Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Is there any free data recovery software?
There are about 50 million results rendered when you search the term 'free data recovery software Mac' or 'best data recovery software Mac' on Google. On this post, which offers the reviews on the top 10 Free Mac Data Recovery software. Read on and pick up the most suitable one for you to rescue Mac data without paying anything, it is the best way to recover deleted files from Mac.
Top 10 Free Data Recovery Software for Mac
1. Recoverit Mac Data Recovery
When it comes to the free data recovery software for Mac, Recoverit Mac Data Recovery is reckoned to be the best one. With a 96% recovery rate, it enables you to recover lost or deleted data on Mac without any effort and knowledge base. It is a 100% safe and reliable free Mac file recovery program to help you retrieve any data from Mac hard drive or any external device on Mac.
- Why Choose This RAW File Recovery Software: All the data on the drive and your device as a whole will be recovered intact and because it utilizes a read-only system, none of the data on other undamaged partitions will be damaged in any way. It comes with a preview feature that allows you to view the files before recovery.
- This software is compatible with Mac OS X Lion and other versions of Mac based PC. Its all features of Free Mac recovery tool is making itself widely accepted among Mac user. You can use this tool when you Mac data has been lost, corrupted, formatted or crash. For using this tool you do not have to require any specific technical knowledge as following its easy and simple to use step by step.
- Jun 25, 2020 It may be a specialised Mac recovery app, but Recovery Guru doesn't limit its talents to just Apple's file system – it's happy to seek out lost files on USB sticks, SD cards, and even Android.
If you're looking for the best data recovery software of the year 2020 which are free, you're at the right place. By using these top-rated tools for Windows, Mac, and Linux, you'll be able get. Jun 15, 2020 When a hard drive becomes raw, you cannot access pictures, videos, office files and music from macOS. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is the best software for Mac Raw recovery. This easy-to-use software only takes three steps to restore lost Raw data. Enter to Search. The best Raw Drive/Partition Recovery software. Recover Data from RAW File System, RAW Partition and RAW Drive Efficiently. Free Raw Drive Data Recovery 6.6. Raw Recovery Software - Free Download Raw Recovery - Top 4 Download - Top4Download.com offers free. software downloads for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android computers and mobile devices. Visit for free, full and secured software’s.
Features:
Apple File System (APFS) is now the default file system for the latest macOS, coming with safer data storage, faster write-and-read speed and larger space available. However, the encryption feature makes lost data recovered more difficultly and even impossibly. Recoverit is the software for you to recover lost data from APFS-based Mac. Even more, it supports the Mac data recovery from other different file systems, like HFS, HFS+, FAT/exFAT, and NTFS.
Besides, it supports to recover data from various devices in different situations, such as accidental deletion, power failure, computer shutdown, damaged and corrupted hard disk drive, formatted hard drive, virus attack, lost partition or other data loss scenarios.
On top of that, the best free data recovery tool for Mac is capable of recovering data from a variety of data storage devices, for example, Mac hard drive, external hard disk, USB flash drive, SD card, media players, digital cameras, Drone cameras, camcorders, Android phone, etc. That's why you can be reassured no matter where you lost your Mac data.
Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: all-around scan and deep scan; thumbnails and preview of lost files; recover 1000+ formats of files for free in all situations; intuitive interface.
Improvement: RAID hard drive recovery is not supported; recover 100 MB Mac files for free.
2. Ontrack EasyRecovery Home for Mac
Ontrack EasyRecovery is a user-friendly program for you to perform Mac file recovery precisely under different data loss scenarios, especially for accidentally deleted files. The free Mac recovery version, with a 1 GB limit, supports you recovering lost data from Mac-based device or recovering deleted backup files from Apple Time Machine.
Features:
You can use this Mac data recovery tool to recover hundreds of files types on different Mac OS like Mac OSx 10.14, 10.13, 10.12, 10.11, and legacy OS. The quick scan and deep scan options search through the storage device more effectively, including internal hard disk, removable media, and RAID hard drive.
