Best Data Recovery Software for Mac 2025 – Tested on M2 MacBook Air with Sequoia

Data recovery software has become so accessible these days! The biggest sign? People don’t believe that it is impossible to get a deleted file back. So, if you have a Mac and want to recover lost/deleted files/folders, you have plenty of options—and you don’t have to be a nerd to do it.

However, we still haven’t reached a point where a random data recovery app would do the job. As it happens, the market has too many options to offer, and you must pick the right one for your needs. Depending on the device, features, and budget, you can choose from tens or hundreds of options.

Here’s what we have done.

We have prepared a complete guide on the best Mac data recovery software for 2025. In this guide, you will find free and paid data recovery tools that you can use to recover data from your Mac as well as other storage devices, including your smartphones and pen drives.

TL;DR: the best data recovery software for macOS in 2025

• Best All-in-One Data Recovery: Disk Drill
• Best for Performance: EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
• Best for Easy to Use: iBoysoft Data Recovery
• Best for NAS Recovery: Wondershare Recoverit
• Best for Additional Tools: Stellar Data Recovery
• Best for Thorough Scanning: Data Rescue
• Best for In-depth Analysis: R-Studio

Best all-in-one data recovery: Disk Drill

Disk Drill is undoubtedly one of the best Mac data recovery software you can find in 2025. It packs almost everything you’d need in a data retrieval suite, starting with universal compatibility. You can use Disk Drill to recover data from your Mac, Android smartphone, iPhone, iPad, memory cards, NAS devices, etc.

While at it, this data recovery suite works with almost every file system out there. We have tested the app on M series Macs from Apple, and it works in sync with T2 chips as well. Despite its advanced set of features, using Disk Drill to retrieve data from your Mac is super-easy.

In addition to incredible data recovery rates and top-notch performance, Disk Drill offers some additional utilities as well. The list includes S.M.A.R.T. Disk Monitoring, Duplicate Finder, Data Shredder, Data Backups, Recovery Drive, and Mac Cleanup.

In short, Disk Drill offers impressive data recovery capabilities as well as some handy tools to keep track of your Mac.

Pros

• Wide compatibility with devices and file systems, including RAID
• Intuitive interface that offers ample options for customization
• Support for Time Machine recovery and all Apple Silicon Macs

Cons

• Deep scans can be quite time-consuming on some devices

Pricing: starts at $89.99

Best for performance: EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

If you are looking for versatile data recovery software for your Mac, you might want to consider EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. In its basic form, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can assist you in recovering almost everything from your Mac and removable devices. On the other hand, you get a suite of additional utilities.

You can use this tool to recover data from a variety of sources like partitions and other recovery scenarios, such as a Mac that does not boot up. The Pro version of this tool, which costs a premium, will let you repair corrupt videos and pictures and create a bootable USB drive for macOS installation.

Like Disk Drill, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard delivers impressive data recovery results. In our tests, its performance was slightly higher than that of other contenders, achieving a 97% success rate. The preview function and its support for file systems like Microsoft NTFS add value to the product. It supports recovery from cloud storage like iCloud as well.

Overall, if you need an all-rounder tool for data recovery, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a great choice.

Pros

• Great recovery success rates from various devices/file systems
• Dedicated utilities for repairing photos and videos
• Support to recover data from unbootable Mac

Cons

• The interface could be more stable while handling heavy load

Pricing: starts at $89.99.

Related: Disk Drill vs EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Best for easy to use: iBoysoft Data Recovery

There are times when you just want a simple tool that can recover the most data from one source, right? In these instances, you can try iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Though it does not offer as many features as other tools, it makes it so easy to recover data from multiple sources, including the startup disk of your Mac.

It works great with M1, M2, and M3 chips, but we are not sure about the M4 chip situation. Regardless, you get to recover more than 1000 file formats, and the app works with systems like APFS, HFS+, and exFAT. One thing that we do not see here is support for Microsoft NTFS, but iBoysoft has another tool for that purpose.

So, while you don’t get any advanced features, iBoysoft Data Recovery makes things easier for most people. You don’t need any technical expertise to use this data recovery tool. We also found this app to have decent data recovery rates.

Pros

• Intuitive UI design that is easy to navigate
• Available for both Windows and macOS
• Comprehensive deep scan for advanced recovery

Cons

• The file preview doesn’t work with all file types

Pricing: Starts at $89.95.

Best for NAS recovery: Wondershare Recoverit

We recommend you check out Wondershare Recoverit if you need a balance of recovery rate, scanning time, and optimal support for NAS and Linux recovery. In addition to offering staggering amazing recovery success rates, the app offers optimized support for NAS recovery for situations like hardware aging, failure, etc. while keeping the drives on the NAS.

