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Data Recovery for Mac

  • Recovers deleted or lost data from Mac effectively, safely, and completely.
  • Handles 500+ data loss scenarios, including accidental deletion, disk formatting, virus infection, system crash, etc.
  • Recovers lost documents, photos, videos, music, and other 1000+ file types with a high success rate.
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5 Best Data Recovery Software for Mac to Choose From

Eleanor Reed
Eleanor Reed Originally published Jan 03, 24, updated Dec 04, 24

Selecting the best data recovery software solution for your Mac device may take time due to the number of options available. However, we've tested numerous tools to create the finest selection you'll enjoy. We have created a list of the five best data recovery software for Mac, and you can choose the one that fits your needs, preferences, and workflow best.

Today, we'll dig deep into the abovementioned recovery solutions, presenting our honest reviews, key features, recovery performance, pricing, user reviews, and more.

Table of Content
    1. Wondershare Recoverit for Mac
    2. Disk Drill for Mac
    3. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac
    4. Data Rescue 6 for Mac
    5. Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac

Key Criteria for Selecting the Best Mac Data Recovery Software

When choosing the ideal Mac data recovery software solution, you should consider a couple of factors, such as:

  • 💻 Device compatibility - you should always check whether the tool is compatible with your Mac type;
  • 📁 File type and data loss support - find a tool that covers your recovery needs, including recovering the desired file type from a specific data loss scenario;
  • Success rate - always opt for solutions with higher success rates to ensure they'll get your data back;
  • 💰 Cost - consider Mac recovery tools that are within your budget;
  • 🙂 Interface - choose a solution that is easy to use and navigate for the best experience;
  • Reviews - opt for tools with good ratings and reviews as they signify a reliable solution.

Overview of the Best Data Recovery Tools for Mac

Recovery tool Key features Pricing Rating
Wondershare Recoverit for Mac
  • 35 advanced patents
  • Supports 500+ data loss scenarios
  • Supports 1000+ file types
  • Deep scan of M1/M2/T2 Macs
  • Crashed Mac recovery
  • NAS/Linux recovery on Mac
  • Time Machine backup scan and recovery
star rating 4.5 4.3/5 with 55 reviews on G2
Disk Drill for Mac
  • Deep scan of M1/M2/M3/T2 Macs
  • Supports 400+ file types
  • Time Machine backup scan and recovery
  • iPhone/iPad data recovery
  • SMART Disk Monitor
  • Duplicate finder
  • Basic: Scan and preview files
  • PRO: $98
  • Enterprise: $598
star rating 3.5 3.7/5 with 48 reviews on G2
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac
  • Deep scan of M1/M2/T2 Macs
  • Time Machine backup scan and recovery
  • Crashed Mac recovery
  • BootCamp partition recovery
  • Drive health monitoring and cloning
  • Basic: Scan and preview files
  • Standard: $84.99
  • Professional: $99
  • Premium: $109
star rating 4.5 4.4/5 with 4 reviews on G2
Data Rescue 6
  • Deep scan of M1/M2 Macs
  • Crashed Mac recovery
  • Hard drive cloning
  • Access previous scans
  • Cross compatibility
  • Secure erase tool
  • Free trial: Recover up to 1GB
  • Standard License: $79
  • Professional License: $339
star rating 4.5 4.5/5 with 1 review on G2
Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac
  • Deep scan of M1/M2/T2 Macs
  • Supports 200+ file types
  • Crashed Mac recovery
  • Time Machine backup scan and recovery
  • Trial: Scan and preview files
  • Starts at $69.95
star rating 3.5 3.4/5 with 17 reviews on MacUpdate

Discover what is the best data recovery software for Mac.

Top 5 Data Recovery Software for Mac - Detailed Review

Let's dive into the best professinal recovery solutions for Mac devices available currently.

#1. Wondershare Recoverit for Mac

recoverit data recovery software for mac
Free Download
Free Download

Available for: macOS Yosemite 10.10 - macOS 14 Sonoma

Wondershare Recoverit is among the most powerful Mac data recovery solutions on the market. It has one of the highest success rates in the industry (around 99%), meaning that you'll surely get your valuables back.

While using this tool, we couldn't help but notice how easy and efficient it is. We had no issues mastering the features and learning how to navigate them. All the tasks we threw its way were small bites to chew - Wondershare Recoverit for Mac successfully recovered photos, videos, documents, and other various file types from the most common data loss scenarios, such as accidental deletion, disk formatting, and file system corruption. 

