Possible to recover permanently deleted files on Mac?

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Level 1

4 points

Possible to recover permanently deleted files on Mac?

I have an old MacBook Pro 2013 and recently encountered a situation where I accidentally deleted some important files on my Mac. Unfortunately, the files were not backed up with Time Machine or iCloud. I checked the Trash and the files were not there. I'm in urgent need of a reliable method to recover permanently deleted files on Mac. The files include a mix of documents, images, and project files crucial for my work. I haven't written much new data to the drive since the deletion, hoping to increase the chances of recovery.

I've read about various Mac data recovery tools but am unsure which would be the most effective and safe for my Mac. I’d greatly appreciate any recommendations on techniques that have worked for you in similar situations.

Thanks

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Jul 30, 2024 1:13 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,244 points

Jul 30, 2024 6:26 AM in response to Garcia71

Apple's macOS is a UNIX operating system and once you delete a file by emptying the Trash, or by using the rm Terminal command, the files are gone.

I say gone because the operating system then marks the storage previously consumed by the deleted file or files as reclaimable by other operating system processes that pose storage allocation requests to the UNIX kernel. Once part or all of that previously deleted file's storage has been reallocated, there is no possibility of recovering that previously deleted file. The user has no control over the timing of that storage reallocation and it may be immediate, or some indeterminate time later.

This is why having a Time Machine backup is especially critical for important data that you cannot lose. Very likely a second form of removable backup would also be recommended in addition to Time Machine.

You might have had a shot at data recovery in a very short time interval after those files were removed, but after that, no data recovery software will be successful or may result in some intermediate data format that is unusable.

If the files had been on iCloud and were inadvertently deleted, Apple offers a 30-day sliding window to restore the deleted content once a user signs into iCloud.

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

149,107 points

Jul 30, 2024 8:21 PM in response to Jewlz7575

Jewlz7575 wrote:

How do I recover

Check your backups, or whatever copies were previously created.

Most of what’s discussed in the replies above applies to hard disk drives (HDDs), and not to SSDs.

With an SSD, whenever a file is deleted, the storage is erased just as quick as the SSD can manage that, as the sector must be erased before re-use. There just isn’t the same concept of data remanence as exists on HDDs. (And as described in at least some of the linked replies below, the sectors are also mapped dynamically as part of wear leveling, which means attempts at overwrites are not at going to work as they did on older HDDs worked.)

Scroll up and read for more info, though.

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