How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Time Machine Using PhotoRec

Accidentally deleting an important file on a Mac can be stressful, especially when no Time Machine backup is available. You may have emptied the Trash, formatted an external drive, or removed files from a memory card without realizing they were still needed.

Fortunately, deleted files are not always lost immediately. PhotoRec, a free and open-source recovery utility, may be able to locate and restore data that macOS can no longer display normally.

This guide explains the recovery options you should try first and how to use PhotoRec safely on a Mac.

Stop Using the Storage Device Immediately

When macOS deletes a file, the data may remain on the storage device temporarily. The operating system marks its space as available, allowing new information to overwrite it later.

Every action you perform after deletion could reduce the possibility of recovery. Downloading software, installing applications, copying files, or browsing the internet may write new information to the drive.

If the deleted files were stored on an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or memory card, disconnect that device immediately. If they were on your Mac’s internal drive, limit your computer use until you decide how to proceed.

Never install recovery software on the same drive from which you want to recover data. You should also save recovered files to a different storage device.

Check the Trash First

Before using recovery software, open the Trash from the Dock and search for your missing file.

If you find it:

1. Right-click the file.
2. Select Put Back.
3. The file will return to its original folder.

You can also drag the file from the Trash to another folder.

If you recently deleted the file and have not performed many other actions, pressing Command + Z in Finder may undo the deletion.

Check iCloud Drive

Files stored in iCloud Drive may remain recoverable even when they are no longer available in the Mac’s Trash.

Sign in to iCloud.com and open iCloud Drive > Recently Deleted. Select the files you want and click Recover.

Apple normally allows files deleted from iCloud Drive and supported apps to be restored for up to 30 days, unless they have already been permanently removed. Apple’s iCloud recovery guide provides the official instructions.

If you deleted pictures or videos from the Photos app, check the Recently Deleted album. Photos usually keeps these items for 30 days before removing them permanently.

What Is PhotoRec?

PhotoRec is an open-source file-recovery program developed by CGSecurity. It comes with TestDisk, another recovery utility mainly designed to repair partition and disk-structure problems.

Instead of relying entirely on the file system’s directory records, PhotoRec searches storage space for recognizable file signatures. This process is known as file carving.

That approach can help PhotoRec recover data from:

• Accidentally deleted files
• Formatted memory cards
• Damaged partitions
• Corrupted file systems
• USB flash drives
• External hard drives
• Camera storage cards

PhotoRec recognizes more than 300 file families covering over 480 file extensions, according to its official documentation. These include photos, videos, archives, documents, and numerous specialist formats.

Important PhotoRec Limitations

PhotoRec is powerful, but it is not as user-friendly as many commercial Mac recovery applications.

Its main limitations include:

• It uses a text-based interface on macOS.
• Recovered files may not retain their original names.
• The original folder structure is usually not restored.
• It can recover many unrelated files during a complete scan.
• Success is not guaranteed, particularly after the deleted data has been overwritten.
• Recovery from modern internal Mac SSDs can be difficult because of encryption, security controls, and SSD space-management features such as TRIM.

PhotoRec is often most practical for external hard drives, USB devices, and memory cards. It may still be worth trying in other situations, but users should maintain realistic expectations.

What You Need Before Starting

Prepare the following items:

• The Mac or storage device containing the deleted files
• A separate external drive for recovered data
• Enough free space to hold the recovered files
• Administrator access to the Mac
• PhotoRec/TestDisk from the official CGSecurity website

Do not use the source drive as the recovery destination. Writing recovered data back to that drive could overwrite additional deleted files.

How to Install PhotoRec on a Mac

You can download TestDisk and PhotoRec directly from the official CGSecurity download page.

Download the macOS package and extract the archive. PhotoRec is portable, so it does not require a traditional installer.

Users who already have Homebrew can install the package through Terminal:

brew install testdisk

After installation, PhotoRec can normally be launched with:

sudo photorec

Enter your Mac administrator password when requested. Terminal will not display characters while you type the password, which is normal.

