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If it’s happened once, it’s happened a thousand times. Those photos that you thought were importing from your iPhone to your iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini didn’t make the transfer.

You wanted to save some space on your mobile device, so you selected to delete them after the transfer automatically.

Now that you’re looking at your Mac’s HDD or SSD, you cannot find any of the images. What are you going to do?

After taking a deep breath, you’ll want to download the tool that offers the best photo recovery on Mac systems.

What Are the Best Photo Recovery Tools for Mac?

You could access your disk utilities on the Mac to see if your photos arrived, but that effort might not provide the results you want. After accessing Finder and going through miscellaneous help guides, you’ll find that a recovery tool is your best option.

These selections are the best photo recovery platforms you can download today to find those missing pictures.

1. Disk Drill for Mac

Disk Drill for Mac

When you want a fast and easy experience, the UI from Disk Drill delivers impressive results. You’ll find and restore your missing photographs in minutes with a quick scan. If you need a deep scan instead, you’ll still receive an excellent experience.

Why We Like Disk DrillWhat Disk Drill Could Improve
  • This software lets you hit the ground running because of its UI design.
  • It can find files with corruption and possibly restore them.
  • If you lost images due to partition issues, the tool uses a universal search for FAT, NTFS, and HFS+ volumes.
  • It is one of the more affordable recovery tools available to download today. 
  • If you need help, you might be stuck waiting for an email or a chat response.
  • You still need some technical knowledge to understand if a file is recoverable.
  • The Mac free version is a preview only. 

We love that Disk Drill lets you search for your image files by name. That makes this process much faster! You can target the exact items that went missing to see if they are available.

When you find what you believe is your image files, the preview feature can let you see if the data is what you want.

We also appreciate that the software organizes your files by type. If you want to restore photographs, you just choose the “pictures” option.

Pricing and System Requirements for Disk Drill

You can download Disk Drill (https://www.cleverfiles.com/pro.html) for $89 today, which is well-suited for most individual users. An Enterprise version is available for corporate needs.

Your Mac must boot with OS X 10.11.6 or later to use the software’s current version. If you have an older operating system, the legacy options support Mac systems all of the way back to OS X 10.5.

2. Picture Rescue 2

Picture Rescue 2

The name of this software tool says everything you need to know about the product. If you lose your picture files for virtually any reason, you can download this option to scan, find, and restore your data.

Why We Like Picture RescueWhat Picture Rescue Could Improve
  • The product installs effortlessly.
  • It scans for compatible memory cards and storage devices, including SD, mSD, and xD.
  • It offers compatibility with most major camera brands. 
  • You can see thumbnails of the recoverable files. 
  • If you choose the free download, you can only recover three files.
  • It has a “nag screen” to remind users that they haven’t upgraded to the paid version. 
  • The secure delete tool doesn’t always work as expected. 

If you thought the splash screen would disappear after you upgrade to the paid version, you thought wrong. These reminders and pop-ups are the most annoying aspect of using Picture Rescue 2. 

Once you buy the software key, the product is simple to use. After locating your missing files, you can copy them to your Mac to have them function like new imports.

Pricing and System Requirements for Picture Rescue 2

You can still download the 13 MB free file, but it isn’t available directly from the publisher’s site if you want to experiment with this photo recovery tool. Only third-party referrals now offer it.

If you want the paid version, you’ll need to go to Prosoft’s website (https://www.prosofteng.com/mac-data-recovery) to download Data Rescue 6. That product is the current version of this tool. Please review the complex pricing arrangements before downloading.

The free version works with Mac OS X 10.7 or later. Data Rescue 6 requires macOS 10.12 or later.

3. Remo Media Recover

Remo Media Recover

This data recovery tool is primarily for photo files only. It can identify up to 50 popular types to initiate the restoration process.

Why We Like Remo Media RecoverWhat Remo Media Recover Could Improve
  • It works with HDDs, SSDs, and even iPods with photo storage capabilities.
  • Users can restore RAW images from most camcorders and DSLR brands.
  • Helpful troubleshooting guides and tutorials are available to follow on the publisher’s website. 
  • The basic edition of this software doesn’t recover professional RAW files.
  • The Pro Edition ($179.97) is necessary to recover pictures from a macOS re-installation.
  • Its interface is “Mac Inspired,” but sometimes confusing to use.

Remo Recover is a complete photo recovery solution for Mac that works exceptionally well. It also requires you to buy an upgraded version from the basic option to access its best features. That puts it out of the price range for many households, as its full functionality costs twice as much as most competitors.

If you discover technical issues with the image recovery process, this tool points you toward the help you need. Each help guide has enough detail to be useful without digging into jargon or complicated techniques.

Pricing and System Requirements for Remo Media Recover

The basic edition sells for $59.97, but it only offers deleted file recovery from extended volumes, emptied trash restoration, and RAW signature searching. The Media Edition is $69.97. You find more information at this URL: https://www.remosoftware.com/remo-recover-mac.

It works for most Mac OS X systems.

4. Disk Doctors Photo Recovery

Disk Doctors Photo Recovery

If you’ve tried other photo recovery tools without success, this publisher says that their product can provide a solution. Should you give this download a try, you might need to change some of your display settings. The initial text is surprisingly small and challenging to read.

Why We Like Disk DoctorsWhat Disk Doctors Could Improve
  • A helpful demo is available to use. 
  • It offers a three-step recovery process that the average user can follow.
  • This tool provides support for all popular file types.
  • The overall experience with the interface is below average for the industry. 
  • It does not find all of your missing files in most situations. 
  • The Mac version is $20 more expensive than its Windows counterpart. 

If this tool finds your files, it offers one of the best solutions you can find for Mac computers. When it struggles to find your lost pictures after a scan, it can be immensely frustrating.

It doesn’t work for complex issues, such as a partition problem. You’d want to use this software for accidental deletion, unallocated drive errors, or sudden data disappearance. 

Pricing and System Requirements for Disk Doctors

Disk Doctors (https://diskdoctors.net/mac) provides photo recovery services for Mac OS X 10.4.11 and above, including Leopard. It supports PowerPC and Intel, serving as an Apple Universal application.

Pricing for the Photo Recovery tool starts at $69.97. Optional download protection is another $6.99.

5. PhotoRec

PhotoRec

With its updated GUI, users no longer need to use the Terminal for every situation with this photo recovery download. It’ll retrieve your files quickly and with only a few clicks.

Why We Like PhotoRecWhat PhotoRec Could Improve
  • An official tutorial is available to take users through the steps needed for a successful experience.
  • It’s an open-source download, making it 100% free.
  • It still takes time to learn how to use this product.
  • The best outcomes happen when you have some technical experience. 

If you want a free photo recovery product for your Mac, this tool gets the job done. It offers the same functionality as most paid downloads while providing enough support to help you learn how to use it.

You’ll find it can be a little challenging to use. It helps to spend a day with the tutorial before trying to recover your images.

Pricing and System Requirements for PhotoRec

PhotoRec (https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec) is free to download, working with virtually all macOS systems. You can use it for portable disks, external drives, and more. It also works with most of today’s digital camera brands.

Are You Ready to Restore Your Mac Pictures?

For additional help with your photo recovery on Mac needs, here are some more resources to help your research efforts.

Here’s the Bottom Line

These tools are the best in the industry right now for photo restoration. If you lost your image files for any reason, one of these solutions could help you reverse the damage.

If your photo import didn’t complete as expected, don’t panic! When you have access to these tools and information, your next step is to start the recovery process.

In most situations, you can expect the best photo recovery on Mac issues to resolve within a couple of hours.