Method 2: Recover Files With Data Recovery Software Look for all the files and select all of them. Now, you can go to the clock icon in the menu bar, and you will have the Enter Time Machine option there.Īnother option for opening Time Machine is to use the Launchpad: Step 4Īfter opening Time Machine, you can look for the files you lost. Click on the check box next to Show Time Machine in menu bar. In the new window, click on Time Machine. If you don't see the clock icon, go to the Apple menu and click on System Preferences. Click on the clock icon on the menu bar, and select Enter Time Machine from the dropdown menu. Go to the Finder and open the folder from where you have lost the files. You should have the Time Machine backup on a drive. If you've created a backup, use this method otherwise, move on to Method 2.

However, this only works if you have ever created a backup in the past. This is the first method you can try for Mac external hard drive data recovery because you don’t need to download anything, and it is completely free. It is called Time Machine, and it works like a time machine by taking you to past versions of your drive.

MacOS offers a default native tool to recover your lost data.

frequent connection and disconnection of the driveĤ Ways to Restore Data From an External Hard Drive for Mac Method 1: Restore Files From Backup/Time Machine.

accidental deletion or formatting of the drive.

There are various causes of data loss from an external hard drive. Main Causes of Data Loss From an External Hard Drive In this article, I'll show you four ways to restore files, and I'll take you through the step-by-step process. It's easy to panic as there could be important files in the lost data.įortunately, there are ways to recover or restore those lost files from the external drive. We keep our data on external drives to keep it safe, but unfortunately, sometimes, our data gets lost.

Lost file recovery mac