The best way to recover recently deleted files on your Mac is by using the Trash Bin. Just follow this simple procedure to recover deleted files from the Trash on Mac: Click on the Trash Bin icon on your Mac to open it up. Search for the files you want to recover. Stellar Free Data Recovery Software offers up to 1GB of free data recovery for both Windows and Mac users. This enables users to retrieve deleted, lost, and unavailable objects from a hard drive. Select the files to recover and done. There is a free version available to this software, which comes with some limitations to recover deleted files on mac. The main disadvantage of the free version is the inability to recover data when PC crashes. Also using the free version, one can only recover files.

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Overwriting a much-needed file is every computer user's worst nightmare. Even when your Mac warns you that the file with this name already exists, you don’t stop and think it through — you just hit Replace and now the old file is gone. This happens way too often to busy people.

So what do you do now? Is it possible to rescue an overwritten file? Well, you’ll be pleased to know that all hope is not lost. The overwritten file can be recovered. On Mac, the file still exists somewhere on your system, and, with the help of a few tools, you can get it back.

These tools are Time Machine, Get Backup Pro, and Disk Drill.

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What is an overwritten file?

Before we give you practical solutions, let’s quickly outline what an overwritten file is, how you can overwrite a file, and how does it affect you.

Essentially, an overwritten file is a file replaced with another file — whether accidentally or intentionally. Have you ever seen an error that reads something like “this file already exists, want to replace it?” That’s the one. Usually, you get an error like that if you want to save a file with the name identical to the name of another file on your Mac. If you choose Replace, the original file will be overwritten.

But here’s an important thing to note: overwriting a file on Mac doesn’t mean you immediately delete the data it references. When you hit that Replace button, you basically delete the name of the file, thumbnails, and the icon. The actual data that the file contains is stored on your drive and won’t be deleted immediately. You still have time to bring it back!

Can you recover overwritten files?

Yes, you can recover overwritten files Mac has seemingly deleted. You can either use a backup tool or, for worst-case scenarios, a data recovery tool. There’s also a way to recover files from cloud backups if you use cloud storages such as Dropbox. The difficulty of the recovery task will depend on whether your macOS deletes the data referenced by the replaced file or not.

Where do replaced files go?

It really depends on the type of file, its size, your operating system, and many other factors. macOS was designed to save space on your drive and run all processes as fast as possible. This is why it will usually just delete the reference to your data to complete the task you want to complete — ”replace file.” The data that is actually referenced by that file, such as an image or the content of a PDF report, will be deleted at some point in the future — say, when you run an optimization task, clean up storage, etc.

You shouldn’t worry about how to find replaced files Mac has deleted. If you learn how to recover replaced files, you can bring them back — even if your macOS has deleted them. Next we cover three best ways to undo replace file Mac.

Recover an overwritten file on Mac with Time Machine

So let’s say you accidentally replaced file, how to recover? macOS allows you to roll back with a built-in tool. Time Machine is a brilliant macOS feature that’s designed to help you in situations where you’ve accidentally overwritten important files.

There is one caveat: Time Machine should’ve been active before you’d overwritten the file. If it was indeed, here’s how to get your file back.

How to recover overwritten files with Time Machine:

1. Open the folder where the overwritten file was located in the Finder
2. Select Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu (the clock icon) or click on its icon in the Dock
3. Use the up arrow to travel back to a time before the file was replaced and locate the file
4. Click on Restore and select which file you’d like to keep: the old one, the new one, or both

That’s it! Panic over. The old file is back.

Time Machine, however, is not the most flexible backup software you can use. It consumes a lot of space by storing a copy of every single file stored on your drive and works in preset intervals only.

For more flexible backups, try Get Backup Pro. This app also backs up your data but leaves you in charge of how exactly. You can choose different kinds of backups, like cloning or synchronization. You can also only back up folders and files that are of absolute importance, and ignore the rest. Get Backup Pro supports scheduled backups, so you can automate the process by setting up regular backups of the most essential data.

If, unfortunately, your Time Machine or Get Backup Pro were off when the overwriting took place (you should definitely turn them on now), your only hope for recovering files is using third-party software like Disk Drill. Fortunately, Disk Drill is very good at what it does.

Recovering replaced files on Mac via cloud backups

iCloud keeps your deleted files in a recovery folder for 30 days, so if you’ve just recently replaced a file, you can probably restore it via iCloud as an alternative to the backup method. To do this, go to iCloud.com > iCloud Drive. Go to your iCloud drive settings, scroll down to find Advanced, and click Restore files. Select a specific file you want to restore or all files.

