It’s a nightmare state of affairs: your Mac has been taking part in up for weeks and also you’ve been ignoring it, or simply haven’t been in a position to determine how one can repair it. Then it refuses to start out up. Why didn’t you make that backup? Is there any means you will get again the misplaced information out of your Mac? Fortunately there are apps that may get better your misplaced images and broken recordsdata out of your failed Mac’s exhausting drive.
Information restoration apps, like those we have now reviewed beneath, can get better recordsdata with relative ease, so long as the listing indicating the place recordsdata have been initially saved is salvageable. If that isn’t the case, the software program can scan the information for acquainted patterns that will denote a file sort. As soon as it finds a file sort, there’s a great likelihood that there shall be information in that file.
Whether or not you’re an off-the-cuff person scrambling to get better your misplaced recordsdata in your Mac, or a full-time tech store doing all the pieces it will possibly to retrieve a consumer’s most crucial paperwork from a dying exhausting drive, these are the information restoration apps that get our advice.
PROMOTION
Information restoration software program for Mac – EaseUS
Get well misplaced information in 3 easy steps: automated scan, preview, and one-click restoration. Cowl any file format and cope with information loss points. Undelete recordsdata from the Mac-based exhausting drive, fusion drive, SSD, USB drive, reminiscence card, digital digital camera, and extra. Macworld really helpful, and an incredible alternative for each Mac and Home windows customers.
Now 25% OFF Unique Code: MACWORLD25
Trying to get better information from a iPhone? Learn: Finest information restoration apps for iPhone.
Finest information restoration software program for Mac 2025
Right here’s our decide of the most effective restoration software program for Mac we have now reviewed.
Recoverit, Wondershare: Finest Mac information restoration software program

Professionals
- Clear, inviting person interface
- Good set of instruments
- Good efficiency
Cons
- Drawback with USB boot drive creation module
Value When Reviewed:
1 month/2 Macs: /£63.99 (often £93.97); 1 yr/2 Macs: £66.99 (often £113.97); perpetual license/2 Macs: £118.97 (often £144.97)
Finest Costs Right now:
Recoverit by Wondershare is centered across the typical modules that you simply would possibly see in this type of suite: Onerous Drives and Places and SD Card for file restoration, Enhanced Restoration and Corrupted Video Restore for video and picture restoration and System Crashed Laptop and NAS and Linux for added restoration options.
There’s a pleasant dwelling display screen and person interface and the modules work as anticipated. Information restoration for exhausting drives, areas, and SD playing cards is straightforward and dependable, with Recoverit executing each a fast scan and diving right into a deep scan.
The video and picture restore modules work properly with broken recordsdata. The SD Card module was in a position to sift via a broken 8GB SD card, pull some video information thought misplaced, and ship the information again cleanly to a restoration folder with out difficulty.
Distant-based utilities enable for network-based drives to be situated or accessed manually to have information recovered from them. This system may save recovered information to a NAS drive or Google Drive, which is a pleasant function.
We had some issues with the USB boot drive creation module, however this is likely to be on account of Apple’s issues.
Wondershare Recoverit presents a wonderful information restoration bundle at a not-unreasonable, worth. The corporate additionally provides reductions for college kids and educators, and small and medium companies. Whereas no trial model exists, the free model permits for all of Recoverit’s options for use, with information restoration capped at 100 megabytes.
Learn our full
Wondershare Recoverit assessment
Stellar Information Restoration for Mac: Finest for classy recoveries

Professionals
- Fast, clear interface
- Good information restoration instruments and modules
- Spectacular net-based restoration module
Cons
- Repeated crashes for Clear Up Junk Recordsdata module
- Activation bugs
Value When Reviewed:
Commonplace version: £79.99 (at present £69.99) a yr, or £129.99 (at present £99.99) for a lifetime license. Skilled model: £129.99 (at present £99.99) a yr, or £199 (at present £149) for a lifetime license. Premium version: £209.99 (at present £99.99) a yr, or £319 (at present £199) for a lifetime license.
