Recover Deleted Files Usb Mac Free

Are you a Mac user and want to recover deleted files from USB flash drive? Well, in today’s world of science and information, no one wants to lose their data and valuable information. How to Recover Deleted Files from USB Flash Drive on Mac This page we will introduce the best way of USB recovery on Mac. Recover deleted files from USB drive on Mac, the lost files due to accidentally deleted, virus infected, formatted USB, file system crashed.

Summary :

How to recover overwritten files on Windows 10/8/7, Mac, USB or SD card? How to recover overwritten Word/Excel files or videos/photos? How to recover replaced files? This tutorial tries to provide all answers to these questions. In addition, to help you recover lost data or mistakenly deleted files from various devices, a top free data recovery software from MiniTool is also provided.

Quick Navigation :

Can overwritten data be recovered?
Can I retrieve a file that was overwritten?
Can I recover overwritten word document?
Can you recover overwritten files from an SD card?

Data overwriting often happens in two cases.

One case is: you lost or deleted some data and files on your device like a computer, and you continue to store new data into the same device. This will cause data overwriting.

Another case is: when you store a new file to a storage device, there is a file with the same name on this device, if you click Replace the file in the destination option in the pop-up Replace or Skip Files window, then the previous version of the file will be replaced and it will not in the Recycle Bin.

Here come to the issue, is it possible to recover overwritten files on Windows 10/8/7, Mac, USB, or SD card? Is there a chance to recover old lost/deleted files after you save some new files to the device? How to recover replaced files?

It’s true that it is very hard to recover overwritten/replaced files, but it’s worth trying some measures. This post offers several ways to help you restore overwritten files. It will also introduce a top free data recovery software (MiniTool Power Data Recovery) and a stellar data backup program (MiniTool ShadowMaker) to help you protect your data and avoid data loss.

Obstacles and Chances to Recover Overwritten Files

Let’s first know something about data overwriting and figure out the differences between file deleting and file overwriting.

What Happens When You Delete a File

If you deleted a file on your computer, it will go to the Recycle Bin first. If you also emptied the Recycle Bin, you can still easily recover the file with a data recovery software program. This is because the file is not really gone and it is still existed on your computer.

Windows tracks files on the hard drive using pointers. It uses pointer to mark the beginning and ending of each file or folder. When you delete a file, your computer just marks the file is no longer needed and marks the sectors containing the file’s data as available. The actual file content is untouched.

When you try to store new files to your computer hard drive, the operating system may write new data over the old data since the sectors of old deleted files are marked as vacant. And this will delete the old files terminally.

Ultimate file undelete/recovery guide. Download the best free file undelete software Windows 10/8/7 to recover deleted (lost) files/data free in 3 simple steps.

About Data Overwriting Process

Data overwriting is the process of replacing old data with new data. If your computer has unused file system clusters, or you delete some old files on your computer and released some file system clusters, the unused/released file system clusters might be overwritten when you store new data into your computer.

If you replace a file by another file with the same name, it will also cause data overwriting. The overwritten/replaced files don’t go to the Recycle Bin.

In a word, a deleted file is logically removed from computer system while an overwritten file is physically changed. The deleted file can be easily recovered with data recovery software while the overwritten file is hard to restore even with professional data recovery program.

Chances to Recover Overwritten Files

As for the chances to recover old files after overwriting, it depends on whether and how much the spaces of old files are occupied by newly overwritten data.

If the newly stored file only occupies partial of the sectors of old data, you might get back a certain percentage of your lost/deleted data. But there is a possibility that the restored file is broken. However, if the newly stored file is larger than the older file and takes all space of the old file, then it’s unlikely to recover the lost files with best data recovery software. Even if you may see your old file after file recovery, it may be corrupted or inaccessible.

And this is why it’s recommended that you stop using the device which contains lost or deleted files and don’t store new data into it.

Anyway, unless you totally erase or wipe the hard drive, external hard drive, USB, SD card, you can still try to use a reliable powerful data recovery software to get back the old overwritten Word documents, Excel files, photos, videos, etc. from them. If you are lucky enough, you may retrieve your lost file.

Windows 10 repair, recovery, reboot, reinstall, restore solutions. Create Win 10 repair disk/recovery disk/USB drive/system image to repair Win 10 OS issues.