Moreover, the Mac data recovery software claims that it can recover lost data from hard drive that is encrypted or password protected. After the test, we find that it does sometimes. Like Recoverit Mac Data Recovery, EasyRecovery for Mac also provides the preview function of recoverable files and recovers files with the original file names.
Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: hundreds of supported files, data preview function, full version of software available for use in the trial version.
Improvement: low success rate, time-consuming recovery process.
3. Mac Free Any Data Recovery
Mac Free Any Data Recovery is able to help you reclaim a variety of files from the depths of damaged drives. It is one of the first free data recovery software that provides free trials for users - this data recovery solution is one of the few that allows users to experience the full version of the software for free. This Mac data recovery software is easy to use and kept simple with two scanning modes: quick and deep.
Features:
The common files can be recovered with the free data recovery software for Mac, including photos, videos, music, mails, PDF documents, Office documents, RAR/ZIP files, game files, system data and so on. It supports the Mac data recovery on Mac OS X 10.9 (Marvericks) or later. So if you want to recover your lost data from Mac OS X 10.8, it is not the option for you.
Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: very speedy scan, retrieve a wide range of files, preview files before Mac recovery.
Improvement: recover 20 files for free only, need to upgrade to the paid version for all features.
4. Cisdem Data Recovery
This Mac data recovery tool provides a free trial for you to scan and preview lost files due to hard drive crash or corruption, formatting, unintentional deletion, improper operation, factory reset, macOS upgrade, and virus attack. It provides five recovery options: Basic Data Recovery, Mac Trash Recovery, External Drive Recovery, Formatted Drive Recovery and Advanced Data Recovery. But actually, after our test, we think that you can directly use the option of 'Advanced Data Recovery' to make sure your files will not be further damaged after repeated scan.
Features:
It is an easy-to-use software that allows you to recover a wide range of files quickly. Like Recoverit, the well-recognized powerful data recovery software, it requires you to take 3 steps only for recovering lost data on Mac, that's choose a data loss scenario, scan and preview recoverable files and finally choose the files to recover. The simple recovery process simplifies your job in Mac data rescue and does save much time.
Overall Reviews: ★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: intuitive design, easy-to-use, powerful recovery capacity, preview before recovery.
Improvement: free version only allows files scan and preview, not compatible with other types of operating systems, have no the filtering option for scan.
5. Data Rescue 5
This Mac hard drive recovery software that allows you to search for and restore data that are lost from damaged drives and accidental deletion from the disk they are stored in. Its free version allows you to recover 2GB of data and it is able to perform quick scan, deep scan, deleted files scan, and clone recovered file.
Features:
It comes with 4 options at the beginning to meet your different needs, namely Start Recovering Files, View Previous Scan Results, Clone and Create Recovery Drive. The data rescue software for Mac can recover data backups from Time Machine, recognize the duplicate files and eliminate the recovery of duplications.
Overall Reviews: ★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: intuitive interface, offers a low entry-level pricing plan (PaperByte?) for those who do not need to recover massive amounts of data.
Improvement: slow scanning and recovery speeds, need to fill in an application form to use the free version, only scan and preview available with the free version, only support 100+ file types.
6. Disk Drill
Disk Drill Mac is a great Mac data recovery software that does not only provide data recovery solutions, but also data protection capabilities with its Recovery Vault feature. This will prevent accidental deletion and backup failing disks. Like most great data recovery software, it allows users to preview files to help you decide which files to recover.
Features:
The same as many other Mac data recovery tools, it provides quick scan and deep scan options. With the quick scan, you can recover missing files on Mac in a quick way, while the deep scan technology can dive deeper your device for lost data. Also like Recoverit, it supports you recovering files from emptied Mac trash easily and quickly.
It works well with Mac 10.8 or later OS and allows you to filter files and recover data selectively. The drawback is that only 200 different file types are available for data rescue through the Mac file recovery software, including pictures, videos and documents.
Overall Review: ★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages : comes with a SMART disk to monitor your hardware's disk status, preview of files, Recovery Vault feature.
Improvement: free version only allows files scan and preview, difficult to navigate, scan result does not show original file names and folder paths.