Finest Costs Right now:
Stellar Information Restoration for Mac focuses on recovering information through normal scans, deep scans, drive picture creation, and different restoration instruments. It’s obtainable as a free trial, with normal, skilled, and premium editions obtainable on yearly or lifetime contracts. The software program helps each HFS+ and APFS quantity codecs and could be put in simply.
Stellar Information Restoration’s fundamental power is its in depth information restoration engine, which helps lots of of file codecs and permits customers to look and get better by file sort, headers, and attributes. It additionally incorporates a good scan administration engine that permits customers to avoid wasting and work from earlier scans, and a picture creation function that permits customers to create a byte-for-byte picture of a quantity that may be restored later.
One attention-grabbing function is the Get well Non Booting Mac module, which permits customers to log into their Mac’s restoration partition, load Terminal, and enter a command to open a distant model of Stellar Information Restoration (extra particulars in our full assessment). Different modules akin to Search Massive Recordsdata and Search Duplicate Recordsdata carry out properly and supply a complete have a look at your drive.
The whole array of modules labored properly with take a look at drives, recovering information as wanted, and snagging as a lot as attainable.
Sadly, we did expertise some issues. Stellar’s Clear Up Junk Recordsdata crashed the applying repeatedly and needed to be power stop.
Different points included activating the serial quantity, which took a number of days and a number of calls and emails to type out. Moreover, Stellar Information Restoration refused to look within the macOS Latest Objects menu, stopping it from being shortly launched. Even after activating a Skilled tier account, the software program nonetheless presents an “Improve” button on its fundamental menu, which appears to be asking for extra money to be thrown within the firm’s basic path.
Regardless of these failings, Stellar Information Restoration for Mac is an efficient program in a position to dig deep to assist reconstruct and get better deleted information. There’s additionally Stellar Information Restoration for iPhone.
Learn our full
Stellar Information Restoration for Mac assessment

Professionals
- Glorious toolset and restoration system
- Useful Scan Administration
Cons
- Excessive subscription worth
- Final replace (v6) in 2023
- Insufficient tech help
- Unable to create Sonoma restoration drive
Value When Reviewed:
Commonplace license: £74.32 for a 30-day; Skilled license: £375.34 for one yr
Finest Costs Right now:
Information Rescue provides some glorious drive administration and information restoration options, albeit at a steep worth for infrequent customers.
The software program helps older variations of macOS and requires macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or later. Customers can obtain the software program and assign full drive entry, with a trial providing as much as 1GB of information restoration without cost. The corporate provides a 30-day normal license in addition to a pricy skilled license.
The software program has a compelling toolset, together with Fast Scan or Deep Scan, view hex tables, safe erase, set drive parameters, handle digital RAID setup, and work with numbered sectors on drives and allocation blocks. It permits customers to work with as much as 15 scans, pausing and resuming as wanted – helpful should you’re a number of hours right into a Deep Scan. The software program runs properly within the background.
Information Rescue 6 can create clone and restoration drives, dealing with completely different information methods akin to Straight, Reverse, Bisect, and Section. Nonetheless, it doesn’t provide an choice to create a macOS Sonoma restoration drive as of July 2024.
There are different limitations. If the drive is mechanically failing, it’ll be tougher for information to be pulled and reconstructed.
Technical instruments in Information Rescue 6 provide lots to work with, however can get you in bother should you aren’t conversant in them. For instance, setting the mistaken drive parameters or boot level can require troubleshooting.
Total, Information Rescue 6 provides glorious instruments, however Prosoft ought to handle points like lack of buyer responsiveness, the prolonged time between updates, the excessive, subscription-based price ticket, and a scarcity of a tutorial system.
Learn our full
Information Rescue assessment
Disk Drill Professional, CleverFiles: Dependable and pleasant information restoration

Professionals
- Pleasant interface
- Useful YouTube movies
- Good information restoration efficiency
- Information Shredder utility
Cons
- Occasional crashes
- Didn’t create viable boot drive
Value When Reviewed:
Fundamental: Free; Professional: £70.89; Enterprise: £397.47 (pay additional for lifetime upgrades)
Disk Drill Professional from Cleverfiles is designed to get better information and rebuild deleted recordsdata on Macs and numerous different platforms and gadgets. It really works with normal macOS file codecs like HFS+, Mac OS Prolonged, and APFS.