If you use another popular cloud storage service — for example, Dropbox — there’s an option to restore overwritten files too:

1. Go to dropbox.com and log in to your account
2. Select the folder where your overwritten file is located or go to All files
3. Once you’ve located the file, click the three dots > Version history
4. Find the original version and click Restore.

Since Dropbox allows you to store up to 2 GB of files for free, it will normally keep a pretty extensive version history. So the chances are, unlike iCloud, it will keep the originals of your files for more than 30 days.

Restore overwritten files with one click

How do I recover a replaced file on Mac if there’s no backup available and my cloud account hasn’t saved it? For sure, losing your files and not having a proper backup in place might almost ruin your day, but there is still one more thing left to do.

Meet Disk Drill — a top-rated tool that has recovered millions of overwritten files from Macs, external hard drives, memory cards, and USB drives worldwide. This app is easy to use and can recover documents, photos, videos, music, or anything else you might’ve lost.

Disk Drill on Setapp

Disk Drill’s scanning tools are so good that even deleted files from failing hard drives can be recovered.

Here’s how to get your overwritten file back with recovery software:

1. If the file is on an external drive, make sure to connect it first. Launch Disk Drill and enter your administrator password to give the tool permission to scan your drive
2. Select the drive you wish to recover the file from, locate the file, and click on the Recover button
3. Grab a coffee and sit back while Disk Drill does its thing to bring your file back to life.

If the Recover option can’t be used, Disk Drill is able to perform a Quick Scan and Deep Scan to scan drives at a binary level to restore files that way. However, for overwritten files, this is unlikely to be needed.

Conclusion

With a good backup and recovery tool, you can learn how to undo “replace file Mac” in seconds. So don’t panic if you accidentally overwrite something important, the chances are you’ll get it back with ease. Other than that, make it a habit to backup your files regularly — not only to avoid overwriting, backups will help you restore your data in case your drive fails, your macOS update goes wrong, or else.

Even when Time Machine or Get Backup Pro is activated, we recommend having Disk Drill around, just for peace of mind. Should anything go wrong with any file, all is not lost, and you have three ways to recover. Best of all, both Get Backup Pro and Disk Drill come together, along with more than 200 apps, in one Setapp subscription. And you can try them absolutely free.

It's very easy to delete files while you're cleaning your macOS, editing, or managing files. When you find the important files lost, you must desperately want to restore deleted files on Mac. Actually, there are a few ways available to find deleted files on Mac without/with software. In this article, I'm going to introduce you to 5 ways for how to recover deleted files on Mac. The software we're going to use is iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac. You can download it and be ready to do the recovery.

Accidentally deleted a file on Mac or emptied trash? Do you have encountered this issue and tried to find a way to recover deleted files on Mac? Whether you remove it intentionally or unintentionally, there are still chances for you to look for and get back deleted files. The sooner the better.

In general, the deleted files from the Mac drive are put into the trash can, from where you can restore easily. If you have emptied the trash, you can recover deleted files on Mac without software by time machine backup, undo options, and terminal command. If these 4 ways are invalid, don't panic! you can also try an effective way to undelete files from Mac. Check out the details below!

Quick Navigation

Part 1. How to Restore Deleted Files on Mac from Trash (Not Emptied yet)

Part 2. How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Mac (100% Effective)

Part 3. How to Find Deleted Files from Mac Without Software via Time Machine Backup

Part 4. How to Recovering Deleted Files on Mac with Undo Options

Part 5. How to Mac Recover Deleted Files using Terminal Command

Part 1. How to Restore Deleted Files on Mac from Trash

Whether you deleted the files by dragging them to the trash can or right-click on the files and click 'Delete', all the data are put into the trash can. If you haven’t emptied the trash can yet and deleted the items recently, then you can recover files from trash. Move the mouse over the icon of the trash can in Finder, and you can see the deleted files are listed there. When finding the target files, drag them to the desktop, or right-click on them and select 'put back' to recover deleted files on Mac from the trash.

Please note that you have only 30 days to recover files on Mac from the day you deleted them. After then, the files will be removed by Mac automatically and permanently.

