Summary
- Mac Data Recovery
- External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software
- Mac Recovery Software Torrent
- Mac Recovery Disk
- Mac Data Recovery Software
- Mac File Recovery Tool
Jun 24, 2020 Well, Stellar Toolkit for Data Recovery is a Windows-based software that offers you to retrieve a Mac’s HFS or HFS + hard drive using a Windows computer. With this application, you can directly connect your MacBook‘s hard drive to a Windows PC (laptop or desktop system) and perform hassle-free recovery of pictures, videos, documents, etc. May 28, 2020 Unlike other data recovery software, Puran Data Recovery directly recovers data from a damaged hard disk, CD, DVD, Pen Drive, and any other media supported by Windows to a selected location. The distinctive data recovery process makes it special among its competitors.
If you lost or deleted important files, you can turn to hard drive recovery software for help. There is 15 best hard drive recovery software introduced here. Among them, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard outranks its equivalents. Download this data recovery software to recover all your lost data from your hard drive immediately or read on to get all the details and choose the one you prefer.
Causes of Hard Drive Data Loss
Data loss on hard drives, be it internal or external, occurs more frequently than you expect. Usually, it's caused by the following reasons:
- A file or folder was accidentally deleted.
- Some or all of the partitions have been formatted (e.g., using Fdisk).
- The system displays the message 'NTLDR is missing, Press any key to restart'.
- The partition table is corrupt or damaged.
- A file or folder on your hard drive became inaccessible due to virus attack or virus infection.
At this point, most people learn the importance of a backup. But people often lost data without any backup. That’s what makes the hard drive recovery software necessary for users.
What Should You Consider While Choosing Disk Recovery Software
Many software producers claim their hard drive recovery software to be the best in the field. But what makes a great data recovery tool? The higher the price is, the better the software will be? Or you just want the freeware regardless of its quality. Actually, while choosing hard disk data recovery software, you should consider the following factors.
First, It should meet your needs well
Here 'needs' indicates the situation in which you need to perform data recovery. An excellent software tool should be able to recover data from a hard drive in different data loss scenarios, like deletion, format, partition loss, partition/disk becoming RAW/inaccessible, virus infection, and more. Make sure the software you choose supports the data recovery from your specific data loss situation.
Second, it should be reliable
The hard drive recovery software should be virus-free, plugin-free and won't cause further damage to the lost/deleted/formatted data.
What's more, the Hard disk recovery software shouldn't crash during the data recovery process.
What equally important is that there should be both pre-sale and after-sale technical support available from the software producer that will serve you anytime you need it.
Third, it should be fast and have a high success rate
Depending on the hard drive capacity and data stored on the storage medium, it may take hours to scan the hard drive searching for the lost files. That’s why speed matters. Here is the result of the top 5 hard drive recovery software scanning the same partition (127GB free of 141GB) searching for deleted/lost files:
Product Name | Recover My Files | Recuva | Disk Drill | Stellar Data Recovery | EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scanning Time | 1h | > 1h | > 1h | 37min | 27min |
Files Found | 321,297 files | 111,213 files | 2,254 files | 414,170 files | 784,741 files |
File Size | 13.80GB | no size is shown | 1.92GB | 19.84GB | 38.53GB |
Besides, make sure the hard drive data recovery software is capable of recovering data successfully. For information about its success rate, you can refer to the comments from the real users and reviews from authoritative sites, like Trustpilot.
Last but not least, it should be user-friendly
A great disk recovery tool should make it simple for its users to use by providing a clear and intuitive interface. The data recovery process should be as easy as possible. In addition, the software must have some advanced features that help users quickly locate the lost files. Such features include filters, search bars, preview pane, and more.
Of course, there may be other qualities you concern yourself with. No matter what it is, check the list above and choose the best hard drive recovery software for yourself.
Here I list the top 15 disk recovery software for you. Choose the one best suited to your needs.
Top 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard - Easy and Robust Hard Drive Recovery Software
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a professional data recovery utility that has helped millions of users retrieve their precious data. Whether you have deleted files from a disk, formatted the disk, lost partitions or the disk became RAW/inaccessible/unrecognized, you can recover the files with this hard disk recovery software. Other than hard drive recovery, it also supports deleted data recovery, formatted data recovery, Recycle Bin emptied data recovery, OS crash recovery, and RAW partition recovery from Windows computers and Windows-compatible storage devices like SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, digital cameras, video players...