How to Recover Overwritten/Replaced Files – 4 Ways

#1. Try to Recover Overwritten Files with MiniTool Power Data Recovery

You can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to attempt to recover overwritten files on Windows 10/8/7, external hard drive, USB, SD card.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a professional data recovery software helping you to recover any deleted or lost files/data from Windows 10/8/7 local hard disk drive, external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive (pen drive data recovery), SD card, CD/DVD, etc. just in 3 simple steps.

How to fix my phone SD free? This post offers 5 ways for repairing corrupted SD card on (Android) phones, and help you easily restore SD card data and files in 3 simple steps.

You can try this best free data recovery software to easily rescue lost/deleted files after mistakenly deletion, system crash, black/blue screen error, malware/virus infection, hard drive errors, or any other computer issues.

Though you may not be successful to recover overwritten files with any data recovery software, it’s still worth a try. After all, MiniTool Power Data Recovery offers a free edition that allows you to recover up to 1GB data totally for free. Better still, it’s clean and extremely easy-to-use, even for novice users.

Free download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free on your Windows 10/8/7 computer, and follow the simple steps below to recover deleted/lost files.

Step 1. Select the source device to scan

You can double-click MiniTool Power Data Recovery icon to launch it. After you enter into its main interface, you can choose a main device category from the left column. Here we choose This PC to get ready to recover data from PC hard disk.

After you choose the main device category, you can continue to choose the specific partition in the right window where your old lost/deleted files locate. If you don’t know which partition on your computer contains your lost/deleted files, you can follow the same instructions to scan them one by one.

If you attempt to recover overwritten files on USB, SD card, external hard drive, you need to connect them to your computer first, and select the corresponding category in the left column. Then you can select the target device in the right window.

Step 2. Scan for lost/deleted files

Then you can click Scan button at the bottom-right corner of the software screen to start scanning data in the chosen hard drive partition.

If you only want to scan one kind of file like recover Photoshop PSD file, before you click Scan button, you can click Settings icon next to it to only select Photoshop PSD file, and this smart data recovery software will only scan the selected partition for Photoshop .psd files.

Step 3. Find and save needed files

Wait for a while to let MiniTool Power Data Recovery finish the data scan process. After it completes the scan, it will display all found files incl. deleted and lost files in the scan result window.

You can check the scan result to see if the overwritten files are there. If you are lucky enough and find them, you can select them and click Save button to set a new destination path to store the recovered files.

To quickly find the target file, you can click Find to search the file by name, click Filter to sift the scan result by file extension/size or only display deleted files. You can also click Show Lost Files to only display lost files in the scan result window.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery allows you to easily retrieve deleted/lost files from various storage devices. But if you fail to recover overwritten/replaced files with it, you try the other two ways below.

#2. Try to Restore Overwritten/Replaced Files from Previous Versions

You can try to get back overwritten/replaced files (Word, Excel files, etc.) from previous versions. The previous versions come from File History and Restore Point. So this way only works when your computer has File History feature and you’ve enabled this function to back up file before the file is overwritten. Check how to recover overwritten files from previous versions below.

Step 1. You can open File Explorer and locate the target file or folder where the original file is located. Right-click the file or the blank space of the folder, and choose Properties.

Step 2. Next you can tap Previous Version tab. If you find some older versions of this file or folder, you can select the latest version in the list and click Restore button to recover older version of the file.

However, if you don’t find any previous versions of the file/folder, it seems that you may not turn on the File History feature or Windows Restore Point. You can try the following way to attempt to recover replaced files.

#3. Try to Recover Overwritten/Replaced Files with Backup and Restore

If you’ve ever made a backup of your Windows 10, you can try to use Windows Backup and Restore to recover overwritten/replaced files (Word, Excel files, photos, videos, etc.) from the backup.

Step 1. You can access Backup and Restore on Windows 10/7 at first. Click Start and type control panel to open Control Panel. Then you can click System & Security -> Backup and Restore (Windows 7) to open Backup and Restore center on Windows 10 or 7 computer.

Step 2. If you’ve ever created backups of your computer, you can click Restore my files button under Restore section.

Step 3. Then you can search and browse the most recent backup of the files or folders you lost to restore the overwritten/replaced files/folders.

#4. Perform a System Restore to Get Back Overwritten Files

The last way you can try to recover replaced files is to carry out a System Restore of your computer.

Step 1. You can click Start -> Settings -> Update & Security –> Recovery, and click Restart now button under Advanced startup to access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10.

Step 2. Next you can click System Restore in Advanced options window and your computer will restart.

