Losing data from your Mac hard drive can be a stressful experience, whether it’s precious photos, important documents, or projects that have taken hours of your time, no matter if the loss is due to accidental deletion, system crash, software failure, or any other reasons. Luckily, we have solutions.
In this article, we will cover reliable solutions to help you recover these data. With FonePaw Data Recovery, you have an instant way at your fingertips. Alternatively, you can try using the built-in tools of Mac’s Disk Utility or Terminal. Let’s head to the details.
Method 1. Recover Data from Mac Hard Drive Using Recovery Tool
For hard drive recovery, we strongly recommend FonePaw Data Recovery, which is famous in the industry for its powerful features, intuitive interface, easy-to-use and friendly process, and high recovery success rate. Even permanently deleted files without backup can be recovered using it.
FonePaw Data Recovery can recover 1000+ formats of lost files from Mac hard drives at lossless quality, covering all data loss situations. It gives you a free previewing feature and options for filtering results to ensure you recover more efficiently. Additionally, if you have data loss on external storage drives that are connected to a Mac, that can also be useful.
Key features of FonePaw Data Recovery:
- Recover multiple formats of files:
1000+ formats can be recovered from Mac hard drives, such as JPG, GIF, MP4, MP3, DOC, PPTX, Email, etc., of images, videos, audio, documents, archives, and other files.
- Cover all the data loss situations:
It supports data recovery from accidental deletion, formatted Mac hard drives, Mac system crashes, partition loss, virus infection, etc.
- Free scanning and previewing feature:
No purchase before searching and finding lost files from Mac hard drive. You can fully preview the results before actually recovering.
- Intuitive interface with easy navigation:
It doesn’t require any skilled knowledge. In just three steps, you can recover any files you want from a Mac hard drive.
- Extensive compatibility:
It is compatible with all Mac devices, whether it is a Mac, iMac, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. Alternatively, if there is any need, it also runs perfectly on Windows.
To use FonePaw Data Recovery to recover lost data on Mac hard drives, follow this guide:
Step 1. Launch the software. On the main screen, select the file types and the location of the lost file to scan.
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/FonePaw.webp)
Step 2. Wait for the software to scan the Mac hard drive. You can preview the results using the Filter.
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mac-hard-drive.webp)
Step 3. Choose the file you want to recover and click on the Recover button.
Method 2. Restore Data from Mac Hard Drive in Disk Utility
If you have ever backed up your Mac hard drive, there is another solution that you can use to recover data from hard drive – the Disk Utility. It is a useful built-in management tool on Mac devices, allowing you to manage the disks and other storage mediums connected to Mac, detect and repair disk errors, as well as recover lost files. The processes are easy. Here are the steps.
Step 1. Click Finder and then Applications to open Utilities.
Step 2. On the left panel, from the drives list, double-click and select the drive from which the files are lost.
Step 3. Click on the Restore button on the upper right-hand.
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mac-1.webp)
Step 4. Select the backed-up drive near Restore from and click Restore to start recovery.
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/start-recovery.webp)
Note: This solution will erase the drive and replace it with the volume you selected.
Method 3. Copy Data from Unbootable Mac Hard Drive with Terminal
If your Mac hard drive is corrupted and cannot boot up, you can try to copy the data from it using Terminal to another device. Mac Terminal is a built-in command-line interface tool that performs the commands you type in the interacting window. From that, it can complete many tasks, including recovering files. If you find command lines OK, follow the guide below.
Step 1. Connect a blank or formatted external hard drive to your Mac.
Step 2. Press Command + R (Intel-based Mac) or press the power button (Intel-based Mac) to enter the Recover Mode.
Step 3. Once you enter the recovery mode, click Utilities and then Terminal.
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/recovery-mode.webp)
Step 4. To successfully copy the file to the external hard drive, you will need to type the right cp -R command and hit the Return key, including the original path and destination. Here is the format:
cp -R /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/Dany/Documents /Volumes/External\ Drive/
![](https://ventsmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Documents.webp)
Method 4. Turn to Professional Mac Hard Drive Recovery Service
The most unfortunate thing is that your Mac hard drive is badly physically damaged. In this case, the above solutions may not seem to help you. You better accept that you cannot handle this on your own and need to seek professional help from experts and recovery services.
You can visit the nearest Apple Genius Bar to have your Mac hard drive checked and recovered. Or, you can contact some professional data recovery service providers, such as Salvagedata, CBL Data Recovery, etc. However, you should be informed that the success rate of recovery is not guaranteed since it depends on the severity of damage to your Mac hard drive, and this service may cost you a significant amount of money.
Final Words
Losing important data from your Mac hard drive is heartbreaking, but the above methods give hope for getting it back. Among them, FonePaw Data Recovery stands out due to its user-friendly interface, high recovery rate, and ability to retrieve all types of data lost under different circumstances. It provides a reliable solution to recover your valuable data effectively. Every Mac user should consider using this tool to mitigate the consequences of data loss.