Why Do We Lose Photos from SD Card on Mac?

As a SD card user, you may be satisfied with its portability, but you may also get annoyed when data loss happens. Have you ever encountered the following situations when using an SD card?

    • Accidentally deleted photos from the SD card while previewing them on a Mac.
    • Infected with malware while using the SD card.
    • Lost important photos due to a sudden power outage.
    • Lost cherished SD card photos on your Mac due to improper ejection.
    • Physical damage to the SD card occurred while using it on a Mac, resulting in lost files.

We're here to help you recover deleted photos from an SD card on your Mac, so don't panic when you lose pictures from your SD card on your Mac. Keep reading to learn about seven solutions and how to recover deleted pictures on Mac.

Notice:
Photos deleted from the SD card using the Command + Delete shortcut don't go to the Mac Trash, so you can't use the Put Back option in the Trash or use a command in the Mac Terminal. If you hit the delete key on your Mac, you won't waste time trying to recover deleted photos from the Trash.

Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card on Mac with Software

Deleted photos are only removed from your SD card after a period of time, and you may still be able to find them and recover them. Data recovery software can help if your files went missing after updating macOS, or got corrupted due to formatting the SD card on your Mac. Here, we have video tutorials for five of the best SD card recovery tools.

    • 00:11 - What Can Cause Data Loss on an SD Card?
    • 00:50 - Download Tool: Mac Data Recovery Wizard
    • 00:58 - Select the SD Card and Scan It
    • 01:12 - Filter the Results
    • 01:20 - Preview the Data
    • 01:27 - Introduction to Disk Drill
    • 01:54 - Introduction to Data Rescue 6
    • 02:12 - Introduction to PhotoRec
    • 02:34 - Introduction to TestDisk

If you are not technically sound, then it is suggested to use photo recovery software for Mac to recover deleted photos from SD card – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Tool.

As a professional photo recovery tool, what can it do for you?

    - Recover photos, documents, emails, videos, and audio from SD cards on Mac. - Supports SD card recovery on Mac, SSD recovery, external hard drive recovery, and memory card recovery. - Restore and fix corrupted or damaged photos and videos on SD cards.

With the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool, you can recover deleted photos from your SD card in just three simple steps.

Step 1: Select the SD card

    Connect the memory card to your Mac correctly. Launch the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool. Click on “SD Card Recovery”, locate your Canon/Nikon/GoPro/DJI/Sony SD card, and click on “Search for lost files”.

Note: Before you proceed with data recovery, it is recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of your SD card to prevent further data loss. After backing up your SD card, the software can restore data from the SD card backup, and you can then remove the SD card and use it again.

Select the location, then scan for lost SD card data select a location and scan for lost SD card data

Step 2: Filter out lost data from the SD card

When the scan is complete, all the files will be displayed in the left pane of the scan results. Find the photo, video, or other file you want.

Scan for lost data on the SD card

Step 3: Preview and recover the data

Preview the SD card data and select the files you want, then click on the "Recover" button. To prevent overwriting of data, do not save the recoverable files to the SD card itself.

Recover Data from SD Card on Mac

Photo Recovery from Mac SD Card with Undo Option

Users who accidentally delete photos from an SD card on Mac can immediately make use of the 'Undo' option to restore the pictures. How to use the 'Undo' option to retrieve deleted photos from an SD card on Mac?

Step 1. After deleting photos from SD card on Mac, you can click “Edit” from the menu bar.

Step 2: Choose "Undo Move xxx" to reverse the move. You can also use the Command+Z shortcut to undo.

Restore deleted photos on Mac via the Undo option

Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card on Mac Using 'Put Back' Option

Did you know that your Mac has a Trash folder? The Trash temporarily stores files and folders that you no longer need. If you right-click a photo on your SD card to delete it, and then change your mind and want the picture back, you can restore it from the Trash on your Mac.

Step 1. Where is the Trash on a Mac? You can use Spotlight Search or find the Trash icon.

Locate the Trash icon on your Mac

Step 2: Once you locate the Trash on your Mac, open it and look for the file that you have deleted.

Step 3: Right-click on one or more of the photos and select "Put Back." This will restore the selected pictures.

Restore deleted iMovie projects on Mac with the "Put Back" option

Note: You can still recover files from the Trash on a Mac after emptying it. You can use Method 1 to recover files that you've already emptied from the Trash.

