Hard Drive Recovery Software Free Mac

Sep 14, 2021 Free Hard Drive Recovery Mac; Recover Mac Os From Windows; USB flash drives are quite easily susceptible to permanent data loss. For example, an accidentally deleted file will not be sent to the Mac Trash folder and it will be permanently deleted. Mac Hard Drive Recovery. This Mac hard drive recovery software can be launched in macOS Recovery Mode without creating a bootable drive, or software installation.This Mac data recovery software specializes in rescuing files when Mac won't. Free Download hard drive Recovery Software for Mac here. How to Free Download Hard Drive Recovery Software for Mac? We know data loss is one of the worst things that can happen to every PC owner. So we searched many Mac data recovery software on Google, and we found hard drive Recovery Software for Mac.

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The average lifetime of each hard drive is limited. Over time, errors will appear increasingly without preparation. Hard drive errors can be caused by many reasons like power outages, hardware failures, poor system maintenance, viruses, or human error. To fix disk errors and repair hard drive data, you need to know what kind of HDD repair software is surely worth a try. Here I have put together a list of hard drive repair software for troubleshooting, diagnosing and repairing a hard drive.

  • >> Part 1. Five Best Hard Disk Repair Software for Mac
  • >> Part 2. Five Best Hard Disk Repair Software for Windows

Five Hard Drive Repair Software for Mac

When Mac hard disk is subject to logical damage and data corruption, a majority of users intend to fix the issues with Disk Utility. But it only tackles the basic problems. If your data loss is caused by some serious issues like corrupted volume header, bad sector, etc., Disk Utility will be helpless. So, I recommend you to take a look at the best hard disk repair software for Mac.

1. TechTool Protogo

Price: $129.99

System Requirements: macOS 10.6 or later

TechTool Protogo allows you to easily turn a USB, FireWire device, iPod, flash drive, hard drive, or SD Card, into a bootable and diagnostics toolkit to troubleshoot all of the Macs. You can use this hard drive repair software to boot, run diagnostics and perform hard drive repair on a computer to determine problems bypassing the OS. Before you click “Build TechTool Protogo Device”, make sure that any important data on the device you chosen are backed up since the entire device will be completely erased.

2. Cisdem Data Recovery (My Pick)

Price: Free trial and $49.99 for lifetime license

System Requirements: macOS 10.12 or later

Cisdem Data Recovery is a powerful data recovery tool that allows you to repair hard drive data. It can recover photos, videos, documents, archives, emails, etc., from your hard drive and other storage devices like SD cards, flash drives, iPods.

Drive

Moreover, it supports recovering data of a wide range of formats such as PDF, Keynote, JPEG, PNG, DOC, HTML, MP3, GIF, M4A, Keynote and so on. Thanks to this critically acclaimed and efficient hard drive repair software, which makes HDD repairing much easier.

Quick Summary of Steps

Step 1. Select a Data Recovery mode. Basic Data Recovery and Advanced Data Recovery are both usable. As the name indicates, Advanced Data Recovery will dig out deeper damaged or lost hard drive files.

Step 2. In the “Where did you lose your files?” dialog box, choose the failed hard disk. Then click “Scan” button. During scanning process, the real-time scan results are appearing in time for you.

Step 3. The program scans the corrupt drive and analyzes its contents. You can quickly find the specific files that you wish to recover from filters and search bar. Finally, click “Recover” button to restore your hard drive data.

3. DiskWarrior

Price: $119.95 and $59.95 for upgrade

System Requirements: macOS 10.6 or later

DiskWarrior is one of the highest rated hard drive repair software for macOS. With a simple click, it reads the damaged directory and finds all recoverable files and folders and rebuilds a new error-free, optimized directory for you to use. You can also use DiskWarrior as a preventative maintenance utility for hard disks as it can monitor your drive's health. It also repairs cryptic errors reported by Disk Utility like “Invalid node structure” and “Keys out of order”.

4. OnyX

Data recovery software mac os

Price: Free

System Requirements: A specific version of OnyX for each major version of the operating system.