Key Features

Some of the most prominent features you can find on Wondershare Recoverit include:

  • Successful recovery from over 2000 devices, including Mac computers/laptops, external HDDs/SSDs, memory cards, and USB flash drives;
  • More than 1000 file types are covered;
  • More than 500 data loss scenarios included;
  • The patented scanning algorithm can automatically search, gather, and match video fragments to ensure your video files are recovered completely and remain playable;
  • Recover data from NAS servers on Mac without pulling out the hard drives;
  • Rescue data from a Mac that is unbootable or stuck on the grey screen, white screen, or black screen of death;
  • Recover data from Time Machine backup or disk image;
  • Corrupted photo and document file repair during the preview process;
  • Corrupted video repair
Free Download
Free Download

Recovery Performance

As mentioned above, Wondershare Recoverit's success rate is around 99%, making it one of the most efficient platforms. While testing the tool, we noticed it's among the fastest in the industry and still delivers high-quality data after recovery.

It was able to recover anything we threw its way within minutes. We're beyond pleased with the recovery performance.

Ratings and User Reviews

Wondershare Recoverit has one of the highest ratings in the data recovery business. Some people adored using the tool, while some may have experienced minor issues while recovering their valuables.

For instance, Jignesh Padhiyar from iGeeksBlog stated the following:

What makes Recoverit worth the money is the trust they have gained. So far, more than 5 million users around the globe are using Recoverit to recover their data back. Besides, Wondershare is a well-known company developing enterprise-level applications to solve complex problems.

You can see that this tool has gained the trust of many users worldwide, proving its reliability. Below are the ratings from Trustpilot, TrustRadius, and Techradar, some of the most trusted review channels.

Review Platforms Ratings
Trustpilot star rating 3.53.7/5.0 based on 2435 Reviews
TrustRadius star rating 4.08.0/10 based on 5 Reviews
Techradar star rating 4.54.5/5.0 reviewed by Mike Jennings
trustpilot review of recoverit

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Multiple support;
  • High recovery success rate;
  • The free version comes with numerous beneficial options;
  • Preview before recovery;
  • You can recover multiple files simultaneously.
Cons
  • If you're recovering larger files, other programs may slow down;
  • May present false duplicate results.

Pricing & Plans

Wondershare Recoverit for Mac offers a free version that allows you to recover up to 100MB files on Mac. The price for paid version will differ depending on your needs. Here is the pricing for yearly plans:

  • Essential - $75.99 a year;
  • Standard - $99.99 a year;
  • Premium - $139.99 a year.

Aside from these plans, you can create business/education plans according to your needs.

Free Download
Free Download

#2. Disk Drill for Mac

disk drill data recovery for mac

Available for: macOS Catalina 10.15 - macOS 14 Sonoma

Disk Drill for Mac is one of the best file recovery software for Mac on the market. The interface is clean and easy to use, which can significantly impact your recovery performance.

While testing this platform, we were pleasantly surprised by the organization and number of features available. However, we didn't quite like the technical requirements and different versions of Disk Drill you need to choose from depending on your device.

Key Features

Here are some of the Disk Drill's best features:

  • Compatible with the latest M3-chip Mac;
  • Support data recovery from iPhone and iPad;
  • Scan and recover data from Time Machine Backups and Snapshots
  • Free disk health tools like SMART Disk Monitor, Duplicate Finder, and Data Protection Services;

Recovery Performance

During the test period, we've noticed that Disk Drill can sometimes slow down and is generally slower than other options. There are many reasons for this issue, but one is the technical requirements you must fulfill to run the program smoothly.

Although slower, Disk Drill still delivered excellent results and could find all the lost data from a specific location.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Offers a great range of features;
  • Comes with data protection;
  • Data recovery from mobile devices available.
Cons
  • May be a pricier option;
  • It's slower than other recovery solutions;
  • The free version can only scan files; it cannot recover them.

Pricing & Plans

Disk Drill offers three different pricing plans depending on your needs:

  • PRO - $98;
  • Enterprise - $598.

However, if you want lifetime updates, you must pay $19 for the PRO version and $99 for the Enterprise plan.

Ratings and User Reviews

The user reviews, and ratings are mixed regarding Disk Drill; some platforms have higher ratings, while some have a solid grade. But, as Andrey Vasilyev said:

It seems that virtually all 1-star reviews Disk Drill has received in recent years have been posted by people who had either not familiarized themselves with how it works before purchasing a license or had unrealistic expectations about what's possible to achieve using data recovery software.

And we couldn't agree more.

Here are some other reviews and ratings for the Disk Drill for Mac solution.

