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.

Free download iBoysoft data recovery application on your Mac. Launch the program from Finder Application folder and select the disk/partition that contained the missing files. Uncheck Deep scan for deleted file recovery while keep it checked for more thorough data recovery. Besides, some of these free Mac data recovery tools have their extra features like data backup and duplicate files finder in Disk Drill for Mac. You can dig more features when using them. In this post, we show you 5 reliable and safe professional free Mac data recovery software. IBoysoft Mac OS Data Recovery Software is a free software to use for files recovery. Its free trial version can recover up to 1GB recoverable data from Mac OS. IBoysoft data recovery software supported more to than 1000 files types. Its preview feature can helps to find right files before recover.

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.

Data Recovery For Mac Free

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' 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.

Summary: Check out the 10 best and free data recovery software for Mac in 2021 found in most online searches. The curated list will help you make an informed decision and save your time, effort.

It's apparent you are hereafter facing a data loss event. And rightfully, you look forward to a Mac data recovery software that is reliable, compatible with your system and offers you with Free Data Recovery. Isn't it? Trust this; you won't be disappointed.

1. Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac

Price: Free

It is one of the best free Mac data recovery software that people mostly pick. “Old wine tastes better with age.” And Stellar Data Recovery fulfills this adage by serving the world from the past 26 years with complete customer satisfaction.

The software provides you with hope to recover your deleted Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF documents, photos, videos, audio files, and emails from any Mac device—MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, or their Pro models. The UI of the software resembles the newer macOS dark theme, so you’ll feel at home.

Download the *free edition of the Stellar Data Recovery software from here.

Free Mac Data Recovery Software How-to Steps

The software recovers lost files in 3 necessary steps—Select, Scan, and Recover.

1. Select the type of file and drive location.
2. Scan the drive for lost or deleted files.
3. Recover and save the recoverable files.

*The free edition allows free scanning, free previewing, and up to 1 GB data recovery. To recover more, upgrade it. Check out the various editions. They all have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Advantages:

The free Mac data recovery tool is replete with features. For instance, “Deep Scan” assures up to100% of the lost data recovery using file signatures. Customization of key data-scan parameters, including drive area selection, type of data, and file format, helps accelerate the recovery process.

The laundry list of data recovery capabilities is just enormous— free deleted file recovery, free external drive recovery, free external drive recovery, encrypted and corrupt hard drive recovery, Boot Camp Partition recovery, and recovery from latest MacBook Pro.

The tool supports data recovery in macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, and earlier versions. In terms of storage-specific data recovery, it does perfectly well with all types of Mac storage devices, namely external hard drives, SSDs, Fusion Drives, pen drives, and SD cards. Plus, it is compatible with APFS, HFS+, FAT/ex-FAT, and NTFS formatted storage drives.

Disadvantages:

The free edition doesn’t have unlimited data recovery capability. Also, there is no option to recover a non-booting Mac. For exclusive advanced features, you need to upgrade the Free Edition to Professional version.

2. Tenoshare 4DDiG (Mac)

Price: Lifetime license @ $69.95

A powerful Mac file recovery software used to recover unlimited deleted, lost, and formatted data viz. photos, videos, email, web file, audios, archives, documents, and other files from Mac and external storage devices.

Advantages:

Wondershare Data Recovery For Mac Free

The software provides lost file recovery, partition recovery, and raw recovery. It supports Mac T2 chip data recovery. By using the software, you can handle any logical data loss scenarios reasonably. Also, you can preview photos and audios before recovering.

The software also recovers data from failed, crashed, or dead MacBook. It fully supports macOS Big Sur 11 and other lower versions. And is compatible with APFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. Moreover, it is backed with 24 by 7 help center.

Disadvantages:

It does not provide file repair functionality.

3. Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac

Price: Essential version at $79.95

Recoverit for Mac is quite useful & safe to recover your lost data from Mac. It recovers lost office files, graphics, videos, audio, outlook & archive files, and document files from your Mac’s internal HDD, external HDD, memory cards, USB flash drive, SD card, etc. The standard version of the software can create bootable media that relieve you in recovering data from a crashed Mac.

Advantages:

Allows data recovery from various data loss scenarios, including power failure, accidental emptying of Trash, factory reset with no backup, inaccessibility or raw state, partition imperfection or error, virus attack, hard disk drive crash, and re-installation or upgrade of the operating system.