7. M3 Mac Data Recovery Free
This free Mac data recovery software is one of the many freeware available to recover deleted data and lost files on your Mac. You will be able to apply the tools to a wide range of file formats that have been compromised by a corrupted hard disk, virus attack, system error, power failure etc. It can be used on non-Apple products as well.
Features:
It is the free undelete Mac software, compatible with Mac OS 10.7 through High Sierra. What makes it stand out from other Mac data recovery software is the Bitlocker Recovery feature. It allows you to recover Mac data from a deleted or lost Bitlocker encrypted partition. The drawback of the feature is that you have to offer the password for decrypting data.
Overall Review: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages : high success rate, easy-to-use user interface, full version available for free trial.
Improvement : slow scan speed, can only use free trial for a limited amount of time.
8. Lazesoft Data Recovery
It is one of the truly free data recovery software out there that offers data recovery capabilities of the OS X operating system. You are able to scan and recover unlimited amount of data using this tool.
Features:
You can recover data from resized partitions, formatted hard drives, memory cards and iPod. You can also recover photos, videos, music, documents and applications on Mac HFS/HFS+/FAT/NTFS file systems.
Overall Review: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: completely free, easy-to-use user interface.
Improvement: does not allow you to preview files, not support the newest Mac OS.
9. PhotoRec
PhotoRec Data Recovery is a free data recovery tool for your Mac. It is able to recover data that was lost due to a variety of reasons. It offers users 8 recovery modes for users to support you restoring Mac files lost due to deletion, formatting, lost partition, virus attack and system crash.
Features:
Different types of data can be recovered on Mac, including photos, videos, audios and emails. The recovered data remains intact in the original condition. The biggest drawback is that it is very hard for even an experienced person to use the Mac data recovery tool. Recovering Mac files with PhotoRec is a little like using the computer command line to perform the recovery process. And it is very easy to do wrong operations and cause further damage to your data.
Overall Reviews: ★★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: ability to preview files before recovering data on Mac, free Mac data recovery without any limit.
Improvement: slower than average scan and recovery speeds, not user-friendly, need professional skill
10. Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery Software
The Mac data recovery tool is one of the best software users can use to get back deleted or lost files from your Mac machines. The name of this app is very significant as it equates recovered files with a phoenix rising from the ashes!
Overall Review: ★★★ (5-star rating)
Advantages: fast, reliable, easy-to-use.
Improvement: no automated previewer, free version is for scan and preview only.
Video Tutorial on How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac
How to Select Your Mac Data Recovery Software
After testing and reviewing the 10 best free Mac data reocvery software, we can conclude all the key attributes that a piece of powerful Mac data recovery software should have.
- Support a wide range of files. There are so many types and formats of data we need and use every day. So it is very important for Mac data recovery software to recover almost all kinds of data, at least photos, videos, music, audios and Office documents.
- Support to Mac data recovery in all situations. Data loss can happen due to numerous factors, such as accidental deletion, virus attack, emptied Mac trash, hard drive corruption, formatting, and lost partitions.
- Support a variety of device. We need different electronic devices to help us keep data preserved and protected, especially digital cameras, Mac computers, external hard drives, cell phones, flash drives and so on.
- Straightforward interface. Not everyone is an expert in computer running algorithm or data recovery technology. So for an ideal Mac data recovery program, ease of use is necessary.
- Free Mac data recovery. As we can see, not all free Mac data recovery software can help you recover files on Mac totally free. If the software comes with only free scan and preview functions. It is not recognized as a free one.
What Is the Best Free Data Recovery Software for Mac?
After viewing the above content, we think that everyone has their own choice. You can choose your software according to your own needs. For example, if you are a professional computing expert, you can choose PhotoRec Data Recovery. It needs professional skills and has very complicated recovery process, but it is able to help you recover files on Mac for free. However, if you want to recover Mac data more quickly and easily, it might be not a good option.
On the contract, Recoverit can help you recover lost or deleted files on Mac in 3 steps. It requires no professional skills in computing and technology. It also enables you to preview different types and formats of data on Mac.
