre-sale and after-sale technical support available from the software producer that will serve you anytime you need it.

Third, it should be fast and have a high success rate

Hard drive recovery software pc

Depending on the hard drive capacity and data stored on the storage medium, it may take hours to scan the hard drive searching for the lost files. That’s why speed matters. Here is the result of the top 5 hard drive recovery software scanning the same partition (127GB free of 141GB) searching for deleted/lost files:

Product NameRecover My FilesRecuvaDisk DrillStellar Data RecoveryEaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Scanning Time1h> 1h> 1h37min27min
Files Found321,297 files111,213 files2,254 files414,170 files784,741 files
File Size13.80GBno size is shown1.92GB19.84GB38.53GB

Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software

Besides, make sure the hard drive data recovery software is capable of recovering data successfully. For information about its success rate, you can refer to the comments from the real users and reviews from authoritative sites, like Trustpilot.

Last but not least, it should be user-friendly

A great disk recovery tool should make it simple for its users to use by providing a clear and intuitive interface. The data recovery process should be as easy as possible. In addition, the software must have some advanced features that help users quickly locate the lost files. Such features include filters, search bars, preview pane, and more.

Of course, there may be other qualities you concern yourself with. No matter what it is, check the list above and choose the best hard drive recovery software for yourself.

Here I list the top 15 disk recovery software for you. Choose the one best suited to your needs.

Top 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard - Easy and Robust Hard Drive Recovery Software

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a professional data recovery utility that has helped millions of users retrieve their precious data. Whether you have deleted files from a disk, formatted the disk, lost partitions or the disk became RAW/inaccessible/unrecognized, you can recover the files with this hard disk recovery software. Other than hard drive recovery, it also supports deleted data recovery, formatted data recovery, Recycle Bin emptied data recovery, OS crash recovery, and RAW partition recovery from Windows computers and Windows-compatible storage devices like SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, digital cameras, video players..

Pros

  • Supports the recovery of all file types from various devices
  • Virus-free and plugin-free; Has fast scanning speed and high data recovery quality
  • A simple interface and advanced features that contribute to a smooth recovery process, like filters, tags, search bar, and preview pane
  • Easy 3-step recovery process; Quick scan and deep scan options
  • Supports file system including FAT(FAT12,FAT16,FAT32), exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ext2/ext3, HFS+, ReFS

Cons

  • When you specify the location, it results in scanning the whole disk where the folder located.

Steps to Restore Lost HDD Data with EaseUS

Now you can follow the guide to perform a fast hard drive recovery to get back your lost files in simple steps:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS hard drive recovery software.

Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your PC and select the drive on your hard disk where you lost or deleted files. Click 'Scan' and let this program scan all lost data and files on the selected hard drive.

Step 2. Check and preview all lost hard drive data.

Find lost hard drive data from 'Deleted Files', 'Lost Files' or use 'Filter' to quickly navigate the lost data. Check and double-click to preview these found files.

Step 3. Restore lost hard drive data to a safe location.

Hard drive recovery software pc

After the preview, select wanted files that you lost on the drive and click 'Recover' to save them. Browse to choose a safe location on your PC or other external storage devices to store these restored hard drive data.

Top 2. Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery software (https://www.stellarinfo.com/windows-data-recovery-professional.php) is an excellent data recovery tool that helps to recover data from various real-life data loss situations. With full support for hard drive recovery, Stellar Data Recovery enables you to recover data from lost, damaged or corrupted hard drives. In addition to basic data recovery features, Stellar Data Recovery has exclusive features like optical media recovery and SMART drive monitoring and cloning.

Pros

  • Recovers lost files from all types of Windows devices
  • Supports scanning a specific folder
  • Has a clear interface and simple recovery guide
  • 4-step recovery process
  • 5-Quick scan and deep scan options

Cons

  • The first step 'Select What To Recover' sometimes makes it confusing for users who want to recover data from a specific device

Top 3. Disk Drill

Cleverfiles Disk Drill (https://www.cleverfiles.com/disk-drill-windows.html) is also one of the well-known hard drive recovery software tools in the field. It supports to retrieve deleted, erased and lost data from hard drives. Other than the data recovery feature, Disk Drill also provides users with extra functions like data protection and backup drive.