Step 3. Select a previous system restore point and follow the instructions to perform a system restore of your computer. (Related: Windows 10 Restore Points Missing)

How to Recover Overwritten Files on Mac

As for how to recover overwritten/replaced files (Word, Excel) on Mac, you can use Mac Time Machine, the free backup and recovery tool of macOS.

Step 1. You can go to Finder on Mac and locate the folder that contains the file you want to recover.

Step 2. Click the Time Machine icon, the clock icon, on the Mac menu bar, and choose Enter Time Machine.

Step 3. Then you can click the Up arrow icon next to the Time Machine application to find the backup before the file was replaced. Find the files or folders you’d like to restore from the backup, select them and click Restore button to get back older versions of the overwritten files. The restored files will be saved to the original location on your Mac computer.

You can also try a Mac data recovery program like MiniTool Mac Data Recovery to take a shot to recover overwritten files.

MiniTool ShadowMaker Helps You Easily Backup and Restore Important Data

You can try the methods above to recover overwritten files, but there is a great possibility that you may fail. The best way for data loss prevention always boils down to regularly make a backup of the original data and files. In case you unexpectedly lost, deleted, overwrote, replaced some files, you can easily restore them with the backup.

You can use the copy and paste way to select and back up important files/folders to the safe location or devices, but you have an easier and faster way to make backup copies, namely, with a professional free file backup software.

MiniTool ShadowMaker is a professional free data and OS backup software which supports schedule automatic file backup.

You can use MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up and restore any files and folders, back up and restore Windows operating system, auto sync files/folders to other locations, copy the whole partition or hard disk data, etc. The destination path to store the backups could be other locations on the computer, external hard drive, USB drive, network drive, etc. (User guide: https://www.minitool.com/help-sm/backup.html)

If your computer won’t turn on, MiniTool ShadowMaker also supports a Bootable Media builder function that allows you to create a bootable USB/disk drive to successfully boot your computer, so as to perform a system restore or copy files from your computer to other devices.

Free download and install MiniTool ShadowMaker on your Windows 10/8/7 computer, and below is the instruction on how to back up files and folders with it.

Step 1. Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker and click Keep Trial button to enter the interface below. Click Connect button under This Computer to get ready to manage the local computer. Then click Backup module at the toolbar.

Step 2. Next you can click Source section to choose the source files you’d like to back up. And continue to click Destination section to select a destination path to store the backups.

If you are going to back up the files and folders to external hard drive, USB flash drive, or other external storage devices, you need to connect them to your computer beforehand.

Step 3. Click Back up Now button at the bottom-right corner to start making backups of the selected files and folders. If you want to set a schedule backup, you can click Schedule button beforehand to set a time schedule to back up the chosen files on a regular basis.

To Sum Up

It’s hard to recover overwritten files if you don’t have backup copies before. If a file is overwritten or replaced, you can try the ways in this post to restore it, but the ways may not work. Therefore, it’s highly advised that you don’t continue to store any new data to the device which contains lost/deleted files and timely use a professional free data recovery software MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover lost/deleted files. Besides, do keep a habit to back up important files.

Still have problems with how to use MiniTool Power Data Recovery, MiniTool ShadowMaker, please contact our professional tech support via [email protected].

Want to recover permanently deleted files from USB drive? This tutorial introduces methods to help you get deleted files back from USB flash drive step by step. Read the details to learn how to undelete files from USB right now.

Overview on USB data recovery
Why deleted files can be recovered from USB drive?
Some common reasons that may cause data loss issue on USB drive
Things you should note to correctly recover deleted data
Solution 1: Retrieve deleted files from USB drive without recovery software
Solution 2: Restore deleted files on USB from a previous version of files or folders
Solution 3: Recover deleted files from USB using free recovery software
Solution 4: Retrieve lost files from backups
Solution 5: Recover deleted/lost files with advanced recovery software
Conclusion

Overview on USB data recovery

'I have a 32GB USB Kingston USB flash drive which stores many photos and documents. A couple of days ago, I removed some useless file to get more space. However, I found out some deleted files are still useful to me. I'm wondering if there is a way to undelete those files from USB drive. Thanks, I'd greatly appreciate the help!'

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and it is an integral part of this digital world, for example, it is used extensively to connect computer with external devices like keyboard, mouse, smartphone, external drives and so on. USB flash drive is a widely used, tiny and useful storage device, and we use it in various ways in daily lives.

USB drives are important devices in data storage, management, transferring, etc. and bring about great convenience. It is very portable and small in size, thus users can carry it anywhere they go. Also, USB drive is able to provide large storage capacity, and users can store large amount of data on it for backup or data transfer. However, USB drive also causes problems like data loss issue.