OnyX is a multifunction Mac hard drive optimization utility that can be used to verify the startup hard disk and the structure of its system files. You can use OnyX to clean up Mac, clear Mac caches and run miscellaneous maintenance. It can help you configure parameters in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some other Apple applications. Moreover, it can remove problematic folders and files and rebuild various databases or indexes. It is free and much better than some paid Mac cleanup software like CleanMyMac and Dr.Cleaner.

5. Drive Genius

Price: $99.00

System Requirements: macOS 10.8 or later

Drive Genius is a disk utility application for Macsc with 18 essential features including automated hard drive health check. It alerts you to hard drive issues before they become major problems. The built-in BootWell® tool lets you create a special bootable secondary drive to defrag and repair hard drive. This hard drive repair software also allows you to repartition and clone hard drive, repair directory, check integrity, speed up Mac, protect Mac from virus attack, etc.

Five Hard Drive Repair Software for Windows

Windows computer doesn’t contain a built-in diagnostic tool like Mac Disk Utility. But if you searching the keyword “best hard disk repair software for windows” in Google or Google Play Store, you will be able to find a big heal of hard drive repair software, even the freeware. With regard to Mac, it’s relatively scarce.

1. TestDisk

Price: Free

System Requirements: Windows, macOS and Linux

TestDisk is a piece of free hard drive repair software that is primarily designed to repair FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sectors, recover deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables and make non-booting disks bootable again. This app recovers deleted data, as well as copies files from deleted/inaccessible partitions. It supports a number of different file systems including FAT/NTFS/exFAT/ext2. This free hard drive repair tool is not a good choice for computer novices.

2. Disk Repair

Price: $134 for personal license, $204 for corporate license, $254 for technician license

System Requirements: Windows NT, 2000, XP, 7, 8, 10, Windows Server 2003; 800 MHz Processor or higher

Disk Repair is another piece of hard drive repair software that removes the logically formed bad sectors and repairs 'Track 0 Bad Disks' from hard disks. It realigns the magnetic orientation to make each byte readable and writable. This hard drive repair software also supports many kinds of file systems like FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 and moreover all the versions of MS Windows.

3. CheckDisk

Price: Free

System Requirements: Win 2000/03/08/XP/Vista/7

CheckDisk is another simple and free hard drive repair software to fix hard drive bad sectors on Windows. It offers Standard, Throughout and Check if dirty scan options for you to find hard drive errors. Select one of the connected hard drives to scan. During scans, the details of scan is displayed on the left column of UI. Then select the Correct Errors option and hit Check Drive button to begin the hard disk repair. It is very easy to use, and no tech knowledge needed.

4. Glary Utilities

Price: Free and $39.95 for one year license

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10

Glary Utilities is free, powerful and all-in-one hard drive repair software for cleaning your PC and boosting PC speed. It offers over advanced 20 tools to maximize your PC’s performance. It can scan your hard drive for issues and repair it if any errors found. And it also repairs registry and system files, fixes shortcuts, removes malwares, cleans up duplicates, etc.

5. Eassos PartitionGuru

Price: Free and $79.95 for professional edition

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/8/10

Eassos PartitionGuru is all-around hard drive partition manager software helps you resize/split partition, remove bad sectors from hard drive, backup files, edit hex data, manage virtual disks, erase and recover data, etc. You can repair bad sectors of a hard drive by selecting it and clicking on Tools > Check Partition Table Error. If any error is found, click the “Correct” button on the window to repair hard drive. This hard drive repair software contains ads.

Conclusion

The main target of hard drive repair software is to recover missing, formatted & corrupted data and make the drive practicable again. There are three points I need to emphasize in the end:

  1. Free hard drive repair software can't detect your data on the inaccessible drive, and comes with lower security when compared to dedicated one;
  2. Although the best hard disk repair software offers the file recovery function, it is also important to backup hard drive data before you use them to repair hard drive;
  3. As an old Mac user, the reasons I pick Cisdem Data Recovery is because of the clear guidance interface, timely data recovery, formidable features and tremendous speed.

If you have any other powerful hard drive repair software to recommend, share them with all of us by leaving a comment below.

What Is the Best Hard Drive Recovery Software?

