Complete Tutorial to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

Updated by Lisa Ou / March 05, 2026 05:30

Nowadays, more and more people prefer to save important documents and files to external hard drives. Thus, your Mac will not slow down because of too many stored files.

Moreover, it is a good way to make a backup and bring the external hard drive everywhere.

Different from Mac computers, there is no such a visible Trash folder that keeps all deleted files. When you face annoying Mac external hard drive data loss issues, you need to recover data from external hard drive on Mac with data recovery software. This is the most reliable and time-saving solution to get your deleted or lost files back.

Guide List

• Part 1. Access Trash to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac
• Part 2. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac with FoneLab Data Retriever
• Part 3. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac Using Time Machine
• Part 4. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac via Disk Utility First Aid
• Part 5. Comparison of How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac
• Part 6. FAQs about How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

Part 1. Access Hidden Trash to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

Commonly, you can try to restore your deleted files from recycle bin or trash on computer. Similarly, you can go to Trash on Mac through pressing Command + Shift + . (period) and try to find your deleted files from external hard drive. If you did, right-click the item and choose Put Back button.

Part 2. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac with FoneLab Data Retriever

FoneLab Data Retriever supports most popular brands of external hard drives, including Seagate, Western Digital, LaCie, Samsung, Maxtor, etc. You can recover almost all file types and formats from your deleted, formatted or corrupted external hard drive.

The Mac external hard drive recovery software offers free scan and preview features. Thus, you can check if you can recover data from external hard drive on Mac or not before activating the full version.  The whole interface is clean and intuitive. Even beginners can perform external hard drive data recovery in a short time.  

1. Main Features of the Best External Hard Drive Recovery Software for Mac

1. Recover photos, videos, audios, documents, emails and other deleted or lost files from external hard drive on Mac safely.
2. Wide support of recoverable external hard drives in different brands.
3. Scan for the currently existing and deleted data from external hard drive on Mac quickly.
4. Preview file before restoring Mac from external hard drive.
5. Work with Mac 10.7 and above (macOS Mojave included).

FoneLab Data Retriever

FoneLab Data Retriever - recover the lost/deleted data from computer, hard drive, flash drive, memory card, digital camera and more.

• Recover photos, videos, documents and more data with ease.
• Preview data before recovery.

Free Download Free Download Learn more

2. How to Recover Deleted Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

Step 1Free download, install and run Mac external hard drive software. Connect your external hard drive to Mac. Make sure your connected drive has been detected. To start with, you need to click Start under Mac Data Recovery to enter into Mac recovery mode.

Step 2Choose which file type you want to recover. Then select your connected external hard drive under Removable Drives. As a result, the external hard drive data recovery for Mac software will scan the selected disk volume only.

Step 3Click Scan to start the default Quick Scan mode. If you want to start an all-around scan, you can pause the scanning mode and click Deep Scan instead. The program will show more possible files with a little long time.

Step 4Open one folder in the left pane. You can preview and check the file. In addition, you can search for deleted or lost data with Search engine or Filter feature on the top. After selecting the files, click Recover to recover data from external hard drive on Mac.

3. Small Tips for External Hard Drive Data Recovery on Mac

1. To avoid data overwritten, you had better save the recovered external hard drive files to Mac instead of the same drive.
2. Not all files are supported to preview. You may need to complete external hard drive recovery on Mac to get more details.
3. There is no 100% guarantee that you can recover files from Mac external hard drive in all scenarios. The Mac external hard drive failure recovery can be caused by many factors.

The free external hard drive data recovery for Mac software is the same as the full version. You do not need to pay until you make the final decision to recover data from external hard drive on Mac. There is nothing to lose to try FoneLab Data Retriever free version.

By the way, you can use this program to find hidden or disappeared files quickly too.

After recovering deleted files, you can repair external hard drive on Mac with Disk Utility or Time Machine for free. There is no need to worry about further data loss damages.

Part 3. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac Using Time Machine

If you have backup data on a Mac using a drive, you can now connect the backup drive, open the folder, and find your lost files. Here we will show you how to do it.

Open the window that contained the lost files before. If they are lost from your desktop, you won't need to open any folder. Then search for Time Machine on your Mac and open it. Use arrows next to Finder to access your backups. Finally, choose the items you want to click the Restore button to get them back.

Part 4. Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac via Disk Utility First Aid

Disk Utility First Aid is a built-in tool to scan and repair file system errors, directory structure corruption, and permission issues on internal and external drives. With it, you can also restore your deleted files from an external hard drive on a Mac.

Detailed steps will be displayed in this part.

Connect your external drive to the Mac and open Disk Utility app. Click View > Show All Devices on the top-left corner. Select your drive and choose First Aid > Run. Then Repeat the process for each container and main device level until Disk Utility says the disk is OK or repaired. You can find what you want in Finder now.

Part 5. Comparison of How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

Part 6. FAQs about How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive on Mac

How to Use External Hard Drive on Mac?

It seems to be a worthless question. For Windows users, you can plug an external hard drive to the computer and save files directly. However, if you are using an Apple Mac computer, you need to format the new hard drive before using.

Otherwise, Mac can read data from the external drive only.

Be aware that the stored files will be erased after formatting to the Mac compatible file system. If you do not make a backup in advance, you need to restore hard drive on Mac.

Well, this section will show you detailed steps to format an external hard drive for Mac.

Step 1Plug the external hard drive into Mac USB port. Check if the Thunderbolt icon appears on desktop.

Step 2Open Disk Utility. Choose your connected external hard drive in the left pane.

Step 3Navigate to the Erase section. Choose ExFAT or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format list. (You can use the external hard drive in ExFAT format on Windows, Mac and Linux without formatting any more. As for Mac OS Extended (Journaled), it is the best format for external hard drive on Mac.)

Step 4Click Erase to erase all data and format the drive on Mac. Later, you can double-click on the external drive to save new files.

If you still have any problems with recovering data from external hard drive, you can feel free to contact us.

FoneLab Data Retriever

FoneLab Data Retriever - recover the lost/deleted data from computer, hard drive, flash drive, memory card, digital camera and more.

• Recover photos, videos, documents and more data with ease.
• Preview data before recovery.

Free Download Free Download Learn more