SD Card Recovery for Mac Download SD Card Recovery for Mac. File size: 11.8 MB Mac OS X 10.6 or Later; Compatible with macOS 11.0.1 Big Sur. Note: When the scan is finished, Your files will automatically be saved in the destination folder. The trial version allows you to preview the recovered files but it limits you to open and save recovered files. 5 SD Card Recovery Software for Mac Cisdem Data Recovery. Cisdem Data Recovery is one of the top best SD card recovery software for Mac that will help you to recover deleted, lost, formatted or inaccessible files from your memory card including SD, XD, CF, MMC, SDHC, SDXD, micro SD, mini SD, and memory stick.
Once your SD card in your camera or microSD card in phone encounters some problems, e.g. you deleted some photos from the SD card inadvertently, or the card was formatted without intention, also memory card may get corrupted/damaged/error sometimes for unknown reasons. You must be very anxious to find a way to recover the valuable photos and videos from the SD card. Do not panic, easy-to-use software tools are available to recover the SD card.
There are several SD card data recovery software in the market, but most of them run on PC platform only (Microsoft Windows). If you have an Apple Mac computer (MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro), you will need to find a software works with macOS to perform the SD card recovery. CardRescue is one of the top SD card recovery software especially designed and optimized for Mac computer. It can be used to recover lost photos from SD card, SDHC/SDXC card, CF card, and microSD Card. Almost all SD card brands are supported including SanDisk, Kingston, Samsung, Lexar, PNY, and Transcend.
CardRescue software can be downloaded from
You may simple download and open the cardrescue-setup.dmg from CardRescue official website, then drag the CardRescue icon to the Mac Applications folder to complete the installation. The download and installation take only less than 1 minute.
After that, you may run CardRescue program from the Applications folder in Finder. On startup of CardRescue, you will need to enter an Administrator username/password to allow it to access the removable device (the memory card). Before the data recovery scanning starts, take the SD card out of your device (camera or phone), then insert it to your mac computer if it features an SD card slot which is usually at the side of the MacBook computer, or front panel of iMac. Otherwise, a USB to SD Card Reader is required to connect the card to your computer. The card slot or card reader lets your Mac read and write data to SD media. When you insert the card, make sure that the metal contacts face down and point toward the computer. Do not force card into the SD card slot, as this might cause damage.
On step 1 of CardRescue, simply select your memory card drive and choose the file types that you need to recover (e.g. JPG, TIF for photos, MOV, MP4 for videos). It also supports most raw image format files used by DSLR cameras like NEF for Nikon, CR2 for Canon. After that, you may click Next and the disk scan on the SD card will begin. Depends on your card capacity and card/card reader reading speed, the full scan takes from a few minutes to 1 hour. Please make sure your hard drive has enough free disk space to hold the recovered pictures and videos.
After the scans complete (if you have no patience waiting for it to end, you may click the Stop button anytime to cancel the scan and recover the found pictures only), CardRescue will list all the found pictures for preview. You may select the ones you need to save, or simply save them all. The recovered files will be saved to a folder on your hard drive. After the recover completes, you may open the folder in Finder to view them. CardRescue does not modify or write any data on the card to avoid further damage.
To get a better success rate, it is highly suggested not to write any data to the SD card before you recover them, e.g. stop taking new pictures and videos on the card, if you have to take more pictures on an event, try to use a different memory card. It is a smart choice to take the SD card out of the camera immediately after you realize that you deleted/formatted the card mistakenly. On the other hand, if you have already taken some new pictures before the recovery, you still have a chance to rescue files that have not been overwritten.
If you lost some pictures from your Android smartphone, and they were stored in the microSD card, you can also use the above method to recover them. But if they were stored in the internal storage of the phone, that is not applicable.
This article covers the top five completely free data recovery software for Mac, which varies in features, functions, and performance. However, they all have one thing in common: they are free.
Compare the five tools carefully, and select the one that fits your needs best.
- 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
- 2. Disk Drill
- 3. PhotoRec
- 4. TestDisk
- 5. Exif Untrasher
- 3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery
Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac
When you get data loss on your Mac due to accidental deletion, partition/hard drive formatting, system crash, macOS upgrade, file system or hard drive corruption, stay calm and pick up one of the recommended data recovery software below for help.
