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Stellar Data Recovery: Recover Deleted Files from External Drive on macOS Big Sur

Have you accidentally deleted files from an external drive on your macOS Big Sur? Read this post to recover deleted files from an external hard drive, solid-state drive, thumb drive, or memory card.

Remember: Stop using the drive immediately after data loss to avoid overwriting.

Follow these techniques below for free file recovery on Mac.

1. Put Back Your Deleted Files from Trash

As you know, Trash (also called Bin) is the place where all your deleted files are saved temporarily. So, if you have deleted your files from an external drive, keep the drive connected to your Mac and open Trash. Now look for the deleted files inside the Trash folder. You can take the help of the search box and filters to locate your files. Once the deleted files are found, select them, secondary-click, and choose Put Back. The files will immediately restore to the original location inside the external drive. Navigate the external drive to find your deleted files.

If you’ve emptied your Trash folder when the external drive is still connected, the deleted files are lost permanently. To salvage permanently deleted files, proceed with the next troubleshooting method.

Restore Deleted Files from the Backup of Your External Drive

Backing up your Macintosh HD using Time Machine is quite common and crucial to safeguard against imminent data loss disaster from your Mac. Similarly, if you’ve archived the files from an external drive on yet another external storage drive, you may find the backup there.

When you have a backup of your external drive, you can recover your deleted files from the backup medium. Connect the backup drive, search for the deleted files, copy, and paste them to the external drive in the required folder.

But if you have not taken the backup of your external drive, you might end up losing your data permanently. Only the next troubleshooting method can save you from such an inevitable data loss disaster.

2. Recover Deleted Files from External Drive Using a Free Mac File Recovery Tool

When none of the above troubleshooting methods, you can opt for free Mac file recovery software to recover deleted files from an external drive on macOS Big Sur. The steps to recover files using the software are presented next:

  1. Download and install the Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac on your iMac, Mac mini, or MacBook.

  1. Watch the video below to learn how to use the free file recovery software and recover your lost data on macOS Big Sur or earlier.

NOTE: Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac allows you to scan the external drive, preview your deleted files, and save up to 1 GB of files for free. To save more files, you need to upgrade the software to the Professional or Premium edition. Also, these tools have a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, don’t hesitate to upgrade.

Conclusion

Now you know how to recover deleted files from an external drive on macOS Big Sur. The best way to recover deleted files from an external drive is to look for them in Trash. If the files are not found in Trash, see if you have the external drive’s backup. In the absence of backup, try Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac to recover crucial files on your macOS Big Sur or earlier Mac versions.

If you have any questions, please ask below!