The software is fully compatible with macOS 10.9 to 10.15 (macOS Catalina). It supports APFS, ExFAT, FAT16, FAT32, HFS+, NTFS, Ext2, Ext 3, Ext4, and other file systems. The software comes with 24 by 7 professional technical support.

Disadvantages:

It has no support for Mac Crash Recovery. For that, you need to upgrade to the Standard or Advanced data recovery plan.

4. Ontrack Easy Recovery for Mac

Price: Home Edition at $99

This Mac file recovery software helps you 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. You can use this Data Recovery tool on various Mac machines, including iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro.

Advantages:

The tool provides raw recovery on lost volumes and has the option to stop and start recovery at a convenient time. It supports any APFS data recovery, HFS+, HFS, FAT, NTFS, or exFAT formatted drive and supports macOS Catalina 10.15.

The software allows you to preview recoverable files, create an image of volumes, perform encrypted disk recovery, and get back data from Boot Camp partition.

Disadvantages:

Free trial of the software is available after you fill out the form with your complete information.

5. Data Rescue for Mac

Price: Pro version at $471.95

Data Rescue can easily find, preview, and recover lost data, reformatted drive, or deleted files. The software’s recovery function works beyond hard drive recovery and provides comprehensive recovery from numerous devices, including SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, CF cards, and many more.

Advantages:

The software’s interface allows you to start recovering files, view previous scan results, clone, and create recovery drive options. Using the software, you can recover images, movies, audio, mail, documents, text, archives, and various file formats.

You can use a quick scan or deep scan mode to scan your storage drive. And even get email notifications for your current or completed scans and know your duplicate files. The software is compatible with macOS 10.12 and later versions.

Disadvantages:

Expensive.

6. Softtote Data Recovery Mac

Price: Free

Softtote Data Recovery Mac is an all-in-one Mac data recovery software for your lost or deleted files, formatted drives, and missing partition. The tool recovers data from corrupt or erased HDD, USB flash drive, camera, memory card, and MP3 or MP4 player.

Advantages:

The software provides unparalleled ease of use, timesaving and enhanced scanning method, file classification, filter and preview, and raw file searching. Plus, the tool has the option of Photo Recovery, File Recovery, and Lost Partition Recovery.

The utility is compatible with macOS High Sierra 10.13 and lower versions up to Mac OS X 10.6. It supports data recovery from HFS+, HFS Wrapper, HFS, HFSX, NTFS, and FAT file system volumes in the original file structure.

Disadvantages:

The tool has no support for macOS Catalina and APFS.

7. Disk Drill for Mac

Price: Pro version at $59.02

This DIY recovery software recovers data even if Mac’s internal or external hard drive has trouble accessing the data. With over 200+ file types, the software engine is powerful enough to retrieve music files, photos, videos, and other data.

Advantages:

You can use the software to rescue data even in case of a corrupted or missing files system. The GUI of software is straightforward to use, and its recover button can get back all your deleted data.

The software cleans up Mac, finds duplicate files from a storage drive, backs up data, creates a bootable USB drive, protects data with a recovery vault, monitors the drive’s health, and analyzes disk storage.

The software is macOS Big Sur ready. And, it supports APFS, HFS, HFS+, FAT, FAT32, ex-FAT, NTFS, or EXT3/EXT4 file systems.

Disadvantages:

Scan result doesn’t show files with the original name.

8. Do Your Data Recovery

Price: Pro version at $105.02

Do Your Data Recovery software recovers data from Mac desktop, laptop, hard drive, removable media, and digital devices lost due to deletion, format, wrong operation, OS crash, virus attack, and other unknown reasons. You can launch the software, scan for hard drive or device, and recover lost files immediately.

Advantages:

The tool’s wizard-based interface is easy to use. It allows you to save and resume recovery, search and filter files, and preview recoverable files before saving. You can use the software to recover from all types of files, including documents, folders, photos, videos, audio or voice files, archives, and emails.

The software is macOS Big Sur ready and is compatible with earlier versions up to 10.7. Moreover, it supports data recovery from APFS, HFS+/HFS, FAT 12/16/32, exFAT, NTFS, Ext2/3/4, and other file system formatted storage drives.

Disadvantages:

Quite expensive.

9. Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery

Price: Free

Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is an easy and powerful free data recovery software for Mac. It can help you recover your lost or deleted documents, music, photos, videos, and applications from hard disk, memory card, USB flash drive, iPod, or any mountable media. The software can recover data from deleted, formatted, or corrupt partition.