1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is one of the free top and handy Mac data recovery software that enables you to recover data from the emptied trash bin, Mac notebooks, desktops, hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, digital cameras, etc. It works on internal APFS/HFS+/HFS X drives, and FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file systems used in USB flash drives and external hard drives connected to Mac.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. All-in-one data recovery software
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is fully compatible with the latest macOS 11.0 (Big Sur), 10.15(Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave) and all the former versions. It enables all Mac users to perform a full recovery of lost valuable data in only 3 steps: Scan > Preview > Recover.
# 2. HFS+ Fusion Drive Recovery
The latest update of EaseUS Mac data recovery software has improved its support of Fusion Drive, which makes it work even better in retrieving files from Mac computers that are installed on fusion drives.
# 3. Encrypted Drive Recovery
Another great update in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is that it supports encrypted drive recovery by offering guidance to assist Mac users in decrypting and unlocking their drives with password.
# 4. Data Protection
Once the data protection feature is enabled, it will automatically back up the deleted files to a safe location. If you unexpectedly delete files and want to recover later, you can quickly restore the lost files from the created backup.
Pros:
- Support to restore 200+ file types on Mac, including recovering lost Word/Excel/PPT documents, photos, videos, music files, emails, archived files, and more.
- Quick Scan + Deep Scan technology greatly enhances recovery probability.
- Real-time Preview allows you to preview found files while scanning and before proceeding with data recovery.
- No quality-loss recovery brings your lost photos, videos perfectly back in its best performance.
Cons:
- The completely free version is limited to a maximum of 2GB data recovery. (The outstanding Windows data recovery free version also provides 2GB free file recovery.)
2. Disk Drill
Disk Drill is a popular Mac data recovery application developed to recover lost partitions or files from Mac internal and external hard drives. Also, the Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery options in the free trial version support to monitor the file deletion activity and retain metadata so as to quickly undelete files.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Undelete Protected Data (Not Available in Free Version)
Being similar to the Data Protection feature in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, Disk Drill also contains an undelete protected data feature that requires Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery features to be enabled in advance.
With these two features enabled, Mac users could quickly undelete files from a Trash Bin reference or shadow copy of each file to a user-specified folder.
# 2. Allocate Existing Files
When Finder fails to read data, Disk Utility reports the drive as unformatted, Disk Drill can scan the partition and retrieve data from Mac.
Pros:
- Compatible with all the Mac OS X and macOS systems.
- Recover 200+ file types.
- It is packed with free and useful disk tools for all users.
- An intuitive user interface to recover lost files effortlessly.
Cons:
- The free version only allows a preview of data recovery.
- Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery are not available in the free version.
3. PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a free, open-source program that works very well in data recovery on older operating systems like OS X, Linux, Free BSD, Net BSD, Open BSD, and Windows.
It allows users to restore most common files, like photos, audios, documents, ZIP archives, and others from internal or external devices, such as digital cameras, memory cards, USB flash drives and partitions/hard disks.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Advanced File Carving
PhotoRec first searches for the data block or cluster size. The program will quickly load value from superblock like ext2/ext3/ext4 or volume boot record like FAT/NTFS if the file system is not corrupted. When the file system corrupted, PhotoRec will check the device at a sector level, using the first 10 found files to calculate the block or cluster size so as to locate and find more lost files.
# 2. Block or Cluster Level Recovery
This program will read the Mac device block by block, cluster by cluster, checking against different file signatures so as to recuperate available files.
Pros:
- Support data recovery cross-platforms, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
- 100% open-source program, not only the software but also the source code.
- Nice tool to recover personal files.
Cons:
- Not very user-friendly for ordinary computer users.
- Technical skills required. It uses command lines to operate.
4. TestDisk
TestDisk, like PhotoRec, it's also an open-source, freeware product that allows for multiple file types recovery.
It mainly focuses on partition recovery. It enables users to find deleted or lost partitions by fixing the partition tables due to software crash, virus attack, mistaken formatting, etc.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Partition Recovery
When a partition lost or disappeared on Mac due to corrupted partition tables, Mac users can apply TestDisk to rebuild and repair the corrupted partition table.
