Simply enter Time Machine and navigate to the folder where your erased items lie. The files you deleted from Mac Trash are probably in a previous Time Machine snapshot. If you have enabled Time Machine backup, you are in luck. Step 2: Restore from Time Machine backup. Don’t forget the cloud storage you might be using too.Īlso, if they are project-based documents, maybe you’ve shared them with your co-workers, check your email sent box to see if they are still there. Step 1: Check if you have saved the files on another storage device.Ĭlose your eyes for a few seconds, and think about when you created the files.įor example, if they are photos, maybe they are still on your phone or on removable media (memory card, USB stick, external drive, etc.). If your deleted files got overwritten, it’s extremely hard to retrieve them. Try not to save or generate new files as they can possibly “over-write” the disk space. How to Recover Trashed Files on Mac?įirst things first - stop using your Mac immediately. Let’s move on to the most important thing. When you delete a file from Trash, the TRIM system in Apple macOS also zeros out the actual data as part of the disk management, making the chances of salvaging the data slim.Įnough techy stuff, hopefully, you get the technical theory behind it. This is due to how the “Trim command” organizes a file in an SSD. When you erase the file, it’s usually beyond recovery unless you have a backup. If you are using a MacBook Pro with a solid-state drive (SSD), sadly it’s another story. However, there is no way to tell when the released space will be reused. So, as long as you don’t write anything new to the disk space, the file is usually recoverable. When you delete a file, only the “header” information of the file is removed while the real data remains intact. It records everything, where every file is stored, what its size is, etc. The disk directory we talk about here acts like a “chief commander” to manage all the data writing activities that occur in a hard drive. Technically speaking, when a file is removed from Trash Mac, only the name and its associated info of the file is removed from the disk directory, and the space the file originally takes is now marked as vacant, to be written over by new files generated by the user (you) or the system. If you are using a Mac with a hard disk drive (HDD), the chance to recover the file is high.

But what if you also removed the file from the Trash? Does that mean it is gone for good?

Can i recover files from trash on mac