Part 2. How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Mac

Don't worry about how to find deleted files on Mac after 'command + del' to delete, empty the trash, or other reasons. This safe and effective way will help you to recover deleted files on Mac OS X, no matter you have a backup or not. Here, I recommend trying iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac to get back all the lost files on Mac. Why is the best way to use the software? Because, after files are deleted, they will be hidden and we can't see them. but the this tool can discover and retrieve them. More importantly, iBeesoft deleted file recovery Mac software has read-only features, so you don't have to worry about data being corrupted or overwritten, causing to undo deleted files on Mac failure.

The best application specially developed for users to completely recover deleted photos, documents, videos, emails, music files, and more on macOS. It works extremely fast and supports almost all data loss scenarios. The interface of the recover deleted files Mac program is both intuitive and well-organized. Overall, iBeesoft is one of the best choices in this software category if you accidentally removed some important files on Mac or external devices. With its help, you can undelete files on Mac with simple steps.

Your Effective Recover Deleted Files Mac Software

• This professional software can recover deleted file from Mac, USB drive, memory card, and other removable storage devices in simple clicks.
• It provides two powerful scanning mode (quick scan and deep scan), to a better to recover lost files on Mac.
• It can preview the deleted/lost files before recovery, easily search and filter file types to help you quickly to recovering deleted files on Mac.

Steps to Recover Deleted Files on macOS

Download the application on your computer now! It is virus-free, so you can install it without worrying about the security issue. It is fully compatible with the latest versions. Check out the steps for how to recover permanently deleted files on Mac.

Free Way To Recover Deleted Files Mac Keyboard

1. Launch the recover deleted files Mac tool. From the main window, you can see all supported file types are selected. Please uncheck the unwanted ones. It will save you time for finding the target files. If you don’t want to uncheck them, please be patient for the scanning process. The time it takes depends on how many files it scans. Click 'Start' to Mac recover deleted files.

2. In the next window, all drives on your Mac are displayed there. You need to select the disk/volume where the target files used to exist and click the 'Scan' button to analyzing the drive.

3. After the scanning process, you can see all found files are displayed in the main window. From there, you need to click the file category in the left side, then preview the files on the right side. After then, find the target one(s) and click 'Recover' to save them to your Mac.

Free Way To Recover Deleted Files Mac

Part 3. How to Find Deleted Files from Mac Without Software via Time Machine Backup

If you don't use the Time Machine to backup your files, please use the part 1 to begin the recovery of your deleted files on Mac OS X.

Some people like to empty the trash can after they deleted files on Mac which of course will result in the permanent deletion. Luckily, you can still recover deleted files on Mac without software bythe Time Machine Backup.

1. Click the 'Spotlight' icon on the top right of Mac. After then, type in 'Time Machine' in the search box and search for it.

2. Find Time Machine in the search result and click to open it. Click the folder where your target files used to be.

3. Click the upward arrow to the right the Time Machine window, scroll through backup files until you see the deleted files appear.

4. Hold the Command button to select the target files and click 'Restore' to save the deleted items on Mac.

If the target files are in different folders, then you need to Mac recover deleted files by repeating the up-mentioned process.

Part 4. How to Recovering Deleted Files on Mac with Undo Options

Most Mac users will delete unnecessary files to keep the driver clean while using the computer. Sometimes we lose important files because of this action. When it happens, if you don't do anything else, you can easily restore deleted files on Mac by the 'Undo' option. This method is suitable for use immediately after deleting a file or folder and it is not valid after emptying the trash or permanently clearing it. If you wan to recover permanently deleted files on Mac, please use part 1. Follow this method to find deleted files on Mac now!

Part 5. How to Mac Recover Deleted Files using Terminal Command

Apple's terminal application is the direct interface to OS X's bash shell. So you can do many things using command prompt, like restore files, change process priority, delete files, view driver status, create new directories, change file permissions and more. So, you can use the terminal command to recover deleted files on Mac without software.

1. Please go to 'Applications' > 'Utilities' > to open terminal.app

2. Type Unix command: 'cd .Trash', and then hit the 'Return' key on your Mac.

3. Type 'mv name ../' and hit the 'Return' key. Please note, please replace the 'name' with the full name of the file you deleted.

4. Type 'Quit' in the Terminal application.

Undelete Mac Files

If you complete these recover deleted files Mac steps, you can enter the deleted file name in the search bar to check it.

Free Way To Recover Deleted Files Mac Os

The above mentioned ways are workable to recover deleted files on Mac without/with software. To prevent your data from being lost, the best way is backing up your Mac. That's the reason why Apple officially built-in Time Machine. Anyway, if you haven't had any backup yet, then the most efficient way to retrieve your data back is by using iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac. It is developed specially for deleted file recovery on Mac.