# 2. Rebuild Boot Sectors
When the Mac bootable drive fails to boot, it corrects problems in bootable drives that are failing to boot.
Pros:
- Completely free and open.
- Runs on several operating systems, including macOS and Mac OS X versions.
- Recover lost partitions and rebuild the partition table.
Cons:
- Use the command line to make data recovery.
- Not user-friendly for regular computer users.
5. Exif Untrasher
Exif Untrasher is another completely free Mac data recovery tool that mainly restores deleted or JPEG files from digital cameras, external drive, USB stick, SD card, etc. You can easily download and install this software on your Mac running Mac OS X 10.10 and all the later versions.
Highlighted Features:
# 1. Highly Efficient in JEPG Recovery
Exif Untrasher is a tool that mainly designed to locate photos in JEPG formats on any kind of storage device like SD card, CF card, memory stick or Mac hard disk.
External storage device needs to be mounted as a volume on Mac for the utility to access and attempt a restore.
Pros:
- Simple and quick to recover lost images from the memory card.
- Free with no quantity limits.
- It is updated by the developer regularly.
Cons:
- It only works for JEGP file recovery. It doesn't support extra file formats.
3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery
To help more Mac users to bring their lost files are soon as possible, we are here to show you a 3-step tutorial of free Mac data recovery. If you are eager to bring your lost files back on Mac or external storage devices, apply the brief and innovative EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help.
Remember to connect your USB, SD card, or external hard drive to Mac computer if your lost data were saved on it.
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover' button to have them back.
Conclusion
On this page, you are presented with the top 5 completely free Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher. When you are facing unexpected data loss on Mac, the programs demonstrated above can help you recover lost files effectively.
What's more, if your lost data is less than 2GB, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is highly recommended as it provides the most user-friendly interface and most powerful data recovery function.
If you simply want to restore JEGP images, Exif Untrasher is worth to try.
People Also Ask
Some Mac users may still have doubts about Mac file recovery. Here we have collected the top frequently asked 4 questions and left brief answers below. Check out and find your own answers here.
1. Is Mac data recovery free?
It depends. If you lost deleted files to Trash, you can restore them from the Trash for free.
When you lost files on a local Mac hard drive or an external storage device, if you apply free Mac data recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help, it's free.
If you take your computer to a local data recovery center, it will charge you a big bunch of money.
2. What is the best free data recovery software?
- For Windows users, you may refer to Top 10 Free SD Card Data Recovery Software.
The Recommended software also works perfectly in Windows OS for data recovery and you can find out the most suitable for you to apply and restore lost files with ease.
- For Mac users, as we recommended on this page, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher are all good to help.
3. Is there any free data recovery software?
Sure! Many data recovery software producers all have released their free data recovery software. Here we have collected some of them for you to pick up and apply to guard your own data.
10 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Windows Users:
- 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free
- 2). Recuva
- 3). Stellar Data Recovery
- 4). Disk Drill
- 5). R-Studio
- 6). Acronis Revive
- 7). Remo Recover
- 8). Recover My Files
- 9). Puran Data Recovery
- 10). TestDisk
5 Top Free Data Recovery Software for Mac Users: (We have uncovered on this page)
- 1). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free
- 2). Disk Drill
- 3). PhotoRec
- 4). TestDisk
- 5). Exif Untrasher
4. How can I recover deleted files without software Mac free?
There are two ways for you to recover deleted files on Mac for free without using data recovery software.
- One way is to undelete files from your Mac Trash bin.
When you mistakenly deleted files on Mac computer to the trash, and you didn't empty the trash, you can undelete them from your Trash for free.
Recover Sd Card Free Mac Os
- The other way that you can try is to recover deleted files from your Mac Time Machine backup.
Recover Sd Card Free Mac Drive
If you have the habit of backing up files on Mac computer using the Time Machine, congratulations. When you delete some of them, luckily, you can bring them back immediately from your Time Machine backup. You can follow to Recover Files from Time Machine Backup for a detailed guide.