How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Software [macOS Ventura]

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Jaden· Answered on Jun 03, 2026

Using a Terminal is a great option if you want to recover deleted data on a Mac without using any software. However, take notice that on a Mac, the Terminal command can only restore deleted files from the Trash. You can get assistance from a Mac file recovery application if the Trash becomes empty.

Follow these procedures to recover deleted data on a Mac using Terminal:

Step 1. Double-click "Terminal" in "Finder" - "Applications" - "Utilities."

Step 2. On your Mac, type the command "cd.Trash" and press the "Return" key.

Step 3. Keep typing "ls -al /.Trash" till the end. You can use this command to see what's in your trash folder.

Step 4. Type "mv filename../" and press the "Return" key. (For this command line to function, the filename must be the whole file name.)

Step 5. To close the Terminal window, type "Quit" in the box provided.

Your home directory folder contains the files that Terminal has restored. Then you can check the products by navigating there.

Apple's Mac backup option is the Time Machine application. Even after emptying the Trash, if you have Time Machine backup enabled, you can restore deleted data on a Mac from a recent backup. If there has never been a backup made, this method is ineffective. The only thing you can do to rescue your data is to resort to free recovery software for assistance if you need to recover permanently deleted files without a backup.

You may recover deleted files from Mac computers, hard disks, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, digital cameras, and other devices with the free, excellent, and practical EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. It supports the FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file systems found on USB flash devices and external hard drives linked to Macs, as well as internal APFS/HFS+/HFS X drives.

The completely free version is limited to a maximum of 2GB free data recovery. This software has been designed for Mac data recovery and it comes with a wide range of highlights that make it the perfect choice for this mission.