Review Platforms Ratings
Trustpilot star rating 2.52.5/5.0 based on 13 Reviews
Capterra star rating 4.04.0/5.0 based on 8 Reviews
PC Magazine star rating 4.04.0/5.0 reviewed by Willian Fenton
disk drill for mac reviews on trustpilot

#3. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac

stellar data recovery professional for mac

Available for: macOS Sierra 10.12 - macOS 14 Sonoma

Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is one of the most-loved recovery tools among Mac users. The interface is very convenient, and you'll have no issues starting your recovery journey.

During the test period, this tool has proven to be one of the best options on the market. Although it doesn't offer any extraordinary features, it's still among the most popular items.

Key Features

Some of the most prominent features of Stellar Data Recovery are:

  • Time Machine recovery;
  • Crashed Mac recovery;
  • Recover data from high-capacity Mac storage drives (over 18 TB);
  • Save previous scans;
  • Offer drive monitoring and cloning.

Recovery Performance

During the testing period, we noticed that Stellar Data Recovery gave consistent results. It's reliable and can retrieve all the lost data pieces - it can even perform a double scan to ensure nothing goes unnoticed and all your data gets recovered.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • It scans the locations quickly;
  • The preview feature allows you to see which files can be recovered;
  • Can come with disk-testing features.
Cons
  • Not too many features are available;
  • No free version;
  • The deep scan feature is slow.

Pricing & Plans

You can download this Mac data recovery software for free to scan and preview your lost or deleted data. If you want to recover the found data, Stellar offers three pricing plans:

  • Standard - $84.99;
  • Professional - $99;
  • Premium - $109.

Ratings and User Reviews

In most cases, user reviews and ratings for Stellar Data Recovery are good. Of course, every tool has some bad reviews, which shouldn't stand in the way of a good reputation.

For instance, PC Magazine wrote:

I tested the first two functions on my SSD, but to little avail. Scanning for lost or deleted partitions returned no results. Next, I selected the most granular data recovery option (Raw Recovery/Recover Everything). After about 12 minutes, Stellar Phoenix again returned with zero results.

But TechRadar said: Stellar Data Recovery is a great file retrieval tool with powerful advanced options for business. In its simplest form, it enables anyone to retrieve lost data from a computer or external storage device.

We will present more ratings below.

Review Platforms Ratings
Capterra star rating 3.53.3/5.0 based on 10 user reviews
Comparitech star rating 4.54.5/5.0 reviewed by Marc Dahan
Trustpilot star rating 4.54.6/5.0 based on 3674 reviews
capterra review of stellar data recovery for mac

#4. Data Rescue 6 for Mac

data rescue 6 for mac

Available for: macOS Sierra 10.12 - macOS 13 Ventura

Data Rescue 6 for Mac is an older recovery tool that has maintained its reputation. Although this tool has an old interface, it's still one of the best-performing recovery solutions on the market.

We were surprised by how fast and well it performed, given the look and feel of the whole program. However, it's still a competition with some more modern solutions regarding speed and data quality.

Key Features

Some of the best features Data Rescue 6 for Mac offers are:

  • Cross compatibility (can be downloaded on Windows and Mac with the same license);
  • Hard drive cloning;
  • Virtual RAID Support;
  • Accessing previous scans.

Recovery Performance

As mentioned, Data Rescue 6 for Mac is one of the fastest recovery tools available. Once we started using it, we were amazed by how fast our data got back.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • A free preview feature;
  • Compatible with Mac and Windows devices under the same license;
  • Comes with virtual RAID support.
Cons
  • Has an outdated interface;
  • Not compatible with the latest macOS Sonoma
  • A no-refund policy.

Pricing & Plans

You can recover up to 1GB data in the free trial. Aside from the free trial, you can choose between two different paid options:

  • Standard License - $79;
  • Professional License - $339 a year.

Ratings and User Reviews

All of the user reviews we encountered were positive. Most users claim the tool did its job and had no issues navigating the features.

For instance, William Fenton from PCMag made the following statement:

Data Rescue is one of the top data recovery utilities that I tested. The addition of BootWell brings this effective, easy to use utility closer to alignment with Disk Drill, and I suspect that you will appreciate that, similar to Seagate, Prosoft hosts its own in-house data recovery lab.

Here's one of the ratings of Data Rescue 6 for Mac:

Review Platforms Ratings
MacUpdate star rating 4.04.1/5.0 based on 279 user rates
TechRadar star rating 4.04.0/5.0 reviewed by Christian Rigg
Amazon star rating 3.03.0/5.0 based on 6 reviews
data rescue for mac rating on macupdate

#5. Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac

cisdem data recovery for mac

Available for: macOS Mavericks 10.9 - macOS 14 Sonoma

Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac has been around for ages and never fails to surprise its users. Today, this tool can be categorized as one of the best software to recover deleted files on Mac, able to extract even the smallest pieces of data.

