TYRSofts Data Recovery for Mac User Guide

TYRSofts Data Recovery for Mac recovers deleted, formatted or lost files from your Mac, MacBook, iMac, external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards and other storage devices running macOS.

Download and install TYRSofts Data Recovery on your Mac, then work through the two sections below. First grant the app Full Disk Access, and then run a scan and recover your files.

Before You Start: Grant Full Disk Access on macOS

macOS protects your disks behind a privacy setting called Full Disk Access. Without it, TYRSofts Data Recovery is not allowed to see the drives on your Mac or read the data on them, and the scan will come back empty. You only need to do this once.

Step 1: When TYRSofts Data Recovery starts, it shows a Full Disk Access notice explaining the privacy restriction. Click "Open Settings" to jump straight to the right pane in System Settings.

TYRSofts Data Recovery for Mac showing the Full Disk Access notice

Step 2: In System Settings, open Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Find "TYRSofts Data Recovery" in the list and switch it on. If it is not listed, click the + button and add it from your Applications folder.

Enable Full Disk Access for TYRSofts Data Recovery in macOS System Settings

Step 3: macOS asks for your administrator password to confirm the change. Enter it and click "Modify Settings".

Enter your Mac administrator password and click Modify Settings

Step 4: The permission only takes effect for a freshly started process. Click "Quit & Reopen" so the app restarts with Full Disk Access, then start your scan.

Click Quit and Reopen so the app restarts with Full Disk Access

How to Recover Lost Files on Mac

Step 1: Launch TYRSofts Data Recovery and click "Recover Lost Data". Every mounted disk, partition and external storage device is listed with its capacity and file system. Select the volume you lost your files from, then click "Scan".

Select the disk or partition to scan in TYRSofts Data Recovery for Mac

Step 2: The scan starts straight away. Recoverable files are grouped by type — Photos, Music, Video, Office, Archive and more — and appear in the list as they are found, so you can preview results while the scan is still running.

Scanning a Mac disk with recoverable files grouped by type

Step 3: Once the scan is complete, preview the recoverable files before you commit to anything — click a JPG, PNG or other photo to see it full size. Tick the files you want to get back, then check the total size of your selection.

Preview and tick the files you want to recover on Mac

Step 4: Click "Recover" and choose a destination folder. When the process reaches 100% you can open the folder and check your recovered files.

Recovery finished and files saved to the destination folder

Tips to Improve Your Recovery Results

Stop using the drive as soon as you notice data is missing — every new file written to it can overwrite the data you are trying to recover. Never save recovered files back to the same drive you are recovering from. If the volume is encrypted with FileVault or APFS, unlock it first so the app can read it.