Why you must stop using the drive
Continuing to write data to the affected drive can overwrite the very photos you need to recover.
- Immediately disconnect the external card, USB stick, or internal drive.
- Avoid copying new files, installing software, or even opening the Drive in Finder.
- Preserve the original data so the scanner can read every remaining sector.
Mac Photo Recovery: Scan Modes Overview
RecoverHelper provides three scan options tailored to the state of your drive.
- Quick Scan – reads the NTFS Master File Table. Use this only on healthy NTFS volumes after a recent delete.
- Deep Scan (default) – runs Quick Scan then carves the entire drive by file signature, ideal for APFS/HFS+ disks where only the content can be recovered.
- Carving Only – pure signature scan for SD cards, USB sticks, or any non‑NTFS volume when filenames are already lost.
Recover to a different drive
The application opens the source drive in strict read‑only mode and blocks same‑drive output.
- Select a separate USB drive, external SSD, or another internal volume as the destination.
- This prevents accidental overwriting of the source media during the recovery process.
Free recovery for JPG & PNG photos
Both JPG and PNG formats are fully recoverable at no cost.
- No registration, no adware, and the full scan runs for free so you can verify the presence of your photos first.
- Recovered files retain their original quality and metadata when possible.
Unlocking RAW, HEIC and video — also free
JPEG and PNG come back straight away. If you also need RAW, HEIC, video or audio, pairing the free RecoverHelper mobile app unlocks them — there is no paid tier.
- Scan the QR code once with the free app and this Mac stays unlocked.
- Unlocks camera RAW (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, RAF, PEF, TIFF), HEIC, MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM, MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, and partial fragmented‑file recovery.