Hello, I would like to know what are the best apps for recovering missing or lost files (that apple approves of).
My most important documents went missing from my iCloud and are nowhere to be found. Btw, I chatted and phoned Apple several times about this (it happened 3 days ago), but they literally have no idea what happened or how to recover them.
Can anyone please help me?? Thanks!!!
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2
Data recovery apps only allow you to attempt recovery of files that were stored on a local drive. If you are using an SSD and the files were in the Trash and you emptied the Trash, then those files are gone for good unless you have a backup of them. If the files were stored locally on your computer or on an external USB drive, then you can use an app like Data Rescue. There are some other apps out there as well, but this is the only app I have ever used on macOS.
You cannot recover lost files stored in the cloud unless the company providing the cloud storage can recover them for you (highly unlikely). Syncing files to the cloud is dangerous since you can delete them permanently from any device. Syncing files to the cloud is not a backup. I don't trust Apple's iCloud at all since their documentation is not very clear on how it works. I've seen advanced Apple users on these forums debate how iCloud works and behaves with various devices. If these knowledgeable advanced Apple users cannot even agree on how it works, then I know I am not risking my data to iCloud alone.
You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and any external media which contains important and unique information. Apple provide Time Machine backup software with macOS for free so there is absolutely no reason not to have a good backup. FYI, it is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data from an SSD after the Trash has been emptied plus an SSD can fail at any time without any warning signs. In addition it is impossible for Apple or an AASP to recover data from many of Apple's newer computers if the computer has a hardware failure. It is unknown whether even a professional data recovery service can retrieve data from a non-working Mac with a T2 security chip. I think if the T2 security chip becomes corrupt (a very common problem), then the data is gone for good since Macs with T2 security chips use hardware encryption to encrypt and secure the data so without this T2 chip working there is no way to decrypt the data.
Data recovery apps only allow you to attempt recovery of files that were stored on a local drive. If you are using an SSD and the files were in the Trash and you emptied the Trash, then those files are gone for good unless you have a backup of them. If the files were stored locally on your computer or on an external USB drive, then you can use an app like Data Rescue. There are some other apps out there as well, but this is the only app I have ever used on macOS.
You cannot recover lost files stored in the cloud unless the company providing the cloud storage can recover them for you (highly unlikely). Syncing files to the cloud is dangerous since you can delete them permanently from any device. Syncing files to the cloud is not a backup. I don't trust Apple's iCloud at all since their documentation is not very clear on how it works. I've seen advanced Apple users on these forums debate how iCloud works and behaves with various devices. If these knowledgeable advanced Apple users cannot even agree on how it works, then I know I am not risking my data to iCloud alone.
You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and any external media which contains important and unique information. Apple provide Time Machine backup software with macOS for free so there is absolutely no reason not to have a good backup. FYI, it is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data from an SSD after the Trash has been emptied plus an SSD can fail at any time without any warning signs. In addition it is impossible for Apple or an AASP to recover data from many of Apple's newer computers if the computer has a hardware failure. It is unknown whether even a professional data recovery service can retrieve data from a non-working Mac with a T2 security chip. I think if the T2 security chip becomes corrupt (a very common problem), then the data is gone for good since Macs with T2 security chips use hardware encryption to encrypt and secure the data so without this T2 chip working there is no way to decrypt the data.
Third party apps for file recovery