Pro

  • Has auxiliary features like data protection and backup drive
  • Organizes files found by category
  • Filters the results by size and data
  • Supports multiple file systems

Cons

  • The scanning takes a longer time compared with the previous equivalents and the files found are much less
  • The setup process is a little bit tricky and you may skip the step of choosing the custom installation path

Top 4. Recuva

Piriform Recuva (https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva) is widely used among users who have lost files accidentally. What differentiates Recuva with other hard drive recovery software is that it's more interactive. Recuva guides you through the data recovery process by asking you several questions, which makes it more user friendly.

Pros

  • Provides Recova Wizard that helps you get back files easily
  • Allows to scan a specific location
  • Supports the email recovery of Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Microsoft Outlook
  • An integrated interface that simplifies the recovery process

Cons

  • The interface makes it looks old
  • You cannot preview the result during the scanning

Top 5. Recover My Files

Recover My Files (http://www.recovermyfiles.com) is a reliable data recovery software tool that is solely compatible with Windows. It enables users to recover files from hard drive, SD card, USB Zip drives, floppy disk, iPod, and more. It performs well in Recycle Bin recovery, formatted data recovery, OS reinstallation recovery, RAW partition recovery, and more. Documents, photos, videos, audio files, and emails are all recoverable.

Pros

  • Supports conventional storage devices like hard drives, SD cards, USBs, and iDevice like iPod
  • Allows to scan the backup (image file) of a partition
  • Sorts out files by date
  • Allows to adjust the layout of the items

Cons

  • Old-fashioned software interface
  • The data recovery process is relatively complex than its competitors

Top 6. Acronis Revive

Acronis Revive (https://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/how-to-recover-files/) is also one of the best hard drive recovery solutions for users. Acronis data recovery software improves the data recovery experience of users by offering simple yet powerful features. It helps to rescue data that are emptied from Recycle Bin, lost due to virus attacks, destroyed by changes to an HDD.. Be it a hard drive, memory card, or USB, Acronis Revive is capable of getting your files back from the device.

Pros

  • Precisely identifies all the partitions, be it existing or lost, on the hard drives
  • Filters files by file name or extension
  • Shows results selectively
  • Has fast scanning speed

Cons

  • The interface and introduction make it confusing and complex for users
  • The operations are not in accordance with user habits

Top 7. R-Studio

R-Studio (https://www.r-studio.com/) is a powerful hard drive recovery tool that supports not only internal/external hard drives but also network disks, which makes it outrank most of its equivalents. R-Studio claims to use unique and advanced data recovery technologies that perform well in all kinds of data loss scenarios. Whether the hard drive is formatted, damaged, or deleted, R-Studio will rescue the files from it.

Pros

  • Enables the data recovery from various data loss situations
  • Supports multiple file systems
  • Exclusively supports the data recovery from network drives
  • Allows to create image files and recover files from image files
  • Supports to specify the scan area

Cons

  • Old-fashioned and relatively complex interface
  • Takes a long time for a simple scan

Top 8. Data Rescue

Data Rescue (https://www.prosofteng.com/windows-data-recovery/) is both Windows and Mac compatible. This data recovery software perfectly supports hard drive data recovery after deletion, format, partition lost.. Except for hard disks, Data Rescue can also retrieve lost photos, videos, documents, and more from SD cards, CF cards, Thunderbolt drives, and FireWire drives.

Pros

  • Excludes duplicated files automatically
  • Allows to preview files before recovery
  • Helps to locate files by filters or searching
  • Provides disk clone feature for data protection

Cons

  • Fails to recognize all the existing partitions on the hard drives sometimes
  • Can’t find any files via Quick Scan in some situations

Top 9. OnTrack EasyRecovery

Ontrack EasyRecovery (https://www.ontrack.com/products/data-recovery-software/) is one of the choices for disk data recovery. It will retrieve files from an HDD, SSD, memory card, USB, and optical media after deletion, format, corruption, and more. Other than basic data recovery features, EasyRecovery also enables users to perform advanced RAID recovery.