The essential model is obtainable without cost and might get better as much as 500 megabytes of information. There’s a Professional model that helps one person and as much as three simultaneous activations, paid for as soon as with an extra expense for lifetime upgrades. The Enterprise version has an analogous additional expense for lifetime upgrades and helps 10 customers and infinite activations with precedence technical help and DFXML forensic information help.
Disk Drill Professional requires macOS 10.15 Catalina or later and provides a number of new options, together with a RAID utility, NAS & Linux through SSH utility, instruments for recovering information from iPhones, iPads, and Time Machine volumes, a scan session supervisor, S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, a macOS boot drive creator, a backup utility, a Clear Up utility to map drive storage, a replica file remover, an information shredder, and a free area erasure instrument. YouTube-based tutorial movies can be found.
Units could be scanned over a Wi-Fi community, and the S.M.A.R.T. perform offers information about drive temperatures, drive situation, and life proportion left. Disk Drill Professional runs the scan within the background and might bypass file permission errors on the information being erased. Throughout our information restoration scans, greater than 90% of deleted recordsdata have been readily recovered.
Disk Drill Professional has some points, such because the macOS Installer utility failing to provide a bootable quantity after a number of checks, the Latest Classes scan supervisor solely sporadically working, and Disk Drill Professional crashing into the spinning rainbow wheel if a course of is interrupted. Nonetheless, it provides dependable information restoration from all kinds of gadgets.
Learn our full
Disk Drill Professional assessment
EaseUS Information Restoration Wizard for Mac: First rate free model

Professionals
- Free model (as much as 2GB)
- Nice information restoration instruments, file group, categorization
- Video Restore instrument
Cons
- Excessive worth
- Unbootable Mac module did not find drives
- Unable to log into cloud-based companies
Value When Reviewed:
£95.99 a month for one Mac, £131.99 a yr for one Mac, £179.99 for a lifetime improve plan for one Mac
EaseUS Information Restoration Wizard for Mac is a Mac port of the Home windows restoration software program.
There’s a free model with a good 2GB recovered information cap in addition to a paid model, which provides extra options akin to 1-on-1 distant help, is obtainable as a free trial, and requires Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later to run. The paid model provides one license for one Mac paid month-to-month, yearly or as a lifetime improve plan that covers one Mac. The month-to-month and annual license funds auto-renew.
The software program helps over 1,000 file sorts and provides particular modules for SD playing cards, cloud-based restoration, and storage. It helps APFS, HFS+, HFS, XFAT, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS, making it helpful for working with drives from Home windows and Linux machines.
The core functionalities of information restoration, reconstruction, and group are its strongest factors. A pleasant interface guides customers in selecting the quantity to get better from and designating the goal restoration drive or folder. This system organizes recovered and restored information logically into classes akin to All Varieties, Photos, Paperwork, Audio, Movies, Emails, Archives, and Others.
The SD Card perform is helpful, and the iCloud module makes it straightforward to log into iCloud (requiring Two Issue Authentication). The Video Restore module is fulfilling for exporting cleaner copies of previous movies. Nonetheless, some points want consideration, together with the Unbootable Mac module, which has the person shut down their Mac, boot into Restoration Mode, then boot off an exterior server run by EaseUS. Whereas it is a good thought in concept, the instrument went right into a steady loop of being unable to mount my M2 Mac inside and exterior drives. I allowed this course of to run in a single day, and after I awoke within the morning, the drives had nonetheless not mounted and the instrument couldn’t be labored with.
The cloud instrument was unable to efficiently log into Dropbox for restoration, and the applying required an administrator password each time the person launched it. Moreover, the software program introduced a buyer suggestions survey each time the person exited this system, which was infuriating.
Information Restoration Wizard for Mac excels at its core features and presents a pretty technique of recovering information from Mac, Home windows, and Linux volumes with a pleasant array of platform and file format help. Nonetheless, the excessive worth level, Unbootable Mac module failures, fixed want for an administrator password, and repeating buyer suggestions survey window let it down.