So you accidentally deleted a file and emptied the Recycle Bin. Then, you realized you needed to get that file back. Data loss is an unpleasant experience. It's easy to lose data due to deletion, formatting, and system crashes. Fortunately, free hard drive recovery software can help restore lost files even if you don't have a backup. There are many hard drive recovery programs and we have listed ten based on their features, performance, price, and our personal experience with them.

The best data recovery software:

Top 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free (Windows & Mac)

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a free 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 your files with this hard disk recovery software.

Utilize EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Lost Data Recovery

  • Recover deleted, formatted, and inaccessible data in various data loss situations.
  • Recover photos, audio, music, and emails from any storage effectively, safely, and completely.
  • Recover data from the recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorder.

Pros

  • An easy 3-step recovery process.
  • Repairs corrupt/damaged photos.
  • Virus-free and plugin-free.
  • Fast scanning speed and high-quality data recovery.
  • Support for 1000+ file types on various devices.

Cons

  • Free trial with a 2GB recovery limit. The Pro version costs $69.95 and has no recovery limits.

Limitations on the free version: 2GB of free recovery. Users can instantly recover 500MB of data with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. Share the software on your Facebook or Twitter to get to a limit of 2GB.

Overall Experience

EaseUS data recovery software for PC can be used on Windows 10, 8, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP, and even older versions of Windows. It also has a Mac version that supports macOS 10.15 ~ 10.9. It only allows you to recover up to 2GB of data for free. But, the recovery rate of EaseUS is among the highest in the industry on both its Windows and Mac versions. It recovers your important files with ease and has the remarkable ability to repair corrupt photo and video files.

This post provides you with the 10 best free data recovery software in Windows 11. You can recover deleted, formatted, and lost data without spending money.

Top 2. Recuva - Hard Disk Recovery Software (Windows)

Piriform Recuva is widely used among users who have lost files accidentally. What differentiates Recuva from 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

  • Unlimited free data recovery with the standard version/
  • Deep scan mode for files that are hard to find.
  • It has a portable version, too.
  • 100% free data recovery software.

Cons

  • The interface makes it look old.
  • You cannot preview the results during the scan.

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited free recovery.

Overall Experience

Recuva is attractively priced and easy to use, though it can't dig in quite as deeply as higher-priced data recovery software. It can satisfy basic needs like photo recovery, deleted music, documents, videos, and email recovery. We have tried this software to retrieve lost Excel files. Recuva is 100% free for personal use.

Top 3. Disk Drill Data Recovery (Windows & Mac)

Cleverfiles Disk Drill is also one of the well-known hard drive recovery software tools in the field. It supports retrieving 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 drive backup.

Pros

  • Has auxiliary features like data protection and drive backup.
  • Organizes files found by category.
  • Filters the results by size and data.
  • Supports multiple file systems.

Cons

  • The Windows version can't recover data from iOS and Android
  • The setup process is a little bit tricky and you may skip the custom installation path

Limitations on the free version: 500MB of free recovery. The Pro version costs $89 and has no recovery limits.

Overall Experience

Disk Drill has an intuitive interface that allows users to quickly recover their lost files. Its recovery capabilities also attract more experienced computer users. The tool provides additional data protection tools for free that can help you recover recently deleted files quickly. The Recovery Vault feature enables you to designate folders and files for enhanced protection. You can create a byte-level backup of a drive that can be used for the recovery of failing storage devices. But, you can only recover 500MB of data for free. If you want to restore more data, you must pay a fee of at least $89, which is expensive. Besides, the scanning takes a longer time compared with the previous equivalents and the files found are fewer.

Top 4. Wise Data Recovery - HDD Recovery Software (Windows)

Wise Data Recovery 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 supported devices.

Pros

  • Free to use
  • Lightweight and space-saving
  • Fast scanning speed
  • Offers a portable version
  • Filters files by category

Cons

  • Only supports FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems
  • Shows messy codes in the preview pane for unsupported formats

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited free recovery. You cannot run RAW recovery and deep scan with the free version. The Pro version costs $44.96 and has no recovery limits.

