It’s a nightmare scenario: your Mac has been playing up for weeks and you’ve been ignoring it, or just haven’t been able to figure out how to fix it. Then it refuses to start up. Why didn’t you make that backup? Is there any way you can get back the lost data from your Mac? Luckily there are apps that can recover your lost photos and damaged files from your failed Mac’s hard drive.

Data recovery apps, like the ones we have reviewed below, can recover files with relative ease, as long as the directory indicating where files were originally stored is salvageable. If that isn’t the case, the software can scan the data for familiar patterns that would denote a file type. Once it finds a file type, there’s a good chance that there will be data in that file.

Whether you’re a casual user scrambling to recover your lost files on your Mac, or a full-time tech shop doing everything it can to retrieve a client’s most critical documents from a dying hard drive, these are the data recovery apps that get our recommendation.

PROMOTION

Data recovery software for Mac – EaseUS

iBeesoft’s Data Recovery for Mac functions as a data recovery and backup application and also includes a video repair utility for the AV nerds out there.

The app is based around several modules: Storage Devices, Crashed Mac Recovery, Video Repair, File Backup, and Search Records. There’s a user-friendly interface and helpful file categorizations, such as All Types, Pictures, Documents, Audio, Video, Emails, Archives, Others, and Unsaved Documents.

The software can scan through your list of mounted drives, looking for deleted files, reconstructing and recovering everything it can. It’s easy to select specific files or all files for a given recovery to an external volume once a scan is complete.

The Video Repair module allows you to drag and drop old video clips and upgrade their quality before exporting them. The Backup module allows you to specify files, folders, or an entire volume and back up a copy as a .dmg file, which can be easily restored later.

This is so far so good, but there are some elements to sort out. The Crashed Mac module is designed to offer an easily downloadable .dmg file to create a boot drive to use as an emergency disk to help recover data to an external hard drive, but the web server that hosted the file not working so the feature couldn’t be tested.

There’s a Personal License and a Lifetime License, as well as a free version (with a 500MB limit).

Data Recovery for Mac hones in on its core features well and is worth a look.

Read our full iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac review

Alsoft DiskWarrior

Alsoft has been producing high-quality utility software for over 20 years. DiskWarrior, a popular application for recovering damaged hard drives, has been in use since 1998. However, the latest version of DiskWarrior 5.3.1, released in 2024, seems to be falling behind in software and file system support.?

The software still supports the HFS format, FireVault 1 and 2, Core Storage for Fusion dries, RAID configurations, and disk images and sparse bundles, but it has not been upgraded to support the APFS format, which is increasingly prevalent on new Macs and Apple’s push towards this file system standard.

DiskWarrior is available as a bootable USB flash drive that can boot Macs running HFS format volumes. Its ease of use remains unchanged, making it easy to mount and unmount drives and volumes, perform quick tests, access technical specifications, set up automated diagnostics, and receive notifications through alerts, emails, AppleScript programs, or text messages.

However, there’s bad news: DiskWarrior 5.3.1 still lacks support for the APFS standard. As more drives are moving towards this file system, the company’s silence on this matter is concerning. A representative within the company confirmed that Alsoft is working on version 6.0, which will offer full APFS support. However, changes from Apple’s side, such as not allowing third-party kernel extensions and other technical changes, have made the development process more difficult and created more roadblocks than previous versions of DiskWarrior.

The lack of a free trial version of DiskWarrior 5.3.1 raises concerns about the steep new user price and upgrade price, especially when the software lacks APFS support and can only work with certain volumes.

Sometimes a great utility gets stuck in development. There’s still a great application to be had here, but Alsoft needs to put itself in a position where it can readily announce that an updated version will be out at a given date and that it will offer APFS support.

Read our full Alsoft DiskWarrior review

What is the best Mac data recovery app?

Our top choice right now is Recoverit from Wondershare because it does a good job recovering data, and at a reasonable price.

How we choose the best Data Recovery app for Mac

We approach this not only from an ease-of-use perspective for the user, but also in terms of which software can genuinely pull something useful from a disaster. It’s not always the best marketed or most expensive recovery application that succeeds, but something that can work with a volume, continue to test it, and not give up on it in terms of hardware condition and slowdowns. The software that you can leave to run overnight to recover data and have the best chance of waking up and finding something useful recovered, that marks the best software where Macworld is concerned.

Another factor we consider is that the best option will depend on a specific set of needs. For example, one option might be the best if you have a tight budget, while another option will be better for someone who will only use this software once, while the best option for someone who expects to need to use the software again and again will probably be quite different.

For that reason we specify who we recommend the app for. We also tend to only include the apps that we recommend in our group tests. If the app isn’t included here it may be because we don’t rate it as well as the ones in this round up.

What you should consider when choosing the best Data Recovery app

Outside of the price point (some applications can be considerably expensive, especially given the services they’re tied into), ease of use and overall approach are important factors to consider. Some applications will offer you all the options in the world, but through a nigh-terrifying user interface that asks you to identify specific hard drive sectors you’d like to identify and work with, which is beyond what a panicked user who might have lost their life’s data wants to deal with.

What you’re looking for is something powerful, capable of dealing with your damaged hard drive/volume, and capable of keeping it mounted on your Mac as it’s working through damaged sectors on a hard drive mechanism that may itself be failing.

