Last updated on 2013-08-01, by Dupont

How to Restore Deleted Files from Emptied Trash on Mac

You have just emptied the trash and found out that there is one important file in there, and the worst of all is that you don’t have a copy on your Mac. In such case, a data recovery program will help you to restore deleted files from emptied trash.

Why restore deleted files on Mac possible?

No matter you deleted a file on Mac by empting the trash or clicking Command + Delete, the file is actually at the same place on the hard drive. It is the link between the file and file system index that is deleted, so the operating system cannot access to the file anymore. The system marked the storage “free to use” so you need to restore the deleted files before the storage is overwritten by other files.

Chances of restore deleted files on Mac

As you can see, once the storage is overwritten by new files, it will become extremely difficult or perhaps impossible to get the original files back again. So the files that deleted lately have the highest possibility to be restored.

Preparation before restore deleted files on Mac

First of all, you need to stop using your Mac immediately to avoid writing new data on the hard drive. Then download and install Leawo Data Recovery for Mac on a different partition from where the deleted files were located.

Now follow the guide below to learn how to restore deleted files from emptied trash on Mac using Leawo Data Recovery for Mac.

Full Guide

Chose file recovery mode

File Recovery will deep scan all supported files on each sector.

Photo Recovery is mainly for recover multimedia files like photos, music files and videos from Mac and portable devices.

Lost Partition Recovery will search lost, deleted, corrupted or resized partition first and then recover deleted files.

Select Disk

Click “File Recovery” and select the drive or volume once the deleted files were stored. To save your time, go to “More Options” panel and pick up the target file types and check “For deleted files” option so as to scan the deleted data files only.

Scan the deleted files on Mac

Click “Next” to start scanning. In this step you scan and analyze the data files comprehensively.

Restore deleted files on another partition or disk

All the deleted files will be listed in different formats at the left and you can also preview them at the right section. Find the deleted files you want, select them and click “Recover” button to restore them. Remember to choose another partition or disk to save the recovered files because overwritten can happen in the process of data recovering.