With the keyboard shortcut “Command(⌘) + Option(⌥) + Delete(⌫)” you can completely remove a file from your Mac, bypassing the Trash Can. That’s it. Now, forget the combination, so that you do not accidentally delete important data from your drive.

However, if your files are already missing, do not despair. Accidentally deleted data can still be recovered, even if it did not manage to get into the Trash. For this purpose, you can use different apps, among which there is the best one IMHO. Yes, I’m talking about Disk Drill Partition Recovery Software for Mac. I will tell you more about it and how to restore your Mac data below.

How to Recover Data on Mac with Disk Drill

Step 1. Open Disk Drill and click “Search” to the right of the disk with deleted files.

The utility can work with your Mac’s built-in drive, as well as with external drives.

Using filters, you can also choose a certain type of files to be recovered, as well as determine their deletion date and estimated size.

Step 2. Wait until the scan of the specified drive is complete. It may take a few minutes or a couple of hours, depending on your drive size. In this case, you can use the mentioned filters at the top of the screen, which will shorten the list of recovered files. 

After the search, you should use the recovery process, which does not take more than a couple of minutes even if the files are larger than a couple of GB.

Step 3. Find the file you need, tick it, and click “Restore”. You will need to search for lost data among the list provided by the utility because the folder structure is inevitably lost during recovery.

In fact, that’s all. If you start recovering immediately after deletion, the file will appear in this list with almost 100% probability. If you have overwritten new data to the drive, the chances of recovery are much lower.

Yes, You Can Recover Deleted Files on Mac

How come, you ask? They have been removed, right? Yes, on the one hand, and the system no longer shows them. On the other hand, they are still there, on the disk. This is due to the SSD principle. When you delete information from the disk, it’s not completely erased but marked as “unnecessary.” New data will be written in its place, though, not right away. The controller will first use the rest of the space. Actually, that’s why Disk Drill and other similar utilities have a chance to recover data, even if you managed to overwrite new information. But to increase the chance, it’s best to avoid that.

You Can Use Disk Drill for Free

Disk Drill in Setapp. Interestingly, unlike macOS, Windows Disk Drill can be used for free to recover files up to 500 MB.

The full cost of the Disk Drill application at the time of writing this material is $89. Not that much if you need to return important data. However, not so little if you lose a document that you can recreate in a day or two.

The program can be used for free and is available as part of a set of Setapp utilities, which can be used without payment for 7 days, which should be enough to recover the necessary data.

Setapp subscription costs $9.99 per month, excluding VAT. Keep in mind that to register in the system, you will have to enter your bank card details, and if you do not refuse to use the service within 7 days, they will charge you.

Additional Disk Drill Features

Disk condition. Disk Drill features the so-called “S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring.” It can be included in the S.M.A.R.T. “settings” of the utility. In the Mac menu bar, you will immediately see an icon to control a particular drive.

Among other things, the utility monitors the temperature of the SSD built into your computer. For such drives, heating up to +60°C is quite normal.

Cleaning up the drive and finding duplicates. To run this tool, open the utility and hit Clean Up. After that, you need to define a specific drive – select Scan and wait for the process to complete.

The utility will show you the structure of the directories with the memory size, occupied particular content, e.g. photos and documents.

You can use the “Find Duplicates” function to clean up some space – it allows you to select directories to scan the same files. After that, you can quickly get rid of them manually or choose auto-selection.

Loading disk. Disk Drill allows you to create a flash drive, which you can start to recover information on your SSD. This feature is useful if you have lost the most important data that you have to recover.

Data protection and backup. The utility allows you to create an exact byte-by-byte copy of the disk for its further recovery. This feature is useful if the disk, you are using, seems unstable.

iPhone data recovery. Yes, you also have the opportunity to work with the drives of your mobile devices. Disk Drill can scan the memory of your device directly or recover files from the gadget backup.

Conclusion. What to Do If You Accidentally Deleted Files?

1. You should immediately stop using your Mac. If you can’t recover your data at the moment, shut down your computer. The chances of success are greatly reduced if you delete, copy, overwrite files.

2. Exhale – accidentally deleted data can be recovered. This is due to the fact that they are not immediately removed from the disk but simply marked as unnecessary. Until they are replaced by new data, you can return the old ones.

3. Select your tool for data recovery. Apart from Disk Drill, this can be Stellar Data Recovery or PhotoRec. All tools do their job well, using a similar principle.

4. Run your chosen utility and wait for a list of deleted files. Select the ones you want to recover and wait until the process is over. We hope it works out for you!