How to Recover Deleted Photos from an SD Card on a Mac Using the Terminal

To recover photos from the Trash, you can use the Mac Terminal and the Trash recovery command. If you're not familiar with Terminal commands, follow this guide:

Step 1. Open Terminal on your Mac. If you're not sure how to do this, click here for instructions.

Step 2: Type the command `cd .Trash` in the Terminal and press Return.

Step 3: Enter ls -al ~/.Trash to view the contents of the Trash folder.

Step 4: Type mv xx ../ and press Enter. (Replace "xx" with the actual name of your file.)

Recover deleted files on Mac with Terminal

Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card on Mac from Recently Deleted

Did you know that you can recover deleted photos from an SD card in the Recently Deleted folder on your Mac? This folder temporarily holds any images you don't want. If you change your mind, you can restore them from the Library.

Step 1: Open the Photos app on your Mac. You'll see the items in the Recently Deleted album.

Step 2. Scroll down to see if the deleted photo you want is there.

Step 3. Select the photos you want to recover, then right-click on them. Choose "Recover" and your photos will be restored.

Restore deleted photos with the “Recently Deleted” option

Restore Deleted Photos from Mac's SD Card using iCloud Backup

iCloud automatically backs up files and folders for Apple users, and you get 5 GB of free storage to keep your data. If you lost photos from your SD card, check if they're backed up in iCloud. Then, you can recover them from the website:

Step 1. Go to the iCloud website and sign in with your Apple ID.

Step 2: Click on the "Account Settings" link.

Sign in to iCloud and click Account Settings

Step 3. Scroll down and tap “Restore from iCloud Backup.” You'll see all available iCloud backups, from which you can restore the deleted photos.

Restore files from iCloud backup

Restore Deleted Photos from SD Card using Time Machine

Recovering deleted photos from an SD card on a Mac is relatively straightforward, especially if you had previously created a Time Machine backup for Mac. We'll show you how to restore deleted photos from an SD card on your Mac using a Time Machine backup.

Step 1: Launch Time Machine from the menu bar at the top of your Mac screen.

Step 2. Choose a backup from the timeline, then select the backup you wish to restore.

Step 3: Click on the "Recover" button and your deleted photos will be restored.

Restore deleted photos from Mac with Time Machine

Conclusions

We've discussed 5 different solutions to help you recover deleted photos from an SD card on your Mac. We highly recommend Mac users to install the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool to preview and recover photos from the SD card. By downloading this software, you can easily restore deleted photos from your SD card with ease.

If you have an SD card backup, you can restore from a Time Machine backup or an iCloud backup to retrieve your photos. Moreover, accidentally deleted photos from the SD card can be recovered from the Recently Deleted album or by using the undo option on macOS.

Frequently Asked Questions on Recovering Deleted Photos from SD Card on Mac

These 7 solutions are not complicated and hopefully you can successfully retrieve deleted photos from SD card on Mac. If you have more questions, check the Q&A below.

Can I recover photos from a damaged SD card on my Mac?

With tools like Disk Drill for Mac, you can perform corrupted SD card recovery on Mac. It only takes three simple steps to get your photos back:

    1. Select and scan your corrupted SD card. 2. Filter lost files from the SD card and choose "Pictures". 3. Click " Recover " to restore photos from the corrupted SD card.

Can I recover deleted files from SD card on Mac?

You can use data recovery software to restore deleted files from an SD card on your Mac. We recommend five powerful tools:

    Here are the translations for the list items you provided:
  1. 1. Mac Data Recovery Wizard
  2. 2. Disk Drill
  3. 3. Data Rescue 5
  4. 4. PhotoRec
  5. 5. TestDisk
  6. These are the English names for the mentioned data recovery tools, assuming they refer to popular software titles.

How to recover permanently deleted photos from SD card?

The easiest way to recover permanently deleted photos from SD card is by using a photo recovery program – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool.

    1. Connect your SD card to your Mac and select the SD card to scan. 2. Filter files and choose "Pictures" when you need to recover photos. 3. Preview the photos and click "Recover" to retrieve deleted photos from the SD card.

How can I recover deleted photos from an SD card on my Mac without software?

There are four methods to recover deleted photos from an SD card on a Mac:

    1. From the "Recently Deleted" album. 2. The Undo option on macOS. 3. An iCloud backup. 4. A Time Machine backup.