How to Recover the Trash Bin on a Mac

So you decided to tidy up your desktop, eliminate useless files, give your Mac a facelift. After dropping several gigs of information into the trash bin, you click "Empty Trash." But suddenly your hands go clammy, a knot forms in your gut, and you realize you just deleted something you shouldn't have. Is it gone for good? Is there any hope of retrieving it now that it's gone to the great electronic black hole? Yes, there is hope.

Things You'll Need

• Stellar Phoenix Macintosh Data Recovery

Instructions

1. Act quickly. Mac OS likes to reuse the space in the trash bin, so the longer you wait, the less likely it will be that you can recover files. Remember, the trash bin isn't home to your old files alone. Mac OS stores temp files in there as well. The more you work and the longer you wait, the more likely your deleted files will be overwritten.

2. Download and install Stellar Mac Data Recovery for free from Macintosh-Data-Recovery.com.

3. 

   Uncompress the file "pmac.dmg.zip" by double clicking it. An icon labeled "pmac.dmg" will appear. Double-click it. A window named "Stellar Phoenix" will appear. Drag the StellarPhoenix icon into the Applications folder on your hard drive.

4. Launch Stellar Phoenix from your Applications folder by double-clicking it. Select "Fresh Recovery."

5. Click "Recover Hard Drive."

6. Click "Deleted File Recovery."

7. Highlight the drive you'd like to recover files from and click "Continue." Stellar Phoenix will scan for recoverable files and compile a list of everything it finds, including items that were deleted from the trash bin. You'll should be able to locate your file in that list. Double-clicking it will reopen it and allow you to save it.

Resources

• Download Stellar Mac Data Recovery