APFS Data Recovery: How to Recover APFS Files on Mac/Windows

What is APFS? APFS (Apple File System) is an advanced file system developed by Apple Inc. designed for use in macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS operating systems. It replaces the previous HFS+ file system, aiming to provide enhanced security, efficiency, and modern storage management capabilities. APFS supports encryption, snapshots, cloning, optimized disk space management, and improved performance on flash and solid-state drives (SSDs). It also handles large storage devices more effectively and enables features like file system duplication and Time Machine backups.

The Apple File System (APFS) is a faster and more secure file system first introduced in macOS. It has replaced HFS+ and will eventually be deployed across all Apple devices, from the Apple Watch to the Mac. In addition to optimizing flash and SSD drives, APFS provides a unified method of encryption for every Apple device, with multi-key encryption for each file, and a separate key for sensitive metadata. In this article, we'll introduce a professional APFS recovery tool to help you recover stored data from deleted, formatted, or encrypted APFS drives.

With all these excellent features, APFS minimizes the chances of data loss due to hard drive/system crashes or virus attacks. You might lose your files due to accidental deletion, formatting of the hard drive, emptying the Trash, and so on. However, nothing is absolute. Data loss is inevitable while using a Mac in your day-to-day activities. The key is how to recover files from APFS hard drive when an unexpected incident occurs.

How to Use the APFS Recovery Tool to Recover Files on Mac

Due to macOS restrictions, you cannot access the built-in APFS system drive from any application. Thus, if you lose some essential files and want to recover deleted files from the system disk on macOS High Sierra 10.13, macOS Mojave 10.14, or macOS Catalina 10.15, you must rely on a professional and reliable APFS data recovery tool.

Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is such an APFS data recovery tool that enables you to recover accidentally deleted videos, audios, photos, documents, archives, and other files from APFS SSD/HDD. You can also recover lost partitions on Mac, or retrieve lost files from the APFS partition after formatting, macOS upgrade/corruption, and more.

In addition to recovering deleted files, Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is a simple yet reliable APFS data recovery tool for all instances of data loss:

Step 1: Select the location to scan

Launch the Mac Data Recovery Wizard, select the hard drive, SSD, SD card, USB flash drive, or TF card from where you lost data. Click "Start" to begin scanning for lost files.

Note: Before data recovery, it's better to click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup for 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.

Select a location and click “Search Lost Files”.

Step 2. Filter Lost Mac Data

The software will automatically scan the lost data on your MacBook/iMac. After the scan, you can filter the required data by clicking the "Type" and "Path" buttons.

Step 3: Recover Lost Data or Files

Double-click the file to preview it. Then, click “Recover” to restore the lost data to another location.

As the above guide shows, it's quite easy to perform APFS data recovery with the help of Mac data recovery software. Additionally, you can use it to recover lost data from HFS+, and restore data from NTFS, FAT, and ex-FAT disks on Mac.

Windows 10 APFS Data Recovery

As far as we know, the Apple File System (APFS) is the new file system for macOS, iOS, and Apple devices. Have you ever thought about setting up an APFS hard drive on a Windows-based computer? Or, can you connect an Apple APFS hard drive to a Windows PC and access the data inside? If so, there are third-party Windows 10 APFS data recovery tools that allow you to read and write files to APFS HDD, SSD, and removable flash drives with the APFS file system.

< strong > APFS for Windows by Paragon Software

The incompatibility between operating systems' file systems is resolved by third-party developer Paragon Software with its product APFS for Windows, allowing users to freely access, modify, and share files on APFS drives across Windows and macOS platforms. The following is a simple guide to reading and writing APFS data on Windows 10.

Step 1: Download and install Paragon Software's APFS for Windows.

Step 2. Connect your APFS drive to your computer.

Step 3: Your external hard drive will appear in File Explorer. You can now open the drive and begin managing your data on Windows 10.

Conclusions

By reading this article, you now have an understanding of how the APFS file system works on a Mac and how to use the best APFS data recovery tool to restore lost, deleted, formatted, encrypted, or inaccessible internal and external APFS hard drives. Additionally, we found Paragon Software's APFS for Windows as a reliable and available option for Windows users who need to read and write data on APFS drives.