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Deleted important files by accident? Formatted a hard drive with critical documents? Got hit by a nasty virus? Got a Mac? If this is you, we have a solution (or 3) to help you get your files back.
We’ve found 3 proven ways of recovering data from your external hard drive on Mac. Some of them are free — all of them are straightforward. Read on.
Can Data Be Recovered From an External Hard Drive?
In most cases: yes, external hard drive recovery on Mac is possible. Whenever you delete a file — even if you delete it from trash — the file still exists in your drive until it gets overwritten by other data.
This is why it’s important to not save anything to the affected hard drive before you read this article.
And in the case of “Logical Damage”, such as file system corruption due to a sudden power outage, access to files can be restored by recovering fragmented data and using it to reconstruct the original files.
This is also the case if you accidentally formatted a hard drive and need to recover important files.
In the case of “Physical Damage,” things get a little more complicated. You’ll have to seek professional help, and we’ve outlined how the process typically goes below (method #3).
Let’s begin.
3 Proven Ways to Recover Files From External Hard Drive on a Mac
Method #1 Time Machine
Prevention is the best cure. Time Machine is a native app for macOS that allows you to make hourly, daily, and weekly backups of your data that you can easily restore.
If you’ve never set up Time Machine before and need another recovery method, click here to jump to Method #2.
What you’ll need:
- A MacBook with Time Machine
- An external storage device such as a USB drive, a Thunderbolt Drive, or an External Hard Drive you’ll be using to store your backup
How to backup your files:
- Connect your storage drive to your MacBook.
- Open Time Machine preferences using either of two methods:
- Open the Apple Menu in the top left corner of your screen > System Preferences > Time Machine.
- Press CMD + Space to bring up Spotlight Search and type “Time Machine.” Choose the option linked to System Preferences.
- Click “Select Backup Disk…”
- Select your storage device from the menu and click “Use Disk.”
- Check the box that says “Back Up Automatically.”
How to restore your files:
- Open Time Machine. Again, you can either do this by:
- Opening the Apple Menu in the top left corner of your screen > System Preferences > Time Machine
- Pressing CMD + Space to bring up Spotlight Search and typing “Time Machine.” Choose the option linked to System Preferences
- Using the timeline feature, scroll through your available backups and snapshots.
- Click “Restore” – you’ll be able to find your recovered files in their original folders.
Method #2 Data Recovery Software
If you failed to create a backup and you accidentally deleted a file, it’s still most likely fully intact in your system, waiting to be overwritten by new data. But once that file is overwritten, it’s pretty much lost.
This is why it’s important to never write new files to a drive that you want to restore. In this case, data recovery software can go in and restore that file.
In cases where your drive suffered logical damage and your drive has been corrupted, data recovery software can repair the damaged partition table or file system to recover your files.
💡 Disk Drill is a data recovery software by Cleverfiles, a software team that has been dominating the space since its inception in 2009. Since then, they’ve served over 500,000 customers in over 150 countries. Disk Drill recovers deleted or lost files not only from external hard drives but also from other external media, such as SD cards or USB flash drives.
🙂 Read more about macOS version of Disk Drill in our full review.
Now, the only time that software can’t help you is when your storage device suffers physical damage. If this is the case for you, go ahead and skip to the next step.
What you’ll need:
- Disk Drill for Mac (see below for installation instructions)
- The affected external hard drive
Steps
Installing Disk Drill
- Download Disk Drill directly from Cleverfiles’ website.
- Open the downloaded DMG file and drag the Disk Drill icon to the Applications folder.
- Your Mac will show a confirmation prompt. Click “Open.”
- Click “Install Now” on Disk Drill’s installation window. You’ll be prompted by your system to enter your username and password.
- Grant Disk Drill “Full Disk Access” on your Mac. The installer actually provides an easy-to-follow guide during the installation process, but we can go through it together:
- Click “Open Security & Privacy.”
- Click the lock icon in the bottom left of the Security & Privacy window and enter your password or use Touch ID to make changes.
- Once unlocked, scroll down on the left menu until you find “Full Disk Access” and click on it.
- Drag and drop the icons from the Disk Drill permissions window to the privacy menu.
- Make sure the checkboxes are ticked and click the lock icon again.
- Click “Open Security & Privacy.”
Previewing & Restoring Files on Disk Drill
- Connect the external drive that contains the files you want to restore.
- Open Disk Drill.
- On the middle pane, select the drive you want to work on and click “Search for lost data” on the lower right corner of the window.
- Disk Drill will begin scanning your drive. Wait for it to finish.
- Once the scan is complete, you can start going through the data. Click “Review found items.”
- You are highly encouraged to preview the file before attempting restoration to make sure that it’s still intact. You can do so by clicking the play button (yes, you can also preview video files).
- Once you’ve previewed the file and are ready to restore it, click the “Recover” button.
