Recover Accidentally Deleted Files in OS X

We've all had that sinking feeling when we've realized that an important file has accidentally been deleted. It may seem like it's gone forever, but there are actually several ways that you can try to recover the file. If you haven't empties your Trash yet, that's the first place to look. If you've kept backups with Time Machine, you can restore your file from there. If nothing else has worked, you can try file recovery software, which can be free, to scour your hard drive for the deleted file.

Steps

Looking in the Trash Can

  1. Open the Trash Can. Items that you've set to be deleted are often sent to the Trash. The Trash will hold your items until you set them to be permanently deleted. You can open the Trash Can from the desktop.
  2. Find the item you want to restore. You can scroll through the Trash Can to find the file or files that you accidentally deleted. If the item is no longer in the Trash, you may need to use one of the following methods.
  3. Right-click the item and select Put Back. If this option is not available, the original location is no longer present. You will need to drag the file out of the Trash and place it on your desktop instead. You can then move the file to wherever you want.

Checking the Time Machine

  1. Open the window that contained the item you want to retrieve. If you have Use-Time-Machine, you may be able to restore an older version of the file that you deleted. Open the window that contained the file originally. For example, if you deleted something from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder.
  2. Connect your Time Machine drive. If your Time Machine backups are located on an external or network drive, ensure that the drive is connected before proceeding.
  3. Click the Time Machine menu. This is located in the menu bar. Select Enter Time Machine. Your computer may take a moment to connect to the Time Machine drive.
  4. Find your backup. Use the arrows to move back and forth between snapshots of that folder, or use the timeline on the right side of the screen to jump directly to specific backups. If the entry on the timeline is dimmed, it means the backup disk that contains the snapshot is not connected.
    • You can use the search bar to find specific files in the snapshot.
  5. Preview the file. Double-click a file to open it. This will let you see what version of the file is contained in the snapshot. Use the preview to find the version of the file that is closest to the one you want.
  6. Restore the file. Once you've found the file you need, select it and click . The item will be restored to its original location. You can select multiple items to restore them all at once.[1]
    • If the item was in multiple folders that were since deleted, you may be asked to recreate the folders so that the file can be restored.

Using a Data Recovery Program

  1. Stop using the drive. The key to recovering files using a data recovery program is to stop using the drive immediately. When a file is deleted, it is set to be overwritten. If you stop using the drive immediately, you increase the chances that the file has not been overwritten yet.
    • Don't open any programs, save, create, or delete any files, and if the deleted file is on your startup drive, turn your computer off.
  2. Download a file recovery program. Make sure to download the program on another computer or drive so that you don't accidentally overwrite the file you are trying to recover. Popular programs include:[2]
    • Rescue-Files-on-a-Corrupted-SD-Memory-Card-with-PhotoRec
    • Disk Drill (Free)
    • Rescue-Files-on-a-Corrupted-SD-Memory-Card-with-PhotoRec
    • FileSalvage
  3. Install the data recovery program onto a USB drive (if possible). If you can, install the data recovery program onto a disk drive in portable mode. This will allow you to connect the drive to your Mac and then run the program off of the USB drive, preventing anything on your hard drive from getting overwritten.
  4. Scan your drive. The process will vary depending on the program you choose, but generally you will be able to select the drive that you want to scan. Select the drive that contained the file you accidentally deleted. You may be asked to specify the types of files you want the program to look for. Narrowing the search can increase the speed of the scan.
    • You may be able to choose from a Quick or Full/Deep scan. Try the Quick scan first to see if your file can be recovered, as the Full scan can take a significant amount of time. If you can't recover the file in the Quick scan, then give the Full scan a go.
    • Some data recovery programs come with an Boot-a-Mac-from-USB-Drive. This has the potential to recover more files than scanning from within OS X.
    • If you are using PhotoRec, you will need to indicate the file system that the drive is using. You can select "Other" unless the disk has been formatted with the EXT2/EXT3 file system.[3]
  5. Select the file(s) you want to recover. After scanning your drive, you will be presented a list of files that can be recovered. File names will often be destroyed, so you may have to preview each file individually in order to find the one you want.
    • Not all files can be restored. You may have to sift through multiple files to find the one you want since file names will be unrecognizable.
  6. Save your files. After selecting the files you want to recover, you will be prompted to save the files somewhere. If you still have more files to try to find, do not save them to the drive they were deleted from. Instead, save them to an external drive or another connected drive.
    • If trying to recover a large number of files, recover the most important ones first. Even the recovery process can overwrite and corrupt deleted files, so make sure you grab the ones you need the most first.

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Sources and Citations

  1. Jump up ↑ http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11103
  2. Jump up ↑ http://www.cultofmac.com/67472/how-to-undelete-files-in-mac-os-x-macrx/
  3. Jump up ↑ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step
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