Overall Experience

Wise Data Recovery allows you to recover lost files on your Windows system(64-bit and 32-bit). It has been developed to work on Windows 10 and other Windows operating systems, from Windows XP and up. The free version allows you to run a quick scan and recover recently deleted files. If you want to recover permanently deleted files from Windows 10, this freeware may not work well. The user interface of Wise Data Recovery is straightforward, so even less experienced users shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out. We appreciate the ability to preview deleted files before recovery and display detailed information about them, including file headers.

Top 5. Ontrack Data Recovery Software (Windows & Mac)

Ontrack EasyRecovery is one of the top choices for disk data recovery. It retrieves files from an HDD, SSD, memory card, USB, and optical media after deletion, format, corruption, and more. Other than the basic data recovery features, EasyRecovery also enables users to perform advanced RAID recovery.

Pros

  • Recovers photos, videos, documents, and more
  • Supports multiple storage devices
  • Allows to preview results before recovery
  • Retrieves files after deletion, format, hard disk damage, and corruption

Cons

  • Must enter personal information to download the software

Limitations on the free version: 1GB of free recovery. The Pro version costs $87.81 and has fewer recovery limits.

Overall Experience

Ontrack is straightforward file recovery software for missing or deleted photos, videos, and more from all types of computer storage devices. Utilize quick scan and deep scan to optimize your recovery. It also provides manual data recovery and repair with experts. The cost depends on your data and the difficulty of the recovery process. It is a little hard to download. You need to give your email and personal information before you can download it.

Top 6. Recover My Files (Windows Only)

Recover My Files is a reliable data recovery software tool that is exclusive to Windows. It enables users to recover files from hard drives, SD cards, USB zip drives, floppy disks, iPods, 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 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

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited free recovery. The Pro version costs $69.95 and has fewer recovery limits.

Overall Experience

Recover My Files is a data recovery program that uses file carving to extract lost files from unallocated clusters. Recovery is based on the interpretation of file content, usually through the process of reverse engineering a file type. The recovery process is not that easy as explained. The old-fashioned interface makes it hard for common users. Unfortunately, the last version of Recover My Files was v6, and it's clear that its original developers have abandoned it. You cannot get any updates.

Top 7. PhotoRec (Windows, Mac, and Linux)

Photo Rec recovers images from all kinds of digital devices such as computers, digital cameras, cell phones, tablets, memory cards, external hard drives, and more. It has powerful file recovery capabilities and support for a wide range of platforms. This open-source data recovery software can recover more than 480 file extensions.

Pros

  • It supports data recovery cross-platform---Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
  • It can restore data on most devices.
  • This software works with many file formats and not just images.

Cons

  • Not for beginners
  • All files are automatically recovered during the scan
  • Unable to restore file names and folder structure

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited free recovery.

Overall Experience

PhotoRec is free and open-source. It uses text-based data recovery techniques to get the lost files from a system. It is designed for experienced users with its text-only user interface. The good news is that this software is 100% free. PhotoRec can measure up to many paid data recovery software applications. You don't need to worry about the price and limitations.

Top 8. TestDisk (Windows, Mac, and Linux)

TestDisk is also an open resource application 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 TestDisk is open source software, you can inspect, modify, and enhance it provided you know how to do it.

Pros

  • Open-source software
  • Recover lost partitions
  • Fix disks that won't boot
  • Recover various file types

Cons

  • Lacks an intuitive graphical user interface---command-line only
  • Repairs damaged partitions and file systems but not files

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited free recovery.

Overall Experience

Hard Drive Recovery Software Free Mac Os

This freeware solution is only applicable to partition recovery. It is a command-line tool that supports many operating systems and filesystems. The app is still supported by its developer and is available in a bootable version. If you lost your partition, you can run this software. Otherwise, you can try other free data recovery software.

Top 9. HDD Recovery Software - Orion File Recovery (Windows)

Orion File Recovery 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 permanently erase data from your hard drive to protect your 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 scan locations
  • Provides extra features like '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

Limitations on the free version: Unlimited data recovery.

Overall Experience

One of the features that makes Orion File Recovery Software so user-friendly is that every time you open the program, it starts a recovery wizard. Specifying the criteria that the app will use to search for your files couldn't be easier. For instance, Orion File Recovery Software will search for videos, music, pictures, documents, and other file types, whether or not you can remember the file name. The bad news is that there are many configurable options. The scanning result and recovery rate are not so reliable.