Pros
- Supports the recovery of all file types from various devices
- Virus-free and plugin-free; Has fast scanning speed and high data recovery quality
- A simple interface and advanced features that contribute to a smooth recovery process, like filters, tags, search bar, and preview pane
- Easy 3-step recovery process; Quick scan and deep scan options
- Supports file system including FAT(FAT12,FAT16,FAT32), exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ext2/ext3, HFS+, ReFS
Cons
- When you specify the location, it results in scanning the whole disk where the folder located.
Steps to Restore Lost HDD Data with EaseUS
Now you can follow the guide to perform a fast hard drive recovery to get back your lost files in simple steps:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS hard drive recovery software.
Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your PC and select the drive on your hard disk where you lost or deleted files. Click 'Scan' and let this program scan all lost data and files on the selected hard drive.
Step 2. Check and preview all lost hard drive data.
Find lost hard drive data from 'Deleted Files', 'Lost Files' or use 'Filter' to quickly navigate the lost data. Check and double-click to preview these found files.
Step 3. Restore lost hard drive data to a safe location.
After the preview, select wanted files that you lost on the drive and click 'Recover' to save them. Browse to choose a safe location on your PC or other external storage devices to store these restored hard drive data.
Top 2. Stellar Data Recovery
Stellar Data Recovery software (https://www.stellarinfo.com/windows-data-recovery-professional.php) is an excellent data recovery tool that helps to recover data from various real-life data loss situations. With full support for hard drive recovery, Stellar Data Recovery enables you to recover data from lost, damaged or corrupted hard drives. In addition to basic data recovery features, Stellar Data Recovery has exclusive features like optical media recovery and SMART drive monitoring and cloning.
Pros
- Recovers lost files from all types of Windows devices
- Supports scanning a specific folder
- Has a clear interface and simple recovery guide
- 4-step recovery process
- 5-Quick scan and deep scan options
Cons
- The first step 'Select What To Recover' sometimes makes it confusing for users who want to recover data from a specific device
Top 3. Disk Drill
Cleverfiles Disk Drill (https://www.cleverfiles.com/disk-drill-windows.html) is also one of the well-known hard drive recovery software tools in the field. It supports to retrieve deleted, erased and lost data from hard drives. Other than the data recovery feature, Disk Drill also provides users with extra functions like data protection and backup drive.
Pro
- Has auxiliary features like data protection and backup drive
- Organizes files found by category
- Filters the results by size and data
- Supports multiple file systems
Cons
- The scanning takes a longer time compared with the previous equivalents and the files found are much less
- The setup process is a little bit tricky and you may skip the step of choosing the custom installation path
Top 4. Recuva
Piriform Recuva (https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva) is widely used among users who have lost files accidentally. What differentiates Recuva with other hard drive recovery software is that it's more interactive. Recuva guides you through the data recovery process by asking you several questions, which makes it more user friendly.
Pros
- Provides Recova Wizard that helps you get back files easily
- Allows to scan a specific location
- Supports the email recovery of Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Microsoft Outlook
- An integrated interface that simplifies the recovery process
Cons
- The interface makes it looks old
- You cannot preview the result during the scanning
Top 5. Recover My Files
Recover My Files (http://www.recovermyfiles.com) is a reliable data recovery software tool that is solely compatible with Windows. It enables users to recover files from hard drive, SD card, USB Zip drives, floppy disk, iPod, and more. It performs well in Recycle Bin recovery, formatted data recovery, OS reinstallation recovery, RAW partition recovery, and more. Documents, photos, videos, audio files, and emails are all recoverable.
Pros
- Supports conventional storage devices like hard drives, SD cards, USBs, and iDevice like iPod
- Allows to scan the backup (image file) of a partition
- Sorts out files by date
- Allows to adjust the layout of the items
Cons
- Old-fashioned software interface
- The data recovery process is relatively complex than its competitors
Top 6. Acronis Revive
Acronis Revive (https://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/how-to-recover-files/) is also one of the best hard drive recovery solutions for users. Acronis data recovery software improves the data recovery experience of users by offering simple yet powerful features. It helps to rescue data that are emptied from Recycle Bin, lost due to virus attacks, destroyed by changes to an HDD... Be it a hard drive, memory card, or USB, Acronis Revive is capable of getting your files back from the device.
