How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Software

Deleting files by mistake is such a big headache. You end up losing files that you didn’t mean to delete. However, all is not lost. There are indeed some ways that you can use to recover deleted files on Mac without software.

To recover the deleted files on mac without using software, we can use the Put Back option in your Trash. Simply open the Trash or the Bin from your Dock. Here, if you have not yet emptied the trash, all the files can be brought back to your system.

It is essential to know that without additional third-party software, you can only recover so many files, and some of these methods might not recover your data sufficiently.

Hence, we curated multiple ways to get those files back without the help of any software. Here are a few of them you can try as well.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Software

We have detailed five ways you can recover your deleted files on Mac without any third-party software. The first method is the easiest and most rudimentary as it needs you to restore the deleted items from Mac’s trash bin.

Read the instructions mentioned below to know more about the process. 

• The first step would be opening and signing in to your Mac and launching the trash bin from Mac’s dock.
• If you cannot find the bin on the dock, you can take the help of a Spotlight search.
• Furthermore, you can also use the terminal to launch the bin.
• Once a terminal window has been launched. Type in “open .trash” without the quotation marks and hit the return key to run the command.
• As soon as you hit the return key, the bin will launch. Now, if you haven’t emptied the bin recently, all your deleted files should be present here. 
• Look for the file you want to recover, select it, and right-click on it to show the menu.

• Within the menu, select the Put back option, and the file will be restored to its original destination.

That is it. This is all you need to do to recover deleted files on Mac without software.

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Restoring Files Using Keyboard Shortcuts 

A quick and easy way to restore files you just deleted by mistake is using the Command-Z shortcut on your Mac’s keyboard. However, there are certain caveats regarding this method.

If you realize that while removing a list of files, you’ve deleted an important one by mistake, press the Command-Z shortcut immediately as; if you wait or perform any other action before it, the system won’t be able to restore the files. 

This method should not be relied on as it is conditional and heavily relies on chance and the fact you don’t perform any actions before pressing the shortcut. Furthermore, the Command-Z shortcut cannot restore an emptied recycle bin as that action remains permanent. 

Using Terminal to Restore Deleted Files 

This method is just an extension of using the Put Back option within Bin. The only difference is that the bin app allows you to perform this action more intuitively. 

• Firstly, open and sign in to your Mac and open a terminal window from Mac’s dock. If you cannot find a terminal window on the dock, you can take the help of a Spotlight search to do the same.
• Once a terminal window has been launched, type in “cd .trash” without the quotation marks and hit the return key to run the command; mind the space placed between the words as they are pertinent to the syntax of the code. 
• Also, type in the next line ls -al ~/.Trash to check the contents of the trash.
• Now, you need to type in the name and the file extension using  “mv name and extension of the file.” For example, if you’re recovering a word file named mountains, you would type in “ mv mountains.docx “ and then hit the return key to restore the files

• Type in “Quit” to exit the terminal window after executing the command.

That is it. Once you are done with the steps above you will most likely recover the deleted files using Terminal. The process is pretty simple even if you are not technically sound, you can easily follow the steps and get your files back.

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Using Time Machine to Recover Deleted Files on Mac

Time Machine is the default backup service that comes with every single Mac. You need to have an external hard drive to use this form of backup. Time Machine allows you to schedule or manually back up files regularly.

If you back up your files regularly, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to access deleted files and then restore them. Read the following directions to know more about the process. 

• Open and log in to your Mac and launch a Finder window within the folder from which you deleted a particular file. For example, if you deleted a file within the Documents folder, open a Finder window from that specific folder only. 
• Now, launch Time Machine from the Menu bar, or you can also access it from the dock via System Preferences.
• Now you can take the help of the arrows to scroll through various versions and choose the one you want to restore.
• Once you’ve found the file, select it and press the restore button at the bottom of the screen.

Once done, Time Machine will bring all your files back on Mac itself that you can now store at someplace safe and not lose it again.

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Conclusion

Deleting important files by mistake is a panic-inducing action that causes most people to lose their cool. However, it’s essential to stay calm in these situations and remember you always have some options and ways using which you can recover your deleted files without using any third-party software

If all these do not work, it is better to always keep a backup of all the important files either on the cloud storage or a hard drive. This way your files will be secure always and you will never end up losing them even if you have deleted them from your system.

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