How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on Mac?

Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, it has become very easy to capture and store our precious photos on multiple devices, including Mac. However, sometimes you may encounter a situation when these photos may get deleted from your Mac. Usually, such instances occur due to accidental deletion, formatting, software or hardware-related issues, virus attacks, etc. 

Luckily, there are several Mac photo recovery workarounds as well that you can try to recover lost files on Mac. Here, in this article, we will explore various recovery methods to provide you with how to recover permanently deleted photos on Mac, ensuring your pictures are not lost forever. 

Where do Permanently Deleted Photos go on Mac?

When any photo is permanently deleted on a Mac, they are typically moved to the “Recently Deleted” folder within the Photos app. This folder allows you to recover deleted photos for up to 30 days before they are permanently deleted. If you have enabled the iCloud or iTunes backup option on your Mac before the deletion of photos, you can restore them from respective backups. 

Before you proceed with any method to recover photos on Mac, it is important to find the exact cause of permanent deletion. Some prominent reasons why pictures usually get permanently deleted on your Mac are as follows: 

• Accidental Deletion: You may have accidentally selected and deleted photos while organizing, viewing, or transferring files on your Mac. 
• Emptying Trash: Emptying the Trash without verifying its contents can lead to permanent deletion of all files, including photos, stored in the Trash.
• Software Glitches: Software bugs, glitches, or crashes in photo viewer apps, such as in-built Photos apps or third-party photo editing software, can cause accidental deletion of photos.
• Storage Drive Failure: Hard drive or SSD failures due to physical damage, wear and tear, or manufacturing defects can also cause data loss, including the permanent deletion of pictures.
• Malware or Virus Attacks: Malicious software or viruses attack on your Mac may infect all its files and folders, including photos, and lead to their corruption or permanent data loss.

Quick Methods to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on Mac

In this part of the blog, we will elaborate various methods for photo recovery for Mac that can help you to easily and effectively restore lost photos without much effort. Just go with the step-by-step instructions to recover your lost photos on Mac:

Method 01: Check the Recently Deleted Folder

macOS devices are provided with an in-built Recently Deleted folder which stores all the files that are recently deleted on them. Such deleted files, including your lost photos, are stored in the Recently Deleted folder for some particular days, i.e., 30 days. Before you proceed with any method for photo recovery on Mac, it will be best to check the Recently Deleted Folder in the Apple Photo app or iPhoto. All you have to do is:

• Launch the Photos app on your Mac, then click Recently Deleted from the left navigation pane. 

• Now, locate and select the deleted photos that you need to restore and click the “Recover” button. 

Method 02: Recover Photos on Mac from Trash

Next in the list of Mac photo recovery methods is to recover deleted photos via its Trash Bin. The Trash folder on your Mac also stores your deleted files for 30 days before they get permanently deleted. Follow the below-given steps to recover deleted photos from the Mac Trash Bin:

• Click the Trash Bin icon on your Mac, then locate and select the deleted pictures that you need to restore. 

• Right-click on any selected photo and choose the Put Back option from the menu that appears to save them at their original location. 

Method 03: Recover Deleted Photos Using Time Machine

Time Machine is a built-in backup feature on macOS that you can use to create a backup of your important data and then restore it to a previous state when data loss occurs. If you have enabled the Time Machine backup on your device, here’s how to recover permanently deleted photos on Mac using it: 

• Firstly, connect the external hard drive that contains your Time Machine backups to your Mac.
• Now, click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar or navigate to “System Preferences” > “Time Machine” to launch Time Machine.
• Navigate through the timeline from the right navigation pane and select the latest version of the backup available on your Mac.
• Browse through the folder and select the photos that you need to restore. 
• Click the Restore button to recover the selected photos to the original location on your Mac. 

Method 04: Use Third-Party Photo Recovery Software

If you fail to recover deleted photos using the above-mentioned Mac photo recovery methods, you can try using a professional photo recovery software. Among several such recovery tools, we recommend using the Stellar Photo Recovery software, which is an all-in-one tool for easy and quick recovery of deleted photos. You can use this software to recover pictures deleted due to any reason, such as accidental deletion, storage formatting, virus attacks, and many more. 

The Stellar Photo Recovery software allows you to restore not only deleted photos but also your lost video and audio files. The software is compatible with both Windows and Mac devices and supports the recovery of lost multimedia files from internal and external hard drives, SD cards, SSDs, USB drives, and many other storage devices. 

Here’s how to recover permanently deleted photos on Mac using the Stellar Photo Recovery software:

Step 1: Install and launch the Stellar Photo Recovery software on your Mac. From the Select Location to Scan window, choose the storage location where your deleted photo was earlier stored and click Scan. 

Step 2: After completion of the scanning process, preview the recoverable photos and choose the photos you need to recover. 

Step 3: Now, click the Recover button to save them at the desired location. 

Tips to Prevent Future Photo Loss on Mac

After successfully recovering your deleted photos, it’s important to take preventive measures to avoid future photo loss from your Mac:

• Backup your Data Regularly: Turn ON Time Machine or other cloud storage services like iCloud/iTunes to regularly back up your photos and data.
• Avoid Emptying Trash: Before emptying the Trash folder on your Mac, carefully check all its content to prevent accidental deletion of important files.
• Organize Photos: Organize your photos into albums or folders and label them appropriately to easily locate and manage your photo library.
• Use Reliable Software: Use reputable antivirus and Mac photo recovery software to protect your Mac from malware and data loss scenarios.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned Mac photo recovery methods will definitely help you learn how to recover deleted photos on Mac. Start by checking the Mac Recently Deleted or Trash folder, then check the previously created Time Machine or iCloud/iTunes backup for easy and quick recovery.

If you don’t have a backup, then you can try using a third-party Mac photo recovery software, such as Stellar Photo Recovery to retrieve your deleted photos. Additionally, implementing preventive measures like regular backups, using reliable software, etc. can help you avoid future photo loss and keep your precious memories safe and secure.