- Choose the folder where you want to save your recovered file and click “OK.”
- If you haven’t upgraded to the premium version, you’ll be prompted to do so. The free version of Disk Drill only allows users to preview recoverable files – which is still incredibly useful so you don’t have to spend your money on failed attempts.In fact, Cleverfiles (the company that developed Disk Drill) advises its users NOT to upgrade to a premium license until they’ve confirmed that their files can be previewed – which means that those files are recoverable.
- If you are a premium user, you’ll find your recovered file in the folder that you chose in Step #8. Congratulations! Disk Drill also has a backup feature that comes with a premium license – it’s more robust than Time Machine, plus it’s multi-platform! Download Disk Drill here (remember, you can use it to preview recoverable files for free).
Method #3 Professional Data Recovery Service
If all else fails and you’re desperate to recover your files, you’ll have to take your drive to a professional data recovery service. This is most likely your step #1 if your external drive suffered any physical damage that can’t be repaired by software alone.
Here’s how professional data recovery services typically go:
Steps:
- Search for the nearest data recovery service near you. Make sure to check reviews and look at the company’s client record.
- You will have a free (most of the time) evaluation with the company where you should explain any damage you think your drive endured.
- The company’s recovery engineers will determine the failure of the hard drive and suggest the fastest and most cost-effective recovery method, as well as a quote.
- You’ll send your drive-through shipping or take it to the service company in person.
Some services also offer remote recovery. This is a great option if the above methods didn’t work for you and you can’t travel.
Bonus Solution: Disk Utility
Just like Time Machine, Disk Utility is a native app on macOS. You can use it to restore your entire volume to another volume – such as an external hard drive, for example.
Disk Utility creates a full copy of the restored volume to the destination volume, which means that your external hard drive will be totally erased. Please keep this in mind.
What you’ll need:
- A MacBook with Disk Utility
- A drive to save your restored volume
Steps:
- Open Finder and click the Applications folder on the left sidebar and scroll down until you find the Utilities folder.
- Open the Utilities folder and locate Disk Utility.
- Select the drive where you will restore a volume to one the left sidebar, then click the “Restore” button in the menu bar.
- Select which volume you want to restore from the dropdown menu and click “Restore.”
Please remember that whichever drive you choose as the destination volume will be completely erased to accommodate a full copy of the volume you want to restore. Make sure you backup your data beforehand. Refer to method #1.
FAQ
To recover files from an external hard drive that won’t boot, do the following:
- Open Disk Drill by using Spotlight Search (CMD + Space) or by going to Finder > Applications > Disk Drill.
- Select the external hard drive that you want to recover. You should see it greyed out, but you can still click on it.
- Check the right sidebar to make sure that “All Recovery Methods” is selected.
- Click “Search for lost data.”
- Once Disk Drill completes the scan, you can look through recoverable files by file type.
- If you want to recover all of your files, click “the Recover All” button at the bottom of the window. If you only want to recover specific files, mark the checkboxes beside those files and click the “Recover” button at the bottom of the window.
- On the window that pops up, select the location where you want to restore your newly recovered files.
Option 1: Use Disk Utility’s First Aid Feature
- Open Disk Utility by using Spotlight Search (CMD + Space) or by going to Finder > Applications (left sidebar) > Utilities Folder > Disk Utility app
- Select the drive you want to attempt repair on.
- Click “First Aid” at the top right corner of the Disk Utility window.
- Click “Run” on the confirmation window that pops up.
Option 2: Use the terminal
- Open Finder by clicking its icon on your Dock or typing it in Spotlight Search (CMD + Space).
- Open the Applications folder.
- Locate the Utilities folder and open it.
- Locate the Terminal app and open it.
- Type this command and hit Return:
diskutil repairVolume /Volumes/[Drive Name]
For example:
diskutil repairVolume /Volumes/Seagate BUP Slim BK
Option 3: Format your external hard drive using Disk Utility
Sometimes, a disk format is all you can do to repair your external hard drive. Before you do this, remember that you can recover and backup your data – even if your Mac can’t detect your drive. Please refer to FAQ #1.
- Open Disk Utility by using Spotlight Search (CMD + Space) or by going to Finder > Applications (left sidebar) > Utilities Folder > Disk Utility app.
- Select the drive you want to format.
- Click the “Erase” button at the top right corner of the Disk Utility window.
- Name your external hard drive and click “Erase.”
On that note, Disk Drill Basic is 100% FREE, which means that you can first make sure that your files are recoverable before deciding to buy.
Conclusion
Fortunately, there are multiple ways to recover data whether your files have been accidentally deleted, corrupted, infected by malware, or even if your hard drive has been completely submerged in water.
But better yet – always back up your files. Premium recovery software like Disk Drill have backup features that are just as good (if not better) than native apps like Time Machine and Disk Utility, but those still work really well.
After all, prevention is always better than cure.