In our testing, Wondershare Recoverit has been on par with its promise. The three-step process for getting data back on your Mac also makes a lot of sense. The Linux and NAS recovery options are easy to access, and they offer broader compatibility as well.

Because Wondershare uses multiple patented technologies for data recovery, you have a better chance of data recovery from a corrupted/reset Mac as well. Linux support makes it possible for you to connect a hard drive you installed Linux on and recover data from the drive. The app works great with file systems like EXT4, BTRFS, XFS, and BFS file systems and Linux distros like Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, etc.

Pros

• Versatile data recovery options and devices to choose from
• Bootable recovery options through drives
• Built-in support for data recovery from NAS and Linux devices

Cons

• It sometimes fails to recover actual file names

Pricing: Starts at $79.99 per month.

Best for additional tools: Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is an amazing option if you need some additional tools on top of the best success rates. Like other tools on this list, this Stellar app also offers compatibility with various file types and systems, including NTFS, which is not natively supported on Mac.

We noticed impressive speeds during our testing, and Stellar does not require a kernel extension to get the best recovery rates. It also packs some tools to power up and recover data from crashed or non-responding Macs. These features work on top of its support for all M-series Macs.

However, the best part about Stellar is its integrated feature set. For instance, you can use its imaging options to deal with corrupted/damaged hard drives. Similarly, you get ample utilities for monitoring the disk health and removing duplicates from your Mac.

Overall, you can count Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac as a feature-rich, reliable option.

Pros

• Offers a comprehensive set of additional tools
• Reliable data recovery options for most devices
• Complete support for M4 series Mac and Sequoia

Cons

• It could have included some bootable features

Pricing: Starts at $69.99

Best for thorough scanning: Data Rescue

Sometimes, you need a data recovery tool that offers thorough scanning. It should check all parts of a drive to find recoverable information, right? If this is your case, you can check out Data Rescue for Mac. By the looks of it, Data Rescue is easy to use, but it packs a punch in terms of performance.

Compared to the other tools, Data Rescue has a minimal User Interface design. You can get started with the process in a few minutes. In our testing, this tool was able to recover almost everything from a USB drive. However, the numbers may vary for a corrupted/broken device.

When you go for Deep Scan, Data Rescue offers some additional customization options. So, while the tool thoroughly scans your drive, you can use the hex viewer or set scan parameters for better results. You would also benefit from the secure erase tool.

In the end, despite its minimal design, Data Rescue 6 does not disappoint.

Pros

• Enables easy and efficient recovery on crashed/unbootable Macs
• Advanced control over deep scan with customization options
• Built-in support for RAID arrays, Time Machine backups, etc.

Cons

• Some may find the UI a little rudimentary.

Pricing: Starts at $79.

Best for in-depth analysis: R-Studio

When you want to recover data from corrupted drives, you need access to minute details. In these instances, you should use something like R-Studio for Mac. For starters, the app offers support for a variety of devices and file systems, including NTFS. The damaged RAID recovery option is also great from a functionality point of view.

R-Studio claims to use an advanced recovery algorithm, and it seems to make a difference. We noticed the difference while attempting to recover app-specific files like DOCX and PSD. We could not completely test the feature, but R-Studio lets you recover data from devices connected through a network as well.

Disk Imaging is another handy feature that we came across. R-Studio can clone a drive into a disk image and use it for recovery purposes. This way, you can prevent unwanted impact on the drive. The professional hex editor system is also great if you want to customize the results.

In the end, this feature-rich data recovery is a great addition to the tech-savvy lot.

Pros

• Advanced control over the recovery process
• Professional hex editor for refining results
• It works great for app-specific files like PSD

Cons

• It is slightly on the expensive side.

Pricing: Starts at $79.99

About our testing and comparison

First, we understand that data recovery success rates are subjective, as they depend on the device, system file format, and the condition of the drive. However, we wanted to standardize the results by testing all the data recovery tools on our M2 MacBook Air with Sequoia. The tests were as follows:

We tried recovering data from two sources: an external SSD (Samsung) of 1TB storage space and a USB drive of 128GB capacity. The 1TB SSD had some content left, but the 128GB USB drive was fully formatted. Our logic was to find how each tool handles overwritten storage space.

Here is how each tool fared in this contest.

We did have many tools that offered better utilities even when their recovery speeds were just okay. So, we believe it is a balanced bunch.

We wanted to check how all these tools performed with different file types as well.

For reference, these tested drives contained JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOCX, MP4, and AAC files. We also added and deleted some PSD (Photoshop) files to check whether the apps can recover them. Most tools were able to recover a variety of files without a hassle.

It means you can rely on these tools when you want to recover different file types.