It is common wisdom that data loss issue is not avoidable, for various factors can lead to the issue. Files such as photos, videos, music, office document, application, emails and so on can get lost. Fortunately, USB data recovery is available and can be done via a couple of methods. If you are reading this article, you've probably lost some important data on USB disk and want to get them back. You can keep reading to dig it out.

Why deleted files can be recovered from USB drive?

To figure out why you can recover deleted files from USB flash drive, you should understand the storage principle on USB disk first. Once the USB drive is connected to computer, you are able to write or read data on it. When a file is written on USB drive, operating system will check the File Allocation Table to find space and then store file content to corresponding sectors on the USB drive and record its location in File Allocation Table. Thus the file you stored on the USB drive is stored on two parts, i.e. file information stored on File Allocation Table and file content stored on corresponding sectors.

If the file gets deleted, operating system deleted file records in File Allocation Table without wiping sectors which store file content. Since File Allocation Table deletes file information, operating system no longer knows where file content is stored and regards the file is deleted. Thus, disk sectors are marked as Free and new files can be stored. Till now, the actual content of the deleted file still stays on the USB drive and it can be recovered. However, if system stores new data on that area and occupies those sectors, the deleted file will be overwritten and cannot be recovered. USB data recovery tool is able to scan all disk sectors and analyzing data to recover deleted files SD card, USB drive or hard disk.

Some common reasons that may cause data loss issue on USB drive

Nobody expects data to get lost from USB drive or other storage devices, but accidents do happen, as files can be lost due to all kinds of reasons. Factors that lead to USB drive data loss issue can be summarized in the followings:

Accidentally deleted files from USB flash drive
Files was deleted by virus or malware secretly without noticed by users
Improper operations like unplugging USB drive without safely ejecting it and cause data loss
Mistakenly format USB drive and remove all data on the drive
Error occurs during Cut & Paste process and files get lost
Repartition USB drive and deletes all partitions and files
The USB drive contains bad sectors and loses access to files
Power supply of USB port is insufficient and files cannot be written to the drive correctly
Partition corrupts, for example, USB drive prompts to format it before you can use it, or the drive become RAW format
USB drive is empty. Partitions on the drive are deleted, and the USB drive is full of free disk space
Unqualified memory chip of USB drive causes files loss issue unexpectedly

Things you should note to correctly recover deleted data

Successful USB drive recovery is decided on a couple of factors, and you should take precautions when you realize data loss issue occurs. Here are some notes you should keep in mind in order to get successfully data recovery.

Stop using the device immediately to prevent further damage to lost data. For instance, do not save any new files to the drive or access any existing files on the USB disk. That's because those actions can overwrite deleted data and make them unrecoverable.
Do not format or reformat the USB drive, as formatting process does involve writing actions.
Do not create new files, move data, copy data or anything else on the USB drive.
Close all other programs which might be using the USB drive.
Do not try to repair bad sectors for the drive, although it contains bad sectors, for the repairing process destroys data stored on or near bad sectors.
If the USB drive is physically damaged, you should contact professional data recovery center which own recovery machines to retrieve data from damaged disks.
Carry out USB data recovery as soon as possible. You can use either free or paid USB data recovery software to get back delete files.

The following part will present a couple of methods to help you get back deleted or lost data from USB drive, SD card, local hard drive, external hard disk and so on, and you can try these solutions one by one.

Solution 1: Retrieve deleted files from USB drive without recovery software

This method uses Command Prompt to recover deleted files from USB disk instead of any data recovery software. Command Prompt is a free tool built-in Windows system and it supports various commands to complete required operations. Please note that not all deleted files can be recovered in this way, and you should try other solutions if this one does not work on your issue.

Step 1 Connect the USB drive where deleted files were stored to your computer and make sure it can be recognized by Windows.

Step 2 Launch Command Prompt. Click Start button and type cmd in searching box; then right click cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.

Step 3 Type the command in the window: ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D H:*.*

Note: H is the drive letter of the USB drive and you should replace it with the USB drive on your computer.

Step 4 Wait for the process to complete and close the window. Then you can check if your files are recovered.

Solution 2: Restore deleted files on USB from a previous version of files or folders

Previous versions of files or folders are created by Windows backup feature and you can use them to restore files or folders which have been deleted, damaged or modified. If you've never created a backup for your files or folders, you cannot restore deleted files via this method.