Give Terminal Full Disk Access

macOS may prevent PhotoRec from seeing some storage devices until Terminal has the necessary permission.

To provide access:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Select Privacy & Security.
3. Open Full Disk Access.
4. Enable access for Terminal.
5. Close and reopen Terminal.
6. Launch PhotoRec again.

Only grant this permission to applications you trust. You can disable Terminal’s Full Disk Access after completing the recovery.

How to Recover Deleted Files with PhotoRec

PhotoRec is controlled with the arrow keys and Enter key.

1. Select the Source Disk

After starting PhotoRec, it displays the available storage devices.

Select the disk that originally contained the deleted files. Check the capacity carefully so you do not scan the wrong device.

On macOS, PhotoRec may display devices using names such as:

/dev/disk2
/dev/rdisk2

The official documentation recommends using the raw /dev/rdisk* device when available because it may provide faster data transfer.

2. Select the Relevant Partition

Choose the partition that contained your files and select Search.

If the partition is missing or the entire disk was reformatted, you may need to scan the whole device.

3. Choose the File Types

Open File Opt if you only need particular types of data.

For example, you can limit the scan to:

• JPEG and PNG images
• MP4 and MOV videos
• PDF documents
• Microsoft Office documents
• ZIP archives

Reducing the selection may make the recovered results easier to organize. However, the developers warn that disabling too many formats can occasionally produce oversized or incorrectly identified files.

4. Select the File-System Category

PhotoRec asks which file-system family is being scanned.

For most Mac, Windows, camera, and removable-storage formats, select Other. The alternative option is intended for Linux ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems.

5. Choose the Area to Scan

Depending on the file system, PhotoRec may offer a choice between scanning free space and scanning the entire partition.

A whole-partition scan is useful when:

• The drive has been reformatted
• The file system is corrupted
• A partition has been damaged
• A normal deleted-file scan produces poor results

Scanning the entire partition generally takes longer and may recover many existing files alongside deleted ones.

6. Choose a Different Destination

Select a folder on another external drive as the recovery destination.

External volumes on macOS are usually located under:

/Volumes

Do not select the disk being scanned. Saving files to the source could permanently overwrite data that PhotoRec has not reached yet.

7. Start the Recovery

Once the destination is confirmed, PhotoRec begins scanning and displays the number of files recovered.

Recovered items are stored in folders with names such as:

recup_dir.1
recup_dir.2
recup_dir.3

You can inspect completed recovery folders while the scan is still running.

How to Organize Recovered Files

Because PhotoRec may not restore original filenames or directories, organizing the results can require some patience.

Begin by sorting files according to:

• File extension
• File size
• Creation or modification date
• Image dimensions
• Embedded document titles
• Photo metadata

Use Finder’s Gallery view to review recovered photographs quickly. For documents, searching by extension—such as .pdf, .docx, or .xlsx—can make it easier to locate useful files.

Some recovered files may be incomplete or corrupted. This usually means part of their original data was overwritten or fragmented before recovery.

When PhotoRec May Not Work

Recovery may be unsuccessful when:

• New data has overwritten the deleted information.
• The drive has been securely erased.
• The storage device is physically damaged.
• SSD cleanup processes have removed the unused data blocks.
• Encryption prevents access to the underlying information.
• The file was stored only in the cloud and permanently deleted there.

If the information is extremely valuable, stop using the device and contact a professional data-recovery laboratory. Repeated attempts on a failing physical drive can make its condition worse.

Final Thoughts

Losing a file without a Time Machine backup does not always mean it is gone forever. Start with the simple options: check the Trash, use Finder’s Undo command, and examine iCloud’s Recently Deleted section.

If those methods fail, PhotoRec provides a genuinely free and open-source recovery option. Its interface is less polished than commercial software, and it may not preserve filenames or folder structures, but it can recover many types of files without imposing a paid recovery limit.

The most important rule is to act quickly and avoid writing new information to the affected storage device. The sooner recovery begins, the better the possibility that the deleted data is still available.