The Bottom Line:
All the free Mac data recovery software above mentioned can help you recover lost data on Mac. If you want the easier and effective way to recover your deleted or lost data, we recommend Recoverit Data Recovery software. It is a reliable and safe Mac data recovery program. Download and try it for free now
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What is raw file system and how to repair raw drive in Windows 10/8/7
Last updated on Mar 8, 2020when I connect my USB flash drive to my computer, it warns the file system type raw is not supported, the drive is not formatted do you want to format it now? and also chkdsk reports not available for raw drives. There are some very very important files inside and I do not want to reformat it. What should I do to recover the raw usb drive? The file system is RAW and used space 0 bytes, how to fix it?
Tonny, a User
raw drive property: file sytem rawIf your sd/disk or pen drive turned RAW file system problem as the above photo represented, you are on the right corner for getting a solution to fix the file system type RAW when it is not supported and recognized by Windows.
What is raw file system? Generally speaking, raw is not used, unexplored status for generally. However the problem raw here is not a nature of digital devices that is new, since it occurred on used storage devices which are not supposed to became raw again without human intentionally conversion. The nature of used digital device should be ntfs, fat32, exfat or hfs... which is commonly used by produced digital devices when they are for use after they became available on the market.
The RAW error problem is a common situation that often happens on removable usb disk, sd memory card, flash drive etc. The reasons vary from virus affection, unsafe removal, unexpected power outage, or it may just come out to you from no where.
What's included
3 Steps to Repair/Fix File System is RAW - Step 1
Free Download
(386)
Step1. Download iCare Data Recovery Pro, Connect your raw disk drive or card to PC and Start iCare Data Recovery - Select ' Deep Scan Recovery' in iCare. (if it is an sd card, connect raw sd to PC with a card reader at first.)
Select a recoveryWait while iCare Data Recovery is scanning your raw digital storage media, and it could take a few hours to finish if your disk is over 1TB, while usually 20 minutes for a 256GB usb flash drive. Note: time consuming depends on how damage your disk suffered. It may take longer time like hours if your device is badly damaged.
choose driveDownload Free File Recovery Software
Repair the raw drive/memory card and save data onto a new place.
repair raw driveStep2. Convert raw drive ntfs/fat32/exfat using cmd
First, you can try command prompt to fix your raw drive. This is a solution you can try without any other tool. You can follow the instructions below.
1: run CMD
Use cmd to fix error 'you need to format the disk in drive'2. type “diskpart” on the command box
Use cmd to fix error 'you need to format the disk in drive'3. type “ list disk” after “DISKPART” and enter
Use cmd to fix error 'you need to format the disk in drive'4. type “select disk 2” and enter.
Use cmd to fix error 'you need to format the disk in drive'5. type “clean”. Wait for a minute.
Use cmd to fix error 'you need to format the disk in drive'After these steps, then you can convert raw drive to ntfs/fat32, the most commonly used file system for digital devices.
Steps to format the raw drive with free raw usb format tool
(When data has already been recovered to somewhere else) You may wonder whether you could convert raw file system to ntfs without formatting, don't worry, when you have saved the data onto a safe place, it is totally safe to convert raw to ntfs. Plus you should know formatting is a must for changing the raw to any other file system.
Part 1: format raw drive with cmd
CMD command prompt is a Windows system tool to perform a lot of operations on your system.
Step1: Run CMD.
Change raw to ntfs with CMD
Step2: Type“format X: /fs:fat32”(X is the drive letter of your raw hard drive)
You can also convert raw file system to NTFS, and the command line should be the following,
format F: /fs:ntfs
Change raw to fat32 with CMD
Then your digital device is a working one now after the above three steps.
Part 2: Format raw usb drive with free usb tool
When you need a free usb format tool that could let you format the raw drive, here are several options for you and we will only introduce some most powerful usb format tool to you.
1, Freeware - Partition Resizer Free by IM-Magic
Open partition resizer and right click the raw drive to format
Change raw to ntfs/fat32 with free raw formatter
2, USB Disk Storage format tool
Since formatting will erase all your data on the drive, so you should restore your data before fixing the raw drive. That's how we showed you in the Step 1.