Learn our full
EaseUS Information Restoration Wizard for Mac assessment
Information Restoration for Mac, iBeesoft: Information restoration and backup mixed

Professionals
- Pleasant person interface
- Good information restoration
- Backup and video restore modules
- Good worth
Cons
- Crashed Mac module didn’t work
- Obscure 60-day money-back assure phrases
Value When Reviewed:
Private License: $59.95 (approx £46); Lifetime License for $129.95 (approx £100)
Finest Costs Right now:
iBeesoft’s Information Restoration for Mac features as an information restoration and backup utility and in addition features a video restore utility for the AV nerds on the market.
The app relies round a number of modules: Storage Units, Crashed Mac Restoration, Video Restore, File Backup, and Search Information. There’s a user-friendly interface and useful file categorizations, akin to All Varieties, Photos, Paperwork, Audio, Video, Emails, Archives, Others, and Unsaved Paperwork.
The software program can scan via your record of mounted drives, in search of deleted recordsdata, reconstructing and recovering all the pieces it will possibly. It’s straightforward to pick particular recordsdata or all recordsdata for a given restoration to an exterior quantity as soon as a scan is full.
The Video Restore module lets you drag and drop previous video clips and improve their high quality earlier than exporting them. The Backup module lets you specify recordsdata, folders, or a whole quantity and again up a replica as a .dmg file, which could be simply restored later.
That is to this point so good, however there are some parts to type out. The Crashed Mac module is designed to supply an simply downloadable .dmg file to create a boot drive to make use of as an emergency disk to assist get better information to an exterior exhausting drive, however the internet server that hosted the file not working so the function couldn’t be examined.
There’s a Private License and a Lifetime License, in addition to a free model (with a 500MB restrict).
Information Restoration for Mac hones in on its core options properly and is value a glance.
Learn our full
iBeesoft Information Restoration for Mac assessment
Alsoft DiskWarrior

Professionals
- Good person interface and efficiency
- Locates and types out file and listing errors
- Customization and configuration choices
Cons
- Lack of APFS help
- Excessive worth
- Time Machine quantity restore requires booting from included flash drive
Value When Reviewed:
$119.95 (plus $21.95 for delivery flash drive exterior U.S.)
Alsoft has been producing high-quality utility software program for over 20 years. DiskWarrior, a well-liked utility for recovering broken exhausting drives, has been in use since 1998. Nonetheless, the newest model of DiskWarrior 5.3.1, launched in 2024, appears to be falling behind in software program and file system help.
The software program nonetheless helps the HFS+ format, FireVault 1 and a pair of, Core Storage for Fusion dries, RAID configurations, and disk photos and sparse bundles, however it has not been upgraded to help the APFS format, which is more and more prevalent on new Macs and Apple’s push in the direction of this file system normal.
DiskWarrior is obtainable as a bootable USB flash drive that may boot Macs operating HFS+ format volumes. Its ease of use stays unchanged, making it straightforward to mount and unmount drives and volumes, carry out fast checks, entry technical specs, arrange automated diagnostics, and obtain notifications via alerts, emails, AppleScript packages, or textual content messages.
Nonetheless, there’s dangerous information: DiskWarrior 5.3.1 nonetheless lacks help for the APFS normal. As extra drives are transferring in the direction of this file system, the corporate’s silence on this matter is regarding. A consultant inside the firm confirmed that Alsoft is engaged on model 6.0, which is able to provide full APFS help. Nonetheless, modifications from Apple’s facet, akin to not permitting third-party kernel extensions and different technical modifications, have made the event course of harder and created extra roadblocks than earlier variations of DiskWarrior.
The dearth of a free trial model of DiskWarrior 5.3.1 raises issues concerning the steep new person worth and improve worth, particularly when the software program lacks APFS help and might solely work with sure volumes.
Generally an incredible utility will get caught in improvement. There’s nonetheless an incredible utility available right here, however Alsoft must put itself ready the place it will possibly readily announce that an up to date model shall be out at a given date and that it’s going to provide APFS help.