Pros
- Precisely identifies all the partitions, be it existing or lost, on the hard drives
- Filters files by file name or extension
- Shows results selectively
- Has fast scanning speed
Cons
- The interface and introduction make it confusing and complex for users
- The operations are not in accordance with user habits
Top 7. R-Studio
R-Studio (https://www.r-studio.com/) is a powerful hard drive recovery tool that supports not only internal/external hard drives but also network disks, which makes it outrank most of its equivalents. R-Studio claims to use unique and advanced data recovery technologies that perform well in all kinds of data loss scenarios. Whether the hard drive is formatted, damaged, or deleted, R-Studio will rescue the files from it.
Pros
- Enables the data recovery from various data loss situations
- Supports multiple file systems
- Exclusively supports the data recovery from network drives
- Allows to create image files and recover files from image files
- Supports to specify the scan area
Cons
- Old-fashioned and relatively complex interface
- Takes a long time for a simple scan
Top 8. Data Rescue
Data Rescue (https://www.prosofteng.com/windows-data-recovery/) is both Windows and Mac compatible. This data recovery software perfectly supports hard drive data recovery after deletion, format, partition lost... Except for hard disks, Data Rescue can also retrieve lost photos, videos, documents, and more from SD cards, CF cards, Thunderbolt drives, and FireWire drives.
Pros
- Excludes duplicated files automatically
- Allows to preview files before recovery
- Helps to locate files by filters or searching
- Provides disk clone feature for data protection
Cons
- Fails to recognize all the existing partitions on the hard drives sometimes
- Can’t find any files via Quick Scan in some situations
Top 9. OnTrack EasyRecovery
Ontrack EasyRecovery (https://www.ontrack.com/products/data-recovery-software/) is one of the choices for disk data recovery. It will retrieve files from an HDD, SSD, memory card, USB, and optical media after deletion, format, corruption, and more. Other than basic data recovery features, EasyRecovery also enables users to perform advanced RAID recovery.
Pros
- Recovers photos, videos, documents, and more
- Retrieves files after deletion, format, hard disk damage and corruption
- Supports multiple storage devices
- Allows to preview results before recovery
Cons
- Must enter personal information to download the software
Top 10. Wise Data Recovery Software
Mac Data Recovery
Wise Data Recovery (https://www.wisecleaner.com/wise-data-recovery.html) is a free data recovery tool that helps to recover lost photos, videos, audio files, documents, and more from local hard drives and removable devices like external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, digital cameras, mobile phones, and MP3 players. With advanced algorithms, Wise Data Recovery performs well to retrieve lost data from the supported devices.
Pros
- Free to use
- Light and space-saving
- Fast scanning speed
- Provides portable versions
- Filters files by category
Cons
- Only supports FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems
- Shows messy codes in the preview pane for unsupported formats
Top 11. Puran Data Recovery
Most of you may hear Puran Data Recovery (http://www.puransoftware.com/Data-Recovery.html) for the first time. But honestly speaking, it is data recovery utility that worths your attention. Unlike other data recovery software, Puran Data Recovery directly recovers data from a damaged hard disk, CD, DVD, Pen Drive, and any other media supported by Windows to a selected location. The distinctive data recovery process makes it special among its competitors.
Pros
- Skips bad sectors automatically while recovering files
- Supports optical drives like CDs, DVDs, and Blu Rays
- Allows to add a partition by drag-and-drop
Cons
- Can't preview the result
- Can't filter the files you want to recover
Top 12. Glary Undelete
Glary Undelete (https://www.glarysoft.com/glary-undelete/) is less known compared with software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Disk Drill, and Stellar Data Recovery Wizard. But as one of the data recovery choices, Glary Undelete is also able to recover files from internal hard drives and external storage media including external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and more.