During the test period, we were amazed by how well this tool works for hard disk and SD card data recovery. It detected even the smallest deleted instances and recovered them without an issue.

Key Features

Some of the best Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac features include:

  • Recover 200+ file types on Mac;
  • Recover files to the Cloud
  • Extract data from Time Machine backup, iTunes backup, or Disk Images;
  • Rescue data from a crashed Mac;
  • Repair corrupted photos, documents, and videos;
  • Covers more than 1000 file types.

Recovery Performance

Cisdem is no different than all of the abovementioned tools. It's fast, reliable, and able to retrieve everything you throw its way. We were amazed by how much this tool can pick up and deliver.

However, we have sometimes experienced minor lags and bugs that affected the recovery speed. Although we had these experiences, our data returned unharmed and in one piece.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • It's able to extract even the smallest bits of data;
  • The interface is clean and organized;
  • Comes with a preview feature.
Cons
  • No free version;
  • Limited storage device support
  • Can sometimes lag.

Pricing & Plans

You can use Cisdem Data Recovery to scan and preview files on Mac for free. But when you decide to recover the scanned files, you need to purchase a plan, you can choose between these options:

  • Monthly - $69.95 a month;
  • Annual Plan - $99.95 a year;
  • Lifetime Plan - $149.95.

Ratings and User Reviews

The ratings and user reviews are mixed for Cisdem Data Recovery. Some state that the tool has done its job wonderfully, and some aren't satisfied with the product.

For instance, Andrei Verdeanu wrote on Softpedia:

Upon first initialization, we were satisfied to see that Cisdem Data Recovery offers simple, concise options right from the start, thus eliminating confusion and providing a simple choice for novices or inexperienced users.

All in all, Cisdem Data Recovery is a solid tool, according to the reviews.

Review Platforms Ratings
MacUpdate star rating 3.53.4/5.0 based on 12 user rates
CNET star rating 4.04.0/5.0 based on 8 user votes
Trusitpilot star rating 2.52.4/5.0 based on 27 reviews
cisdem data recovery on trustpilot

Final Verdict

In conclusion, data recovery software is a crucial tool for Mac users to recover lost or accidentally deleted files. After extensive research, the top five data recovery software for Mac in 2023 are Wondershare Recoverit for Mac, Disk Drill for Mac, Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac, Data Rescue 6 (Mac Version), and Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac.

Wondershare Recoverit stands out as our top pick due to its exceptional data recovery capabilities, user-friendly interface, and its support for a wide range of file formats. Its advanced deep-scan algorithm goes deeper into the data structure, ensuring a record-high data recovery rate.

Disk Drill, while not our top choice, continues to impress with its comprehensive data recovery and protection features. Data Rescue 6 offers a free version that allows up to 1GB of data recovery, making it a great option for those on a budget. Stellar Data Recovery and Cisdem Data Recovery each have unique features that make them worthy of consideration.

No matter which software you choose to recover your deleted files on Mac, remember that regular backups remain your best defense against data loss.

FAQs

  • What is the best software for data recovery on Mac?
    Here are the 5 best file recovery software for Mac:
    1. Wondershare Recoverit for Mac
    2. Disk Drill for Mac
    3. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac
    4. Data Rescue 6 for Mac
    5. Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac
  • Can data recovery software for Mac retrieve permanently deleted files?
    Yes, most data recovery tools for Mac can recover files that have been permanently deleted, as long as they have not been overwritten by new data. However, the success rate of recovering files depends on various factors, such as the amount of time that has passed since deletion and the type of storage device used.
  • Is it safe to use data recovery software on Mac?
    Generally, using data recovery software on Mac is safe, as long as you download and install the software from a trusted source. Always ensure that you are using a reputable and well-reviewed software (such as Wondershare Recoverit, Disk Drill, and Stellar Data Recovery) to avoid any potential security risks.
  • How much does Mac data recovery cost?
    The cost of data recovery software for Mac varies depending on the software and the features offered. Some software offers a free version with limited features, while others require a one-time purchase or a subscription plan. Prices can range from $50 to $100 or more, depending on the software.
  • Does Mac have built-in data recovery?
    Unfortunately, no. Mac does not have a built-in data recovery tool specifically designed to recover deleted or lost files. However, there are a few built-in features that might help you recover data in certain situations: Time Machine, iCloud Drive, and Local snapshots.
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Eleanor Reed
Eleanor Reed Dec 04, 24
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