Learn our full
DiskWarrior assessment
What’s the greatest Mac information restoration app?
Our best choice proper now could be Recoverit from Wondershare as a result of it does a great job recovering information, and at an inexpensive worth.
How we select the most effective Information Restoration app for Mac
We strategy this not solely from an ease-of-use perspective for the person, but in addition when it comes to which software program can genuinely pull one thing helpful from a catastrophe. It’s not all the time the most effective marketed or costliest restoration utility that succeeds, however one thing that may work with a quantity, proceed to check it, and never hand over on it when it comes to {hardware} situation and slowdowns. The software program that you could depart to run in a single day to get better information and have the most effective likelihood of waking up and discovering one thing helpful recovered, that marks the most effective software program the place Macworld is anxious.
One other issue we contemplate is that the best choice will rely upon a selected set of wants. For instance, one possibility is likely to be the most effective if in case you have a good funds, whereas another choice shall be higher for somebody who will solely use this software program as soon as, whereas the best choice for somebody who expects to wish to make use of the software program many times will in all probability be fairly completely different.
For that cause we specify who we suggest the app for. We additionally are inclined to solely embody the apps that we suggest in our group checks. If the app isn’t included right here it could be as a result of we don’t charge it in addition to those on this spherical up.
What you need to contemplate when selecting the most effective Information Restoration app
Exterior of the worth level (some purposes could be significantly costly, particularly given the companies they’re tied into), ease of use and total strategy are vital elements to think about. Some purposes will give you all of the choices on the planet, however via a nigh-terrifying person interface that asks you to establish particular exhausting drive sectors you’d prefer to establish and work with, which is past what a panicked person who may need misplaced their life’s information needs to cope with.
What you’re in search of is one thing highly effective, able to coping with your broken exhausting drive/quantity, and able to retaining it mounted in your Mac because it’s working via broken sectors on a tough drive mechanism which will itself be failing.
As soon as that is full, it’s a matter of whether or not the applying can work steadily for the hours, days, or weeks that could be concerned in slowly pulling the information to an exterior exhausting drive. From there, it’s a query of how the recovered information could be reconstructed and the way shortly and simply the recovered information could be labored with (i.e., will it’s a must to rename and reorganize 1000’s of recordsdata, will a selected file be capable of be opened by the applying that created it, and many others.?)
Briefly, it’s a query of “Effectively, I’ve recovered lots of of gigabytes of information, can I really work with it or do I’ve to babysit it and rebuild the information and the way a lot time have I saved in the long term?” This, mixed with the anticipated worth you’ll pay (both from an outright one-time buy or annual or multi-year subscription), and greatest practices akin to settings up native Time Machine and on-line backups assist kind what you need to contemplate for a best-of-breed information restoration utility, or a set of them. It’s not a query of if a tough drive will fail however when, and we’ll do all the pieces we are able to right here at Macworld to maintain you knowledgeable and prepared for when it will definitely occurs.
How we take a look at Information Restoration software program for Mac
After we take a look at information restoration software program we simulate the expertise of those that lose information in actual world situations. This contains all the pieces from recovering unintentionally deleted recordsdata, to making an attempt to get better information from a formatted disk.
We take a look at with each rotational and solid-state media, utilizing each newer and used drives. In the course of the checks, we work to get better each massive and small recordsdata in addition to information that’s been deleted from a number of drive format features. We examine ease of use, the software program’s strategy, what’s recovered, and the way this meets the person’s expectations.
We additionally think about reconstruction strategies, and the place this leaves the person (i.e., can a recovered picture be simply opened, or will it require a number of extra steps to rename and open the file?) to find out what to make of the software program and the way greatest to charge it.
Why you may belief Macworld’s suggestions
Macworld’s Information Restoration app reviewer, Chris Barylick is an Apple-Licensed Macintosh Technician with greater than twenty years expertise fixing Macs, coping with folks, and writing about it. On this time, he’s seen nearly each state of affairs that may be conceived of, heard the wailing of individuals whose Macs have been working nice simply the opposite day and whose exhausting drives are making unusual clicking sounds and never booting, and all the pieces in between. All through this time, his aim was all the time the identical: Get the exhausting drive out of the pc, get it mounted, and work out the easiest way to get better their information and their work, it doesn’t matter what.
