Restoring Deleted Files on macOS After Emptying Trash in 2024

Introduction

Deleted a file on your Mac and emptied the trash, thinking it was gone forever? Don’t panic, there are still ways to try and recover deleted files in macOS even after emptying the trash. In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through various methods and software to restore deleted files on macOS after emptying the trash in 2024.

Why Files Can Be Recovered After Emptying Trash

When you delete a file on macOS, it isn’t immediately erased from your hard drive. Instead, the space it occupies is simply marked as available to be overwritten by new data. The original file remains intact until that space is reused.

So if you haven’t added a significant amount of new data to your hard drive, deleted files can often still be recovered even after emptying the trash.

The key is to act quickly before the deleted data gets overwritten.

Restoring from Time Machine Backup

One of the easiest ways to recover deleted files is restoring them from a Time Machine backup. Time Machine is the built-in backup utility in macOS that can continuously backup your Mac.

Here’s how to restore deleted files using Time Machine:

1. Open the Time Machine app on your Mac
2. Enter Time Machine by clicking “Enter Time Machine”
3. Go back to the time before the file was deleted
4. Search for and select the file(s) you want to restore
5. Click the Restore button

The file(s) will be restored to their original location. This is by far the simplest and most effective method of recovering deleted files, provided you have a Time Machine backup from before the file was deleted.

Using Mac Data Recovery Software

If you don’t have a Time Machine backup, third-party Mac data recovery software is another option to retrieve deleted files. These tools scan your hard drive and rebuild deleted data so it can be recovered.

Some popular Mac data recovery apps include:

• Stellar Data Recovery – Recovers deleted files even after emptying trash.

• EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard – Features deep scan to find deleted files on Mac.

• Disk Drill – Has free data recovery up to 500MB.

To recover deleted files using data recovery software:

1. Download and install the software on your Mac
2. Select the drive to scan for deleted files
3. Preview found files and select those to recover
4. Specify a location to save the recovered files

The scans can take some time. Advanced data recovery software often recovers lost data successfully if your trash was emptied recently.

Restoring from Mac Trash History in Terminal

There’s one last place macOS stores deleted files even after emptying the trash – in hidden trash history. You can restore from this trash history using Terminal commands.

Here are the steps:

1. Launch the Terminal app on your Mac
2. Type sudo tmutil listTransactions / and note the ID of the delete transaction
3. Type sudo tmutil restoreTransaction ID / using the delete transaction ID
4. Files will be restored to a Recovered Files folder on your desktop

This method can restore files if the trash was emptied fairly recently, as the trash history doesn’t persist forever.

When Is Deleted Data Unrecoverable?

While the methods above often work, at some point, recovering deleted files becomes impossible:

• If the deleted file’s disk space was overwritten by new data
• If macOS has purged the file metadata from trash history

So it’s crucial to act swiftly in order to restore deleted data after emptying the trash on your Mac.

Tips to Avoid Needing File Recovery

Here are some tips to avoid needing to restore deleted files in the future:

• Enable Time Machine backups – This provides versioned backups to easily restore files.

• Make regular backups – Back up important files to an external drive.

• Install a trash history utility – This extends the trash history beyond what macOS saves.

• Don’t empty the trash right away – Wait a few days in case you need to restore something.

Conclusion

While emptying the trash may seem permanent, there are ways to recover deleted files on macOS even after emptying the trash. Time Machine and data recovery software offer the best options. Just act quickly before the deleted data is overwritten. Following some preventative measures can also reduce the need for recovering deleted files.