Once this is complete, it’s a matter of whether the application can work steadily for the hours, days, or weeks that may be involved in slowly pulling the data to an external hard drive. From there, it’s a question of how the recovered data can be reconstructed and how quickly and easily the recovered data can be worked with (i.e., will you have to rename and reorganize thousands of files, will a specific file be able to be opened by the application that created it, etc.?)

In short, it’s a question of “Well, I’ve recovered hundreds of gigabytes of data, can I actually work with it or do I have to babysit it and rebuild the data and how much time have I saved in the long run?” This, combined with the expected price you’ll pay (either from an outright one-time purchase or annual or multi-year subscription), and best practices such as settings up local Time Machine and online backups help form what you should consider for a best-of-breed data recovery application, or a set of them. It’s not a question of if a hard drive will fail but when, and we’ll do everything we can here at Macworld to keep you informed and ready for when it eventually happens.

How we test Data Recovery software for Mac

When we test data recovery software we simulate the experience of those who lose data in real world scenarios. This includes everything from recovering accidentally deleted files, to attempting to recover data from a formatted disk.

We test with both rotational and solid-state media, using both newer and used drives. During the tests, we work to recover both large and small files as well as data that’s been deleted from multiple drive format functions. We compare ease of use, the software’s approach, what’s recovered, and how this meets the user’s expectations.

We also factor in reconstruction methods, and where this leaves the user (i.e., can a recovered image be easily opened, or will it require several additional steps to rename and open the file?) to determine what to make of the software and how best to rate it.

Why you can trust Macworld’s recommendations

Macworld’s Data Recovery app reviewer, Chris Barylick is an Apple-Certified Macintosh Technician with more than twenty years experience fixing Macs, dealing with people, and writing about it. In this time, he’s seen just about every scenario that can be conceived of, heard the wailing of people whose Macs were working great just the other day and whose hard drives are making strange clicking sounds and not booting, and everything in between. Throughout this time, his goal was always the same: Get the hard drive out of the computer, get it mounted, and figure out the best way to recover their data and their work, no matter what.

FAQ

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1.

Why does Data Recovery take so long?

Expect the data recovery process to be time-consuming as the app pieces the bits of files back together. With patience, most files that haven’t been overwritten should, in theory, be saveable.

Some drives can take days to fully scan, and the higher capacity they are, the longer the process. But if it’s irreplaceable photos or important documents that are lost, you can afford to wait.

2.

Is there a free way?to recover my lost Mac data?

Unfortunately, this sort of software is pretty much always going to have a high price associated with it before you can recover what you need–but if you’ve lost hundreds of treasured photos or the first 1,000 pages of your novel, then no price is too high, probably. Sometimes you can pay for the software for a month, do what you need to do and then cancel. Sometimes you must subscribe for a year. Other options allow you to buy it outright, but pay extra for future updates. Your own circumstances will influence which option is best for you. Additionally, many of these tools offer a trial so you can at least see what you should be able to recover before you spend your money.

There are a few techniques you can try before you spend money on an app though, as you’ll see in our How to recover data from a damaged Mac article.

3.

How to avoid data loss?

Prevention is better than a cure and we recommend adopting a regular backup routine going forward, so you’ll avoid this kind of situation again. For more tips on this, take a look at the best backup software for Mac and How to use Time Machine to back up a Mac.

4.

Are data recovery apps/services safe, can you trust them?

Yes, they are safe, but you’re going to want to do some research and/or read some reviews to find something that works best for you. It does the software companies no good to have their data recovery software be something that damages your Mac’s data, and data recovery applications use extremely low-level hardware code to access data from failing devices, so there’s that to consider.

Still, there are several data recovery applications that offer free or trial periods to test the software, and you can always try these out for yourself. Read and listen to trusted sources, try various applications out for yourself (you can always try recovering data you’ve deleted from thumb drives with the trial versions of these applications), remember to set up Time Machine and online backups and your data should be safe. There’s a world of options out there and we’ll do what we can to help you find the best one for you.

5.

How does data recovery software work?

Most data recovery software works to mount the potentially-failing volume that your data is on, then it has to work to keep it mounted and running as it scans the drive’s sectors, offers you options as to what you’d like to do with it, carries out the tests and data recovery options, and works to save the data to a functional drive prior to reconstructing it.

There’s a lot for it to carry out, and each data recovery application and the company behind it approaches it differently. Some might provide a very general, user friendly interface towards data recovery while others might offer extremely specific, technical functions to work with precise sectors of your hard drive. Some might provide an option to boot form an external USB thumb drive or Web-based operating system to try to recover your data, and each approach can yield different results

6.

Why is data recovery software expensive?

Data recovery software has always been infamously expensive, but there are logical reasons for this. First, there’s an extremely significant amount of research and development involved in creating and updating this software, as it delves into low-lying system and firmware functions as to how the computer communicates with its hard drives and reads and writes data to and from them.

Additionally, data recovery software typically isn’t the kind of thing that’s initially purchased with a new computer (such as a copy of Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc.), and tends to only be purchased in the event of a disaster wherein your data is at risk of loss.

As such, the data recovery software market tends to sell fewer copies and sometimes charges a higher price for the copies it does sell.

Finally, there are times where the software companies provide higher-end services and tech support, including shipping a damaged drive off for disassembly and data recovery. This can be considered a new service altogether and that much more expensive to reclaim damaged data.

For more advice about software for your Mac, iPad or iPhone see all our Best Picks and our latest macOS and iOS software reviews.

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