Can you recover deleted files from SD card on Mac for free?

Memory Cards SD | microSD | CFast | CFexpress | CompactFlash
1

Ugh, I feel so dumb. I accidentally deleted some really important files from my SD card without making a backup. They are from my trip to Morocco and mean a lot to me.

Most recovery programs I found cost 60 dollars or more, which feels way too much. So, how to recover deleted files on Mac for free? I read that some SanDisk cards come with a free RescuePRO trial license, but I did not find anything like that with mine.

2

@Jameshere

Have you checked our knowledge base articles?
( Get Support for Your SSDs and Flash Products | Sandisk )

Try this one.

Have you opened a Support Case?
If not, contact SanDisk Technical Support for assistance.
( Contact Support | Sandisk )

3

Don’t feel dumb — this is a common problem, and there are indeed ways to recover your files from the SD card for free. SanDisk’s official support page lists RescuePRO as its recommended data recovery software and provides download links for both PC and Mac versions:

If your card didn’t come with a free license, you would likely need to purchase the software to use it beyond a demo.

Here are free options to recover deleted files from SD card on Mac:

  1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard - Free Recovery Limit is 2 GB
  2. Disk Drill - 500 MB for free
  3. Ontrack EasyRecovery - 1 GB of data (for files under 25MB)

I hope one of these free tools successfully recovers your photos. If the free versions don’t work, you could consider trying the deeper scan features of the paid versions.

To maximize your chances of getting your photos back, Stop Using the SD Card Immediately. As soon as you realize files are deleted, do not save, edit, or transfer any new files to that SD card. New data can overwrite your deleted files, making them unrecoverable.

4

Yes, you can recover deleted files from an SD card on a Mac for free, depending on the situation. When files are deleted from an SD card, they are not immediately erased; instead, the space they occupied is marked as available for new data. As long as new files haven’t overwritten that space, recovery is possible.

Free tools may not help you with deleted files. Recovery is very limited in these free tools. So, you should try a better recovery tool. You can try the Free version of Paid tools like Stellar Photo Recovery. This will give you free recovery of 1 GB and it might help you with recovery.