Other recovery tools to consider

Beyond the top picks, several other data recovery tools are worth mentioning, depending on your specific needs and technical expertise:

• TestDisk: A powerful, open-source tool primarily designed for partition recovery. It can fix boot sector issues and recover lost partitions, making it invaluable for technical users dealing with drive structure problems. It’s a command-line tool, which might be challenging for beginners.
• PhotoRec for Mac: This free, open-source companion to TestDisk excels at recovering photos, videos, and other file types from various storage media, using file signature analysis. Although it lacks a graphical user interface and requires using command line, it can find lost data even when the file system is severely damaged. It recovers files with generic names, so renaming is required.
• DiskWarrior: A long-standing and highly regarded Mac utility specifically designed to rebuild damaged directory structures, to restore access to files and folders. It focuses on directory repair and optimization and is not suitable for individual file recovery. It does not support APFS disks.
• DMDE: A robust data recovery and disk management tool, offering a range of advanced features. It includes a powerful disk editor, a partition manager for quick diagnostics and restoration, and tools for creating disk images and clones. DMDE also features a RAID constructor that supports various RAID configurations, making it particularly useful for complex recovery scenarios involving RAID arrays. It is designed with professionals in mind.
• Recuva: Recuva is a popular, user-friendly data recovery tool specifically designed for Windows. It does not have a version for macOS, but Mac users can consider alternatives like Disk Drill or use Recuva via a Windows virtual machine on their Mac. Recuva excels in simple recovery scenarios but may not perform as well in complex data loss situations.

You may have questions about…

What are the basics I need to know before attempting data recovery?

Before attempting data recovery, check the Trash first for deleted files. If you can’t find them there, stop using the computer or device to prevent overwriting the file system. Avoid creating new files in the same directory, as this can reduce recovery chances. The type of drive (e.g., SSD with encryption) and its condition (e.g., corrupted) can affect recovery success. Ensure you give the recovery software proper permissions for optimal results. While there are several factors to consider, understanding these basics can simplify the process.

Does the free version of data recovery software work?

If you’re still wondering whether free data recovery tools work – just have a look at our number one choice. It’s free software that has a premium (paid) version too, right? This means that there are free versions of data recovery software that can really help with recovery and get the job done.

However, not all free versions are the same. While some companies provide an efficient free version that doesn’t require an upgrade to a paid version – others don’t work this way.

Some tools offer a trial version which is far simpler than a free version and it has fewer features and benefits. The sole purpose of this type of recovery tools is to help showcase some of the features and make the users go premium.

If you are on a budget and are looking for a free version – we highly recommend sticking with a free instead of a trial version.

But if you don’t mind going for a paid version of a software, the trial version could give you a great insight into how the tool works before you make the payment.

So the long story short – yes, a free version is effective and can get the job done, but you have to carefully choose them.

How to improve chances for a successful file recovery?

Since the success of date recovery mostly depends on the condition of the Mac and its disk – it’s important to act quickly after you notice that you’re missing data.

Luckily, recovery tools were able to keep up with the technology and make the recovery process far more efficient.

One of the most important tips is to stop adding and saving more data on your Mac after you notice that you’re missing documents.

Why?

Because this could result in overwriting the previous files (or deleted files) and make the recovery harder.

The second most important tip is to choose the correct type of search. Most recovery tools provide you a choice. You can either choose the place where you’d like to perform the search or a type of file you’re looking for.

The recovery process can be long and slow, but limiting the search will always provide better results.

What should data recovery software come with?

Most data recovery software is very simple to use and they’ll feature an intuitive & simple interface that anyone can follow. This is important because you only want a clean & efficient software that is easy to learn.

However, additional instructions are almost always provided with this type of software so the users are able to get the best successful recovery rate.

Even though we’ve listed many recovery tools that are made to help users deal with the same thing – not all of them work in the same way.

It’s important to find a software that will support type of a file you’re looking to recover. Along with that, you should also think of the devices you’d like the data to be recovered from (if it’s not just your internal storage drive).

Another important thing that should come with a recovery tool is the security. Security features will help you evaluate your disk’s health and ensure that you don’t lose any data in the future due to a mechanical failure.

No one likes waiting for a long time – so being able to scan your hard disk and preview lost files before recovering only the ones you need is very useful.

Lastly, but not least important is the support. If you ever occur any problems during the recovery process, you would want a supportive customer service that will help you resolve any issues.

Not all tools are the same, but these are some of the aspects we considered when we made up our list of the best recovery tools above you can use on a Mac.

What is the best Mac hard drive recovery software?

For what it’s worth, you can use any of these data recovery software tools to get deleted/lost data from your Mac devices. However, depending on how and when you lost the data, you need to choose a more suitable option.

For instance, if you want control over everything, you’d want to go for R-Studio. For most others, Disk Drill and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional are the go-to options. These two apps deliver so much for what they charge.

* This article was originally published in June 2020 by Raymond Pon. The most recent update was in March 2025.

* Readers like you help support TheSweetBits. When you buy something through the links in this article, we may get a small commission at no extra charge to you.