How to Recover Data from Macintosh HD

Mac's hard drive, also known as Macintosh HD, is the primary storage device or database where Mac users save their system and data. Over the years, macOS or Mac OS X has been dedicated to providing the best protection for your Mac hard drive to prevent data loss. However, there might be times when your Macintosh HD fails to boot, requiring you to reinstall macOS. In this article, you'll first learn how to perform a Macintosh HD download on an internal or external drive using macOS Recovery. Then, you'll see how to recover data from Macintosh HD with a professional Macintosh HD data recovery tool – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

What's the difference between "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data"?

There is often confusion among users about the difference between Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data. It's worthwhile to know about them before you proceed with downloading to or data recovery from Macintosh HD.

On most Macs, whether an iMac or MacBook, the default configuration is to have only one disk, called "Macintosh HD." Macintosh HD is where the system and supporting files are kept, and you can't access it. The "Mac HD - Data" is where your files and apps are stored, and you can access them like you would a volume on an older system. Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data are both on the same physical disk.

How to Download Macintosh HD from macOS Recovery

macOS Recovery is part of the built-in recovery system on your Mac. You can start up from macOS Recovery and use it to restore from Time Machine, reinstall macOS, get online help, repair or erase your disk for certain software issues, and more. Follow these instructions to download Macintosh HD on your Mac now.

Step 1: Start up your Mac from macOS Recovery

Turn on your Mac, then immediately press one of the following key combinations on your keyboard: Command(⌘)-R, Option-⌘-R, or Shift-Option-⌘-R. Enter your password if prompted.

When you see a utility window like the one shown below, you're booted into macOS Recovery.

Step 2: Decide whether to erase (format) the disk

If you're selling, trading in, or giving away your Mac, or if you need to erase your disk for any other reason, choose Erase. Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

Since erasing the disk will permanently remove your data, it cannot be recovered. Please consider carefully before proceeding.

Step 3: Install macOS

You can skip to Step 2 and choose “Reinstall macOS” to reinstall macOS, then follow the onscreen instructions.

• If the installer doesn't see your disk, or says that it can't install on your computer or volume, erase the disk first. • Don't let your Mac fall asleep or close your laptop lid until the installation is complete. • What version of macOS you can install depends on your model of Mac. If you can't install macOS Catalina, you might be able to install an earlier version, such as macOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, or Yosemite.

You can also download Macintosh HD from the App Store or Software Update preferences. Or you can create a bootable installer disk and use it to install macOS on your Mac or another Mac.

Note: If you have questions about data loss after reinstalling Mac OS X using Recovery Mode, read the article for answers.

Recover from Macintosh HD – Recover Lost Data from Macintosh HD

While you can reinstall macOS or Mac OS X without losing user data with macOS Recovery, if you format the disk using Disk Utility in the HD recovery, your precious photos, documents, emails, or videos seem to be inevitably lost from Macintosh HD. So, how to resolve such issues? How to recover lost files from Mac? Now, all these issues can be easily fixed by directly using a professional Macintosh HD data recovery tool – tools Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

Mac Data Recovery Wizard is a simple-to-use yet reliable software for Mac users to recover data. It can restore over 200 types of data from your Mac's built-in hard drive as well as other external media storage devices. It is compatible with multiple versions of macOS, from OS X 10.9 to the latest macOS 10.15.

• Full file system support: Recovers data from NTFS, HFS, HFS+, HFSX, HFS Wrapper, FAT file system volumes, and also facilitates APFS data recovery.
• Convenient data recovery preview: Preview photos, audio, and videos to effectively specify the content you want to recover.
• Diverse Mac data recovery types: Restore all common file types from built-in/external Mac hard drives, including documents, images, files, videos, and more.
• Potent data recovery capabilities: Retrieve data from an emptied Trash, formatted hard drive/USB/storage card, lost partitions, and more.

Only three steps are required to resolve the nuisance of Macintosh HD data recovery.

Step 1: Search for the Lost File

On macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and the latest Sonoma, select the disk location where you want to search for the lost file (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device). Click the “Search for Lost Files” button.

Note: Before you proceed with data recovery, it's recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of your Mac to prevent further data loss. After the backup, the software can recover data from the Mac backup, and your computer can write new data again.

Step 2: Browse the scan results

Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will scan the disk volume you select immediately and display the scanning results.

Step 3: Select the files and recover them

From the scan results, select the files you want to preview and then click the “Recover” button to get them back.

Apart from retrieving lost data from Macintosh HD, the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool works great for Mac data recovery in cases of:

• Emptying the Recycle Bin.
• Accidentally formatting an un-backed up hard drive.
• Data loss after system restore.
• Incorrect operations on existing partitions leading to corruption of partition table.
• Logical damage to the hard drive making data inaccessible.
• Inaccessibility of the hard drive due to a virus attack.

Macintosh HD Download FAQ

1. How do I download Macintosh HD?

How to Install a Fresh Copy of OS X on Your Mac

Step 1: Turn off your Mac.

Step 2: Press the power button.

Step 3: Hold down the Command ( Cloverleaf ) and R keys immediately.

Step 4: Connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi.

Step 5: Click “Install Mac OS X” and then click “Continue.”

2. What is Macintosh HD?

In Finder, both appear as “Macintosh HD.” In the Disk Utility app in macOS Catalina, you can see that “Macintosh HD” is the read-only System volume, and “Macintosh HD – Data” contains the rest of your files and data.

**3. How do I find Macintosh HD on my MacBook Pro?** To locate Macintosh HD on your MacBook Pro, follow these steps: 1. Open the "Finder" (usually found in the Dock). 2. In the Finder's sidebar, select "Hard Drive" or "This Mac." If you see an icon labeled "Macintosh HD," click on it. 3. If "Hard Drive" or "Macintosh HD" is not visible in the sidebar, click on the "Go" menu in the top-left corner, and then choose "Computer." In the opened window, you should see "Macintosh HD." Please note that depending on your macOS version and settings, Macintosh HD might appear with a different name like "Mac HD" or your user name. However, it is typically the default startup disk name.

Show "Macintosh HD" in the Finder sidebar

Step 1: Open the “Finder” app on your Mac.

Step 2: Click on "Finder" from the menu bar, and then click on "Preferences."

Step 3: Click the “Sidebar” tab in Finder Preferences.

Step 4: Click the "Hard Disk" option in the sidebar.