Emptied Trash by Mistake

I accidentally trashed almost 600 irreplaceable photos last year (plus other stuff) - my mistake. I purchased FileSalvage online, and recovered everything. Costs $US 89.95 - worth every cent:

FileSalvage - Mac OS X Data Recovery, Undelete Files, Rescue Lost Data

But as others have mentioned, you'll have to stop using your own Mac for the time being. Seek out another Mac owner to download it for you.

Hope all goes well 🙂

Your best bet is to recover it using Time Machine or whatever backup you have set up.

Basics of File Recovery

Files in Trash

If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.

If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.

General File Recovery

If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.

The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.

Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Go to where the files you wish to recover lived (used to live, before you put them in the Trash). Now click on the Time Machine icon, and browse the backups of that folder until you see the files. Select them, and click Restore.

Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "time machine." Find the article about restoring from a TM backup.

More may be found here.

Glad to hear it!

In order to recover deleted files from emptied trash, you can follow the steps below:

1. Choose Lost File Recovery mode

No matter data are deleted by "Command + Delete" or emptied from the Trash, "Lost File Recovery" can undelete files from a partition or removable media. This recovery option is priority, for it takes you only a few minutes to retrieve deleted files from Mac Trash.

If you can't get deleted file in this mode, you can try "Raw Recovery" later, which can recover piles of files including those lost long time ago, more time consumed accordingly.

2. Scan the location of Trash in Mac

Select the logical drive where you deleted your files, if you have more than one drives on your Mac. Then click on "Scan" to search your deleted files.

3. Preview and recover files from Mac Trash

When finishing the scan, all files you deleted are listed with the original path, no matter you deleted them directly from Library, desktop, or Trash, etc. Undoubtedly, files you emptied from Trash are in the "Trash" folder. Or you can search the file's name in the search bar on the top to retrieve it fast.

Before final recovery, you can preview the file to make sure the files or quantity. Common image formats, documents and archives are allowed to preview directly.

4. Save the recovered files on another partition or disk

When checking the file for recovery, click on "Recover" to retrieve them.

What you should keep in mind is: don't save the recovered files on the same place where you lost them, in case you overwrite them. If you don't find all the files, the deleted files will be overwritten for your new files' storage.

<Link Edited by Host>

Hi I was uploading all of my files to my Google Drive on my gmail account because I was going to sell my laptop. Well, once I uploaded everything, I signed out of my gmail account.

Then I removed all of my files off my laptop. I got back into my gmail and click Drive to see if everything is still there and everything is GONE! Even everything from my trash is gone! I had very important files that I had! How can I recover them if its possible?

I Tried downloading the FileSalvage but when I download it, it won't open for some reason? It says its opening & then stops but nothing pops up. So I think it quits on itself. I really need my files back and saved on Google again & to STAY in my Google account! or is there anywhere else I can upload them at so that way when I log in somewhere else, it'll still be saved?

PLEASE tell me how to recover my files ASAP! & what do to?!