Pros
- Sorts out result by name, size, and date
- Recovers compressed, fragmented, and encrypted files on NTFS partitions
- Filters files by name, date, size, and recovery state
- Analyzes recovery possibilities
Cons
- Old-fashioned interface
- Fails to find lost files sometimes
Top 13. Orion File Recovery
Orion File Recovery (https://www.nchsoftware.com/data-recovery/index.html) can undelete files from Windows computers and Windows-compatible storage devices. In addition to data recovery features, Orion File Recovery is also equipped with exclusive features that will permanently erase data from your hard drive to protect privacy.
Pros
- Provides Recover File Wizard that guides you through the data recovery process
- Filters search results by folder, file type, name and more
- Allows to specify scanning locations
- Provides extra feature 'Scrub Files' to erase data completely
Cons
- The scanning process is slightly slow
- You may install other utilities unintentionally during the installation of the software
Top 14. PC Inspector File Recovery
PC Inspector File Recovery (http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?Language=1) works well to recover data from a computer, external hard drives, USB devices, and network drives. Even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged, PC Inspector File Recovery will find the partitions existing on the hard drive. Besides, it's freeware and you can use it without any cost.
Pros
- Completely free to use
- Recover files with the original time and date stamp
- Supports to recover files from network drives
- Recovers files when a header entry is unavailable
Cons
- Old-fashioned interface design
- Uses icons to represents features, which is confusing
Top 15. TestDisk Data Recovery
Unlike all the hard drive recovery mentioned above, TestDisk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk) is the open resource software that is used to recover lost partitions. It is able to recover deleted partitions from hard drives and fix the partition table, recover the boot sector, and more. Since TeskDisk is open source software, you can inspect, modify, and enhance it as long as you know how to do it.
Pros
- Open resource software
- Recover lost partitions
- Fix disks that won't boot
- Recover various file types
Cons
- Inconvenient for regular users
The Bottom Line
Do you find the hard drive recovery software you need from the list above? As long as your lost files are not overwritten, you can apply one of the software above to have a try but the success rate varies. The higher the software rank, the higher the chance you will get your files back. If your hard drive is physically damaged, I'm afraid none of the software above will help. In that case, you should send your hard drive for manual data recovery services.
Summary
Usually, external hard drive data recovery on Mac can be done by trash restoration, Time Machine/Cloud backup, Mac drive data recovery software, and manual data recovery services. Among all, third-party software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is the most universally applied when there is no backup available.
4 Ways of External Hard Drive Data Recovery Mac
Most Mac users have invested an external hard drive to expand the storage space of their MacBook or iMac. The most popular brands are usually Westen Digital, Buffalo, G-Technology, Samsung, Seagate, and Lacie. As far as we know, it's notoriously difficult for simply upgrading the internal hard drives. Somehow, the more frequently you operate a Mac computer on an external hard drive, the more likely you are subject to data loss. For example, accidental deletion, disk formatting, improper disconnection, or merely the drive itself is dying.
Basically, there are four possible ways to recover deleted files from external hard drive, USB flash drive, or a memory card on Mac. Each way is applicable to certain data loss scenarios, and we'll explain in detail.
1. How to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive Mac from Trash Bin
If you lost data on the external hard drive by dragging it to the Trash, always check the Trash Bin first. Right-click on the file and select 'Move to Trash', or use the keyboard shortcut Command-Delete. Those files were not permanently removed until you emptied the Trash. Here are the steps to restore files from Trash.
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to Mac and navigate to Trash.
Step 2. Locate the abandoned file in the trash folder, and use 'Copy Items' to recover the files back to their original spot. By the way, the 'Put Back' command works the same way.
2. Recover External Hard Drive Mac from a Backup File
Since Mac provides users with secure protection mechanism by backing up important hard drive files to Cloud, or a backup device via Time Machine, one good way to recover deleted files is from the backup file.
For example, to restore Mac files from Time Machine, refer to the steps:
Step 1. Open Time Machine by clicking on the icon in the menu bar and choose 'Enter Time Machine'.
Step 2. Find the specific file in the backup, press Space Bar to preview it, and determine whether it's the one you want.
Step 3. Click on the 'Cloud' icon to download a snapshot to view it. When you do this, that snapshot will be available to view even when your external drive is disconnected from the Mac.
Step 4. Click 'Restore' to restore the selected file.