FAQ
Why does Information Restoration take so lengthy?
Anticipate the information restoration course of to be time-consuming because the app items the bits of recordsdata again collectively. With persistence, most recordsdata that haven’t been overwritten ought to, in concept, be saveable.
Some drives can take days to totally scan, and the upper capability they’re, the longer the method. But when it’s irreplaceable images or vital paperwork which might be misplaced, you may afford to attend.
Is there a free means to get better my misplaced Mac information?
Sadly, this type of software program is just about all the time going to have a excessive worth related to it earlier than you may get better what you want–however should you’ve misplaced lots of of treasured images or the primary 1,000 pages of your novel, then no worth is simply too excessive, in all probability. Generally you may pay for the software program for a month, do what that you must do after which cancel. Generally it’s essential to subscribe for a yr. Different choices permit you to purchase it outright, however pay additional for future updates. Your personal circumstances will affect which possibility is greatest for you. Moreover, many of those instruments provide a trial so you may no less than see what you need to be capable of get better earlier than you spend your cash.
There are a couple of methods you may strive earlier than you spend cash on an app although, as you’ll see in our get better information from a broken Mac article.
keep away from information loss
Are information restoration apps/companies protected, are you able to belief them?
Sure, they’re protected, however you’re going to need to do a little analysis and/or learn some evaluations to search out one thing that works greatest for you. It does the software program corporations no good to have their information restoration software program be one thing that damages your Mac’s information, and information restoration purposes use extraordinarily low-level {hardware} code to entry information from failing gadgets, so there’s that to think about.
Nonetheless, there are a number of information restoration purposes that provide free or trial durations to check the software program, and you’ll all the time strive these out for your self. Learn and take heed to trusted sources, strive numerous purposes out for your self (you may all the time strive recovering information you’ve deleted from thumb drives with the trial variations of those purposes), keep in mind to arrange Time Machine and on-line backups and your information needs to be protected. There’s a world of choices on the market and we’ll do what we are able to that will help you discover the most effective one for you.
How does information restoration software program work?
Most information restoration software program works to mount the potentially-failing quantity that your information is on, then it has to work to maintain it mounted and operating because it scans the drive’s sectors, provides you choices as to what you’d love to do with it, carries out the checks and information restoration choices, and works to avoid wasting the information to a purposeful drive previous to reconstructing it.
There’s quite a bit for it to hold out, and every information restoration utility and the corporate behind it approaches it otherwise. Some would possibly present a really basic, person pleasant interface in the direction of information restoration whereas others would possibly provide extraordinarily particular, technical features to work with exact sectors of your exhausting drive. Some would possibly present an choice to boot kind an exterior USB thumb drive or Net-based working system to attempt to get better your information, and every strategy can yield completely different outcomes
Why is information restoration software program costly?
Information restoration software program has all the time been infamously costly, however there are logical causes for this. First, there’s a particularly vital quantity of analysis and improvement concerned in creating and updating this software program, because it delves into low-lying system and firmware features as to how the pc communicates with its exhausting drives and reads and writes information to and from them.
Moreover, information restoration software program usually isn’t the form of factor that’s initially bought with a brand new pc (akin to a replica of Microsoft Workplace, Adobe Inventive Cloud, and many others.), and tends to solely be bought within the occasion of a catastrophe whereby your information is vulnerable to loss.
As such, the information restoration software program market tends to promote fewer copies and generally expenses a better worth for the copies it does promote.
Lastly, there are occasions the place the software program corporations present higher-end companies and tech help, together with delivery a broken drive off for disassembly and information restoration. This may be thought of a brand new service altogether and that rather more costly to reclaim broken information.
For extra recommendation about software program to your Mac, iPad or iPhone see all our Finest Picks and our newest macOS and iOS software program evaluations.