Pros

  • Recovers photos, videos, documents, and more
  • Retrieves files after deletion, format, hard disk damage and corruption
  • Supports multiple storage devices
  • Allows to preview results before recovery

Cons

  • Must enter personal information to download the software

Top 10. Wise Data Recovery Software

Wise Data Recovery (https://www.wisecleaner.com/wise-data-recovery.html) is a free data recovery tool that helps to recover lost photos, videos, audio files, documents, and more from local hard drives and removable devices like external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, digital cameras, mobile phones, and MP3 players. With advanced algorithms, Wise Data Recovery performs well to retrieve lost data from the supported devices.

Pros

  • Free to use
  • Light and space-saving
  • Fast scanning speed
  • Provides portable versions
  • Filters files by category

Cons

  • Only supports FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems
  • Shows messy codes in the preview pane for unsupported formats

Top 11. Puran Data Recovery

Most of you may hear Puran Data Recovery (http://www.puransoftware.com/Data-Recovery.html) for the first time. But honestly speaking, it is data recovery utility that worths your attention. Unlike other data recovery software, Puran Data Recovery directly recovers data from a damaged hard disk, CD, DVD, Pen Drive, and any other media supported by Windows to a selected location. The distinctive data recovery process makes it special among its competitors.

Pros

  • Skips bad sectors automatically while recovering files
  • Supports optical drives like CDs, DVDs, and Blu Rays
  • Allows to add a partition by drag-and-drop

Cons

  • Can't preview the result
  • Can't filter the files you want to recover

Top 12. Glary Undelete

Glary Undelete (https://www.glarysoft.com/glary-undelete/) is less known compared with software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Disk Drill, and Stellar Data Recovery Wizard. But as one of the data recovery choices, Glary Undelete is also able to recover files from internal hard drives and external storage media including external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and more.

Pros

  • Sorts out result by name, size, and date
  • Recovers compressed, fragmented, and encrypted files on NTFS partitions
  • Filters files by name, date, size, and recovery state
  • Analyzes recovery possibilities

Cons

  • Old-fashioned interface
  • Fails to find lost files sometimes

Top 13. Orion File Recovery

Orion File Recovery (https://www.nchsoftware.com/data-recovery/index.html) can undelete files from Windows computers and Windows-compatible storage devices. In addition to data recovery features, Orion File Recovery is also equipped with exclusive features that will permanently erase data from your hard drive to protect privacy.

Pros

  • Provides Recover File Wizard that guides you through the data recovery process
  • Filters search results by folder, file type, name and more
  • Allows to specify scanning locations
  • Provides extra feature 'Scrub Files' to erase data completely

Cons

  • The scanning process is slightly slow
  • You may install other utilities unintentionally during the installation of the software

Top 14. PC Inspector File Recovery

PC Inspector File Recovery (http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?Language=1) works well to recover data from a computer, external hard drives, USB devices, and network drives. Even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged, PC Inspector File Recovery will find the partitions existing on the hard drive. Besides, it's freeware and you can use it without any cost.

Pros

  • Completely free to use
  • Recover files with the original time and date stamp
  • Supports to recover files from network drives
  • Recovers files when a header entry is unavailable

Cons

  • Old-fashioned interface design
  • Uses icons to represents features, which is confusing

Top 15. TestDisk Data Recovery

Unlike all the hard drive recovery mentioned above, TestDisk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk) is the open resource software that is used to recover lost partitions. It is able to recover deleted partitions from hard drives and fix the partition table, recover the boot sector, and more. Since TeskDisk is open source software, you can inspect, modify, and enhance it as long as you know how to do it.

Pros

Recovery Hard Drive Software Free

  • Open resource software
  • Recover lost partitions
  • Fix disks that won't boot
  • Recover various file types

Cons

Free Hard Drive Recovery Download

  • Inconvenient for regular users

Hard Disk Recovery Mac

The Bottom Line

Do you find the hard drive recovery software you need from the list above? As long as your lost files are not overwritten, you can apply one of the software above to have a try but the success rate varies. The higher the software rank, the higher the chance you will get your files back. If your hard drive is physically damaged, I'm afraid none of the software above will help. In that case, you should send your hard drive for manual data recovery services.