3. Restore External Hard Drive Mac with Data Recovery Software
When it comes to the situation where you are unable to access or locate files in the Trash or backup or even no backups were ever created, the only way to continue is to download a capable Mac external hard drive data recovery program and perform data recovery as soon as possible.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is reputable in the data recovery field, regarding the 10+ years of experience, deep scan ability, all macOS and Mac OS X compatibility, it's the top 1 choice whenever you're faced with Mac data loss issues and eager to find a simple yet effective data recovery solution.
External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software
How does the software work in a variety of data loss scenarios? We give you some examples.
Mac Recovery Software Torrent
- Permanently deleted files from the external hard drive on Mac, like using Command-Shift-Delete to empty the Trash, or Option-Command-Delete, known as 'Delete Immediately' to bypass Trash.
- Format the external hard drive using Disk Utility or other third-party disk formatting tools.
- Files were unknowingly hidden somewhere, and you lost the entrance.
- Other logical errors occur to the external hard drive, and later it becomes inaccessible.
How to recover data from external hard drive on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.
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 Recover Now button to have them back.
4. How to Restore External Hard Drive Mac with Manual Service
Apart from most of the logical errors that would bring data loss on an external storage device, which EaseUS Mac data recovery software can absolutely help recover, there are moments you cannot simply get data back, especially when severe issues were developed on a disk. For instance, hard drive corruption with too many bad sectors, the hard drive has fallen apart, heavy clicking/beeping sound, etc.
When you got problems similar to the examples, do not try to rely on any Mac data recovery software in the market, it's time to send it to an IT expert who is good at manual data recovery (check the average hard drive data recovery cost if you're interested). Most of the time, by the local data recovery service, hard drive repair comes before data recovery. To make sure that the team is reliable, you must check the following things.
- Must be an ISO certified service center
- Data recovery guarantee after analysis
- Should have Class 100 Clean Room
- Service must be secure & reliable
According to our survey, Ontrack is reliable and secure; you can ask Ontrack for help if you got physical damage on your external hard drive.
How to Avoid External Hard Drive Data Loss (Bonus Tips)
Why not protect your data in advance. Data recovery may cost a lot; a nice choice is protecting your data in advance.
- 1. Think carefully before you are going to delete files or format your external hard drive
- 2. Eject the drive in the correct way. You may lose data if you eject the external hard drive when in use.
- 3. Avoid physical damage due to any reason.
- 4. Let anti-virus software scan your device to stay away from the virus attack.
- 5. Back up important files using Cloud drive, professional backup and recovery software, or manual copy.
To Sum Up
There are four ways to recover deleted files from Mac external hard drive. First, check the Trash Bin. If this solution fails, restore external hard drive files from a backup. If you don't have a backup, deploy EaseUS Mac data recovery software to scan and recover deleted files from the external storage drive. Finally, if Mac external hard drive data loss is caused by physical damage, turn to a manual service.
External Hard Drive Data Recovery Mac FAQs
Here are common FAQs that you may be interested in. Check if any of them could help you.
How to recover deleted files from a Mac hard drive?
To recover lost files from and external hard drive on Mac, follow these steps:
Step 1. Download, install, and launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.
Step 2. Connect the external drive to your computer.
Step 3. Select the external drive from the disk list.
Step 4. Click the 'Scan' button. Preview the files that can be restored. Click the 'Recover' button to recover deleted files from external hard drive on Mac.
Mac Recovery Disk
What is the best hard disk recovery software for Mac?
Mac Data Recovery Software
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is the best hard disk recovery software for Mac. This powerful recovery technology with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface can be used by anyone with a Mac. For more information, refer to Top 5 Free Data Recovery Software for Mac.
Mac File Recovery Tool
How to recover files from an external hard drive on Mac?
To recover lost files from and external hard drive on Mac:
Step 1. Download, install, and launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.
Step 2. Connect the external drive to your computer. Select the external drive from the disk list, and click Scan.
Step 3. After the scanning process, select the files and click the Recover Now button to get them back.
What do I do if my external hard drive is not detected on Mac?
Start with the basics:
- Check whether the drive is properly plugged in
- Run Disk Utility to mount and verify the drive
- Check the cable.
- Reboot Mac