Top 10. Windows File Recovery ( Windows 10 2004 and Above)

Windows File Recovery is a command-line software utility from Microsoft to recover deleted files. It is freely available for Windows 10 version 2004 (May 2020 Update) and later from the Microsoft Store. It can recover most file types, with Microsoft listing JPEG, PDF, PNG, MPEG, Office files, MP3, MP4, and ZIP files from your hard drive or other devices.

Pros

  • It recovers JPEG, PDF, PNG, MPEG, Office files, MP3, MP4, ZIP files, and more.
  • It is totally free to get back deleted files from HDD, SSD, USB, and memory cards.

Cons

  • It only works on Windows 10 2004 and above.
  • You must use the command-line to get back files according to the file types.

Limitations on the free version: Limited file type recovery.

Overall Experience

If you run this tool, you must know your target file names, keywords, file paths, or extensions in your recovery. You can only recover JPEG, PDF, PNG, MPEG, Office files, MP3, MP4, and ZIP files. Different file recovery has different commands, which is hard to find for common users. This tool is totally free and clean. It will not bring additional software and plug-ins.

How to Recover Files from My Hard Drive for Free

Here are the simple steps needed to recover lost and deleted files using EaseUS data recovery software for Windows.

Step 1. Download & Install EaseUS Hard Drive Data Recovery Software for Windows.

Step 2. Choose the hard drive partition and click 'Scan'.

Step 3. Select which files you want to recover from your hard drive and click 'Recover'.

Causes of Hard Drive Data Loss

Data loss on hard drives, be it internal or external, occurs more frequently than you expect. It's usually caused by one or more of 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 a virus attack or virus infection.

At this point, most people learn the importance of a backup. But, people often lose data without any backup. That's what makes the hard drive recovery software necessary for the users.

Hard Drive Recovery Software Free Mac Version

What You Should Consider While Choosing Disk Recovery Software

Many software developers claim that their hard drive recovery software is 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, just the freeware regardless of its quality? 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 must not cause further damage to the lost/deleted/formatted data. Also, the hard disk recovery software shouldn't crash during the data recovery process.

What's equally important is that there should be both pre-sale and after-sale technical support available from the software developers 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.

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.

Comparison Table - How to Choose a Suitable Software

Here is the comparison of the hard drive recovery software scanning the same partition (127GB free of 141GB) searching for deleted/lost files: You can choose the best one according to your needs.

Hard Drive Recovery Software Free Mac Free

Product NameRecover My FilesRecuvaDisk DrillWise Data RecoveryEaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Scanning Time1h> 1h> 1h37min27min
Files Found321,297 files111,213 files2,254 files414,170 files784,741 files
File Size13.80GBno size is shown1.92GB19.84GB38.53GB

Conclusion

Did you find the hard drive recovery software you needed from the list above? As long as your lost files are not overwritten, you can use one of the software above to give data recovery a try but the success rate varies. The higher the software ranks, the higher the chance you will get your files back. If your hard drive is physically damaged, we’re afraid none of the software above will help. In that case, you should send your hard drive to manual data recovery services.

Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated by EaseUS Team

What is data recovery software?

Recovery Software For Mac

Recovery

Data recovery software is a specialized application that is used to recover deleted files from storage devices. There are many data recovery software options available that provide varying levels of functionality. A reliable solution like EaseUS for Windows or Mac machines can recover over 1000 different types of files that were accidentally deleted from your computer.

How does data recovery software work?

Data Recovery App For Mac

In the case of accidental data deletion, data recovery software uses deterministic and heuristic algorithms to find the location of deleted files, and then attempts to recover as much of the data as possible. However, the chances of successful data recovery depend largely on the file system of the device in question.

Why do you even need data recovery software?

Data Recovery Software Mac Os

Most people think all you need to do is run hard drive recovery software. Not all data loss situations require a high-quality, commercial data recovery software solution. In some cases, you can get back data with native operating system features. If you accidentally delete a file or lose all of your files because of a system crash or virus, hard disk recovery software may be able to recover the files from your hard drive.