More raw usb format tool? --> Read more here: free usb format tool
Download this powerful repair tool to start fixing your raw drive and get your files back.
RAW Error Recovery by iCare
Download iCare Data Recovery Pro to repair raw drive and rescue inside data from digital device that has RAW file system.
This article also tells more knowledge about raw drive
Definition - What Is RAW File System in Windows 10 8 7?
RAW drive, also called RAW file system, is a system error that makes your partition RAW and you may no longer access files there without some recovery tool. RAW is a file system that cannot be recognized by Windows no matter in Windows 10 nor Windows 7.
Symptoms
The symptom of RAW drive is that it is often not accessible. When a digital device turns to RAW file system, it may show following messages:
1. Windows pops up error message saying 'disk in drive is not formatted do you want to format it now' when you click the RAW drive to open it.
2. Check the Properties of RAW drive shows 0 bytes in used space, free space and capacity. The file system changes to RAW format.
3. It reports disk drive is not accessible when attempting to accessing a RAW drive.
4. The Disk Management says the file system of the partition is RAW or unknown.
Solution for RAW Drive Fix
Whether it is an internal hard drive or external hard drive, pen drive, memory card, flash drive turns to RAW file system, the first thing is to make it clear if there is important data on the RAW drive. If there is important data, you can go to the Solution Step1 to recover data at first. If there is no data on the RAW drive, you can skip to Solution Step 2 to fix the problem directly.
Solution Step 2: Convert RAW to NTFS / FAT32 by reformatting
After recovering all important data or if there is no precious data on the RAW drive, you can format the device which has RAW file system to NTFS or FAT32 file system. The easiest way is to open 'My Computer' and right click the RAW drive to format it with NTFS or FAT32 file system.
=>> To get more methods to format a device, please visit: How to format RAW drive to NTFS / FAT32
CHKDSK Is Not Available For RAW Drives Errors
When any digital device such as an internal hard drive or external hard drive, memory card, thumb drive turns to RAW, you may run CHKDSK to check the RAW drive for error fixing. Usually, you can fix the problem successfully by running CHKDSK, but sometimes you may receive the error message: 'This type of file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives'.
chkdsk is not available for raw drive> For more detailed information about the CHKDSK not available problem, please refer to: CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives
Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format on RAW Drive
Since RAW file system is an unknown filesystem for Windows, you may receive another message 'Windows was unable to complete the format'.
You may download a formatter on CNET host.
Right click the software and then select 'Run as admin' to start the formatting.
> See Windows was unable to complete the format
> See Free USB Format Tool
Convert RAW to NTFS/FAT32 without Formatting
When getting the error message saying format is unable to be completed, are you wondering if there is a way to convert RAW to NTFS / FAT32 without formatting? Well, there is no other
choice but to format the RAW drive if you want to convert its file system back to NTFS or FAT32. In order to format the RAW device successfully when receiving alert message saying cannot complete format, you can do something to resolve this problem.
> How to format a RAW drive successfully when Windows reports it cannot complete the format? Please see - Fix Windows unable to format problem
Causes for RAW Error
Best Free Raw Data Recovery Software
RAW error is a problem that might be caused by many reasons, which include:
1. A hard disk drive, portable hard drive or memory card, flash drive would change to RAW format because the format is not completed after you mistakenly format a drive.
2. Remove a removable disk from PC unsafely while it is in use
3. Remove memory card out of digital camera or smartphone without turning off the device
4. Keep saving files to the device when it is nearly full
5. The digital device is attacked by virus
6. Sudden power off while writing or transferring files on the digital device
How to Prevent RAW Problem
1. Whenever you need to remove your storage media from your computer, please remember to remove it safely.
2. Remove memory card like SD, microSD, miniSD, SDHC, SDXC, CF or XD card from mobile phone or digital camera by turning off the device first of all
3. Do not save data downloaded from unsafe website to your hard drive, external hard drive, memory stick or other storage device because it may contain virus that can corrupt the file system of the device.