Accidentally deleted a file — it’s an embarrassing situation you’ve probably experienced at least once. Sometimes files that are very important to you get selected by mistake and permanently deleted from your computer. So what should you do when one of your files, such as an important document, accidentally ends up in your Mac’s trash? And how can you recover it? Fortunately, under this operating system built by tech giant Apple, there are many ways to restore deleted files. So find out how to restore your files. In this guide, follow a few effective and easy-to-apply methods to help you recover your files. 

Recovering deleted data: how is it possible?


Generally, all data deleted from your computer ends up in the trash. This means the file is still present on your hard drive, but simply inaccessible. Even after fully emptying the trash, the deletion is not yet final, since a copy always remains on the hard drive. To be more precise, when you delete a file on your computer, you also erase the location where it was written on the hard drive. And that location is then marked as “available” for writing new files.


It is from this key location that data recovery software can step in to read the file again and restore it. That said, once the location marked “available” is occupied by new files, it becomes difficult, or even impossible, for any data recovery program on the market to recover your lost files again. 


That’s how it is! The sooner you carry out the recovery of your files, the better your chances of getting them back in full.

How to recover data deleted from the Mac trash?

First, let’s see how you can proceed if your file is still in your Mac’s trash. As you already know, all deleted files first land in this famous trash, and as long as it hasn’t been emptied yet, you still have the privilege of restoring your file manually. To do this, you need to go to the macOS trash to find your files. 

  • Step 1: Go to the trash


To access it, double-click the icon representing the trash on your desktop. In the window that opens, you’ll find all the files still available in your Mac trash and still recoverable.

  • Step 2: select the files and put them back on the desktop.


To recover the file of your choice, the procedure is simple. Select it and right-click on it, then choose the “Put Back” option. You can simply choose the home screen to place the recovered file, or choose another folder by dragging and dropping.

How to recover deleted data using third-party software on Mac? 


Have you already emptied your trash? No need to panic! There are still ways to restore your data. How? By using file recovery programs. These software tools are very powerful and capable of restoring any file from your Mac or other removable drives. Here are a few popular and reliable software options you can use with confidence to restore all your deleted files.

Time Machine. 

Time Machine software is a program provided by Apple that allows macOS to perform backups. These backups then let you recover your files whenever needed. Once configured, the software will be able to back up all your programs, settings, as well as personal files such as documents or images. The backup is automated and can be set to run at a regular interval.

All you need is an external storage device or a USB drive with large storage capacity to hold your files once recovered.


Plug the device into your computer, then proceed as follows to recover the deleted data:

  • Step 1: configure the software



In the system settings for Time Machine, you can access the backup program. Then specify the storage medium you want to use for your backup and go to “Select a volume”, then set the interval at which the program will perform backups.

  • Step 2: restore a file from an old backup


Open the program. Use the search bar to quickly find what you’re looking for. Then you can navigate to the date of the backup and restore the deleted data to the corresponding folder. 

Disk Drill

Can’t manage to restore your deleted files either through the trash or a Time Machine backup? So how are you supposed to restore your files? Fortunately, there are still other solutions, since it’s possible to restore data you believe is permanently deleted on Mac by using software such as Disk Drill.


Disk Drill is one of the data recovery programs capable of recovering deleted files that are still kept on the Mac’s local hard drive. And that have not yet been overwritten by other data.
Hexascan on Windows can scan Mac hard drives.