Step 1 Open Windows Explorer by clicking Start button and selecting Computer.

Step 2 Locate the folder which contains your deleted data. If you do not remember the exact name or location of the folder, you can search for it using the search box.

Step 3 Right-click on folder and select Properties. Then click on the tab 'Previous Versions'.

Step 4 Now you can see a list of previous version of the folder. Select the file edition you want to restore and click 'Restore' button.

Solution 3: Recover deleted files from USB using free recovery software

If the first two solutions do not work on your situation, you can try free USB data recovery software to undelete files. Most free USB recovery tools support recovering lost files caused by accidental deletion, deleted by shift + delete, removed from Recycle Bin, etc. But some recovery software cannot deal with sophisticated data loss issues. In that case, you should try advanced or paid software to restore lost data. In this part, we use Eassos Recovery Free to retrieve deleted files, and main features of this flash drive recovery software are as follows:

Easily recovers deleted or lost data, including photos, audio, music, video, email, documents and so on from any devices
Supports recovery of lost data from hard disk, Recycle Bin, external hard drive, memory card, flash drive, SSD, USB drive, etc.
Supports to recover lost data due to deletion, formatting, RAW drive, partition corruption, virus attack, system crash, partition deletion, disk repartition, etc.
Supports file preview before recovery, making sure a correct recovery
Recovers files from all kinds of file system such as FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, FAT26, etc.

Steps to recover deleted / lost data from USB drive

Insert the USB drive into the port of your computer, and download and install Eassos Recovery Free edition, then you can get started as following steps. Note: do NOT install the software to the USB drive, or lost files will be overwritten.

Step 1 Launch the USB recovery tool and select Recover Deleted Files recovery option from the main interface.

Recover Deleted Files: this option is designed to recover files deleted by Shift+Delete, emptied from Recycle Bin, recover lost data due to Cut and Paste, or recover deleted files from memory cards, USB drive, portable HDD, etc.

Step 2 Select the USB drive from which you want to recover data, and click Next button to scan the drive to deleted or lost files.

Step 3 Preview and recover deleted files from USB disk.

After scanning completes, you can preview files listed in the scanning result and find out those you need. Click a file and you can preview the thumbnail and hex data, and double-click a file and you can view its content in original size.

Select files you want to restore and click Recover button, and you can set a folder to save recovered data.

Video tutorial: recover deleted / lost files from USB drive with simple clicks

You can free download and install Eassos Recovery on your computer and follow this video tutorial to get back deleted or lost data easily:

Solution 4: Retrieve lost files from backups

If you back up data on a regular basis, for example, create a copy for important data and keep backups on computer or other hard drive, or create partition image regularly. Then you can probably find out lost files in backup files. If you do not keep a backup, then you should consider starting backing up data immediately.

Check online or cloud storage service you use. It is possible you've uploaded your files to a cloud storage service such as Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive.

Solution 5: Recover deleted/lost files with advanced recovery software

Eassos DiskGenius Pro is advanced data recovery software and this program works with all storage devices. Thus you can use it to retrieve data from hard drive, memory card, SSD, external hard disk, USB flash drive, virtual disk, RAID, encrypted partition, etc. Besides, it supports more data loss issues than freeware, for example, it provides hex editor with professional users who can recover files manually. You can free download the trial version and scan your USB drive to check if deleted files are recoverable:

Step 1 Launch Eassos DiskGenius Pro from your computer and you can see the USB drive from the main interface. Select the USB drive and click 'File Recovery' button.

Step 2 Select 'Recover Deleted Files' option and click Start button to scan selected USB disk.

Note: you can select 'Complete Recovery' and 'Search For Known File Types' at the same time in order to find out as many files as possible.

Step 3 Preview files to check if files are correct and decide if it is the one you want to recover.

File preview is available during or after scanning complete, you can double-click a file to preview file in its original size. Files that can be previewed successfully can be recovered correctly.

Step 4 Choose lost files you want to recover and right-click them to select 'Copy To'. Then, you'll proceed to save selected files on a different drive a safer location.

Conclusion

Recover Deleted Files Usb Mac Free Download

The process of recovering lost files from USB drive is no longer complicated or time-consuming, and anyone can easily get back lost data easily with the help of recovery software. Although USB recovery becomes an easy task, we still recommend you back up files on a regular basis. Hope this tutorial helps you recover deleted data from USB drive. If you have any questions or need further help, please feel free to leave a comment or contact our support team.