Advantages:

The software provides limitless data recovery, dynamic file preview, progress status info, deep scan, and file search functionality. Plus, it comes with free technical support.

The software is compatible with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 and later. Also, it supports HFS+, HFS, HFSX, exFAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and NTFS5 file systems.

Disadvantages:

The software’s website doesn’t show compatibility for APFS and the latest macOS.

10. Mac Data Recovery Guru

Price: Free

This free data recovery tool for MacBook allows recovery of deleted files from hard drives, memory cards, USB flash drives, and optical media.

Advantages:

Mac Data Recovery Guru has the option of “Search for embedded files” that performs exhaustive search based on file types. The software supports APFS, HFS+, HFS, HFSX, NTFS, FAT, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, XFS, and UFS.

Disadvantages:

The software’s website doesn’t show support for the latest macOS and APFS.

FAQs Related to Mac Data Recovery Software

When does a Mac data recovery tool work?

Data recovery is feasible if you have stopped using your Mac immediately after emptying Trash, deletion of volume, or erasure of drive. Also, your Mac must boot. And, if your Mac doesn’t start, then you need a recovery software with bootable USB drive creation functionality.

Furthermore, data recovery is possible from an external storage drive using a data recovery software if and only if the connected storage drive is visible in Disk Utility (even in the greyed-out state) or System Information.

When doesn’t Mac data recovery work?

Data recovery won’t work if the storage drive is overwritten, formatted using security options of Erase in Disk Utility, or wiped by using a secure wipe software that uses advanced drive erasure algorithm in multiple passes. Also, data recovery won’t work for TRIM enabled internal Mac SSD. In such situations, only a backup of your Mac storage drive can salvage your lost data.

Moreover, data recovery isn’t possible for an external storage device—SSD, Hard Drive, or USB Flash Drive—when the drive doesn’t appear in Disk Utility or System Information window. This non-appearance can be due to physical damage to the storage medium. Then, a data recovery service provider can help.

What are the attributes of an ideal data recovery software?

An ideal data recovery software must have the following attributes:

• Recover all file-formats including photo, audio, video, document & email.
• Supportthe latest macOS and all compatible file systems & devices.
• Provide easy to use interface that recovers lost data in minimum steps.
• Feature advanced functionality such as recovery from unbootable Mac.
• Be backed up with the support team to answer all data recovery queries.

Which is completely free data recovery software for Mac?

You can try Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac to recover up to 1 GB of data for free. A completely free data recovery software for Mac is rare to find online. If found, it won’t be suitable for most Mac users due to lack of a graphical user interface, need to type commands to perform the recovery task, and don’t provide file preview and other advanced functionality freemium or premium software offers.

Real Free Data Recovery For Mac Os X

How to get maximum data recovered by software?

To maximize data recovery through software, you must immediately stop using your Mac or the external storage drive after data loss. This prompt action helps avoid overwriting on the existing but inaccessible files from the storage drive.

How to recover empty trash data?

To recover empty Trash data, launch a Mac data recovery software. And, from the interface, select and scan the volume wherein data got deleted. Preview the Trash deleted files, select the required ones, and recover them to a distinct volume.

Android Data Recovery For Mac Free

How to boot a Mac and recover data?

If your Mac doesn’t boot, then you should employ a Mac data recovery software that can create a bootable recovery drive. Download and install the software on a working Mac, create a recovery drive, and then connect the drive to a non-booting Mac to recover data.

Conclusion

The top 10 free Mac data recovery software of 2021 brings forth significant features to provide you with comprehensive data recovery benefits. Identifying the right one based on your specific data recovery needs and circumstances out of these is relatively easy. For example, if you are using a Mac that runs macOS Catalina, then you would need to evaluate only those data recovery software that supports Catalina, and, also, to what extent.

What all OS, file systems, storage devices, and data loss scenarios does the software works in would be a few other essential factors to consider. Another important aspect is the ease of use. A software that’s easy and completely DIY would make a better choice than the ones that demand technical proficiency.

And then how well the overall value stands, meaning which software brings the best value for the money that you’ll spend. It’s better to have software that not just addresses your present data recovery needs but would also rescue you from other data loss incidents in the future. So, proactive drive monitoring, cloning, and disk imaging should be the add-on features to look at.