Written byChristinaUpdated on Dec 01, 2025
How to Recover Lost Data from USB Flash Drive on Mac?
Approved byGerhard Chou
Summary: Deleting files or formatting the USB flash drive will lead to data loss on USB flash drive. Don't panic, with best Mac USB flash drive data recovery software - Donemax Data Recovery for Mac, you are able to quickly recover all lost data from the USB flash drive on your Mac.
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As a flexible and portable storage device, USB flash drive is widely used to transfer data from one computer to another one. Also, it can be often used as a temporary storage media in some cases. However, data loss may happen while using USB flash drive. Improper operations or other issues would lead to data loss on the drive. For Mac users, it's necessary to find and use a reliable Mac USB flash drive data recovery software and get back the lost files.
In this article, we will show you when would the data get lost on USB flash drive, how to easily rescue the lost data on Mac, and how to prevent data loss on USB flash drive in the future. Follow the guide to learn how to use a reliable data recovery software to recover the deleted, formatted or other lost files from USB flash drive effectively on Mac.
Common Reasons for Data Loss on USB Flash Drive
Due to human errors, hardware issues, or any other problems, the data on USB flash drive would be deleted or lost. Here are the common reasons:
- Electrical Damage: Sudden power surges (e.g., from faulty USB ports), static discharge, or improper removal (while writing) can fry the controller chip or NAND memory.
- Improper Ejection: Removing the drive without using "Safely Remove Hardware" while data is being written can corrupt the file system, making data unreadable.
- Corruption Events: System crashes, power outages, or viruses while the drive is connected can scramble the file table (like FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS's "index").
- Bad Sectors: Development of bad blocks on the NAND memory where data cannot be stored or retrieved reliably.
- Accidental Deletion: Mistakenly deleting files or formatting the wrong drive.
- Improper Formatting: Choosing the wrong drive to format can lead to data loss.
- Virus and Malware Infection: Flash drives are notorious for spreading malware. Some viruses can hide, delete, or encrypt your files (ransomware).
If data loss occurs on USB flash drive, stop Using the drive immediately: Do not save, copy, or format anything on it to prevent overwriting.
- For Logical Issues: Try data recovery software, scanning the affected drive to recover the data to another drive.
- For Physical Damage or Critical Data: Consult a professional data recovery service. They have clean-room facilities for physical repairs. This is expensive but may be your only option.
Recover USB Flash Drive Data with Software on Mac
Most of Mac users are using USB flash drive for backing up important files or transferring data among various computers. Accidental deletion, formatting, and virus attack are all possible reasons for losing files on your USB flash drive. Don't panic, the deleted, formatted or lost files on the USB flash drive are not gone forever. With right USB flash drive data recovery software, you are able to easily and completely recover lost files from the USB flash drive.
If you are using a Mac, you can restore files from the USB flash drive with your Mac computer. First of all, download the reliable Mac USB flash drive data recovery software - Donemax Data Recovery for Mac. This easy-to-use data recovery software is able to completely recover deleted, formatted and inaccessible data from any type of hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera, portable disk, etc. Download it here:
Donemax Data Recovery for Mac offers deep scan technology to ensure finding all lost files from your USB flash drive. So, it can meet almost all USB flash drive data recovery needs:
- Recover deleted files from the USB flash drive - undelete files from USB flash drive on Mac due to quick deletion, Command+Delete, accidental deletion, etc.
- Recover formatted USB flash drive - unformat USB flash drive on Mac or recover lost data from an USB flash drive which is erased by Disk Utility.
- Recover corrupted or inaccessible data from USB flash drive - recover lost data from the USB flash drive due to file system crash, virus infection, logical error, initialization, etc.
Donemax Data Recovery for Mac supports to recover all file formats including images, documents, videos, audios, emails, etc. All types of USB flash drives are supported. Just install it on your Mac to start USB flash drive data recovery.
Three steps to recover lost data from USB flash drive on Mac:
Step 1. Select the USB flash drive to start data recovery.
Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac and open Donemax Data Recovery for Mac. This software will show all hard drives and external devices on this Mac. Select the USB flash drive to start data recovery.
💡 Note: if the USB flash drive can't be recognized by your Mac and Donemax Data Recovery for Mac, click here to fix it.
Step 2. Scan the USB flash drive to find lost files.
Click on Scan button. Donemax Data Recovery for Mac will deeply scan the USB flash drive and find all lost files.
Step 3. Preview and recover lost files after scanning.
Once the scan gets finished, you can preview all recoverable files. Then select the wanted files and save them to a safe location.
💡 Tip: When recovering the files, ensure to save to another drive instead of the original USB flash drive. Otherwise, the recovered files might be damaged and cannot open.
To prevent overwriting, before you completely recover all lost files from the USB flash drive, please don't put new files to the USB flash drive. Just immediately run the Mac USB flash drive data recovery software to help you get all lost files back. The sooner you take actions, the higher success rate to get back lost files.
What's more, the software Donemax Data Recovery for Mac is effective to recover missing data from not only USB flash drive, but also HDD/SSD, RAID, memory card, etc. Should you need to recover lost data from any storage media, just try this reliable data recovery application.
Conclusion:
Mac USB flash drive data recovery is essential for a Mac user who lost files from the USB flash drive. There are different issues that will cause data loss on USB flash drive. If there are important files on the USB flash drive were not backed up, stop using the drive immediately and download the most reliable recovery tool Donemax Data Recovery for Mac to retrieve the data.
You cannot 100% avoid data loss in any case. However, backing up data is still the most reliable way to protect your data. Back up files regularly and save the files to different places. You can save files to local computer drive, sync to cloud storage, or copy to an external drive and save it offline. Another thing is to handle the USB flash drive carefully. Don't drop it or leave it in too cold or hot environment. After using the USB flash drive, ensure to safely eject it first, and then unplug it from the computer.
Donemax Data Recovery for Mac
Donemax Data Recovery for Mac is one of the best Mac data recovery software. It is easy-to-use and can help in recovering deleted, formatted, inaccessible or lost data from Mac HDD/SSD, external disk, USB drive, SD card, camera or other storage devices.
Mac USB Flash Drive Data Recovery FAQs
Yes, Donemax Data Recovery for Mac is able to find the deleted files whenever you delete them, even you delete them 10 years ago.
Yes, Donemax Data Recovery supports to export data from an inaccessible USB flash drive to your Mac, and recover lost data from a dead/damaged USB flash drive. Learn more >>
Yes, whether the USB flash drive is erased by Disk Utility or formatted by third-party disk formatting software, the lost data can be recovered. But, if your USB flash drive is erased by data erasure software - such as Donemax Data Eraser for Mac, the erased data will be lost forever, can't be recovered by any data recovery software.
Yes, Donemax Data Recovery for Mac supports to recover lost data from APFS, HFS/HFTS+, exFAT, FAT, EXT, NTFS, NTFS/+ file systems.
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Contributing Writer
Christina
Christina is the senior editor of Donemax software who has worked in the company for 4+ years. She mainly writes the guides and solutions about data erasure, data transferring, data recovery and disk cloning to help users get the most out of their Windows and Mac. She likes to travel, enjoy country music and play games in her spare time.
Editor in chief
Gerhard Chou
In order to effectively solve the problems for our customers, every article and troubleshooting solution published on our website has been strictly tested and practiced. Our editors love researching and using computers and testing software, and are willing to help computer users with their problems