Free Software For Macbook Air

MacBook Air Update 1.0 for Mac is available as a free download on our software library. The actual developer of this free software for Mac is Apple Inc. The application lies within System Tools, more precisely Automation. Global Nav Open Menu Global Nav Close Menu; Apple; Shopping Bag +. Search Support.

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Free Data Recovery Software For Macbook Air
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Free Software For Macbook Air

This page uncovers 5 best completely free data recovery software for macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, older versions and morden Mac OS X, etc. All those Mac data recovery software share one commonality, they are free and useful for casual Mac users. Pick up one and let it take care of your Mac data now.

This article covers the top five completely free data recovery software for Mac, which varies from features, functions, and performance. However, they all have one thing in common: they are free.

Compare the five tools carefully, and select the one that fits your needs best.

PAGE CONTENT:

Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac: 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free ; 2. Disk Drill; 3. PhotoRec; 4. TestDisk; 5. Exif Untrasher
3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery
People Also Ask

Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac

When you get data loss on your Mac due to accidental deletion, partition/hard drive formatting, system crash, macOS upgrade, file system or hard drive corruption, stay calm and pick up one of the recommended data recovery software in the below for help.

1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is one of the free top and handy Mac data recovery software that enables you to recover data from the emptied trash bin, Mac notebooks, desktops, hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, digital cameras, etc. It works on internal APFS/HFS+/HFS X drives, and FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file systems used in USB flash drives and external hard drives connected to Mac.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. All-in-one data recovery software

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is fully compatible with the latest macOS 10.15(Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave) and all the former versions. It enables all Mac users to perform a full recovery of lost valuable data in only 3 steps: Scan > Preview > Recover.

# 2. HFS+ Fusion Drive Recovery

The latest update of EaseUS Mac data recovery software has improved its support of Fusion Drive, which makes it work even better in retrieving files from Mac computers which are installed on fusion drives.

# 3. Encrypted Drive Recovery

Another great update in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is that it supports encrypted drive recovery by offering guidance to assist Mac users in decrypting and unlocking their drives with password.

# 4. Data Protection

Once the data protection feature is enabled, it will automatically back up the deleted files to a safe location. If you unexpectedly delete files and want to recover later, you can quickly restore the lost files from the created backup.

Pros:

Support to restore 200+ file types on Mac, including recovering lost Word/Excel/PPT documents, photos, videos, music files, emails, archived files, and more.
Quick Scan + Deep Scan technology greatly enhances recovery probability.
Real-time Preview allows you to preview found files while scanning and before proceeding with data recovery.
No quality-loss recovery brings your lost photos, videos perfectly back in its best performance.

Cons:

The completely free version is limited to a maximum of 2GB data recovery. (The outstanding Windows data recovery free version also provides 2GB free file recovery.)

2. Disk Drill

Disk Drill is a popular Mac data recovery application developed to recover lost partitions or files from Mac internal and external hard drives. Also, the Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery options in the free trial version support to monitor the file deletion activity and retain metadata so as to quickly undelete files.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Undelete Protected Data (Not Available in Free Version)

Being similar to the Data Protection feature in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, Disk Drill also contains an undelete protected data feature that requires Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery features to be enabled in advance.

With these two features enabled, Mac users could quickly undelete files from a Trash Bin reference or shadow copy of each file to a user-specified folder.

# 2. Allocate Existing Files

When Finder fails to read data, Disk Utility reports the drive as unformatted, Disk Drill can scan the partition and retrieve data from Mac.

Pros:

Compatible with all the Mac OS X and macOS systems.
Recover 200+ file types.
It is packed with free and useful disk tools for all users.
An intuitive user interface to recover lost files effortlessly.

Cons:

The free version only allows a preview of data recovery.
Recovery Vault and Guaranteed Recovery are not available in the free version.

3. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free, open-source program that works very well in data recovery on older operating systems like OS X, Linux, Free BSD, Net BSD, Open BSD, and Windows.

It allows users to restore most common files, like photos, audios, documents, ZIP archives, and others from internal or external devices, such as digital cameras, memory cards, USB flash drives and partitions/hard disks.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Advanced File Carving

PhotoRec first searches for the data block or cluster size. The program will quickly load value from superblock like ext2/ext3/ext4 or volume boot record like FAT/NTFS if the file system is not corrupted. When file system corrupted, PhotoRec will check the device by a sector level, using the first 10 found files to calculate the block or cluster size so as to locate and find more lost files.

# 2. Block or Cluster Level Recovery

This program will read the Mac device block by block, cluster by cluster, checking against different file signatures so to recuperate available files.

Pros:

Support data recovery cross-platforms, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
100% open-source program, not only the software but also the source code.
Nice tool to recover personal files.

Cons:

Not very user-friendly for ordinary computer users.
Technical skills required. It uses command lines to operate.

4. TestDisk

TestDisk, like PhotoRec, it's also an open-source, freeware product that allows for multiple file types recovery.

It mainly focuses on partition recovery. It enables users to find deleted or lost partitions by fixing the partition tables due to software crash, virus attack, mistaken formatting, etc.

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Partition Recovery

When a partition lost or disappeared on Mac due to corrupted partition tables, Mac users can apply TestDisk to rebuild and repair the corrupted partition table.

# 2. Rebuild Boot Sectors

When the Mac bootable drive fails to boot, it corrects problems in bootable drives that are failing to boot.

Pros:

Completely free and open.
Runs on several operating systems, including macOS and Mac OS X versions.
Recover lost partitions and rebuild the partition table.

Cons:

Use the command line to make data recovery.
Not user-friendly for regular computer users.

5. Exif Untrasher

Exif Untrasher is another completely free Mac data recovery tool that mainly restores deleted or JPEG files from digital cameras, external drive, USB stick, SD card, etc. You can easily download and install this software on your Mac running Mac OS X 10.10 and all the later versions.

Free Downloads For Macbook Air

Highlighted Features:

# 1. Highly Efficient in JEPG Recovery

Exif Untrasher is a tool that mainly designed to locate photos in JEPG formats on any kind of storage device like SD card, CF card, memory stick or Mac hard disk.

External storage device needs to be mounted as a volume on Mac for the utility to access and attempt a restore.

Pros:

Simple and quick to recover lost images from the memory card.
Free with no quantity limits.
It is updated by the developer regularly.

Cons:

It only works for JEGP file recovery. It doesn't support extra file formats.

3-Step Tutorial of Free Mac Data Recovery

To help more Mac users to bring their lost files are soon as possible, we are here to show you a 3-step tutorial of free Mac data recovery. If you are eager to bring your lost files back on Mac or external storage devices, apply the brief and innovative EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free for help.

Remember to connect your USB, SD card, or external hard drive to Mac computer if your lost data were saved on it.

Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.

Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.

Conclusion

On this page, you are presented with the top 5 completely free Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free, Disk Drill, PhotoRec, TestDisk, Exif Untrasher. When you are facing unexpected data loss on Mac, the programs demonstrated above can help you recover lost files effectively.

What's more, if your lost data is less than 2GB, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Free is highly recommended as it provides the most user-friendly interface and most powerful data recovery function.

If you simply want to restore JEGP images, Exif Untrasher is worth to try.

Software That Comes With Every MacBook Air/Pro

macOS Catalina

Every computer needs an operating system. The operating system performs basic operations such as starting programs, reading data from the disks, controlling the display and sound, etc.

All apps that run on any computer use operating system in order to interact with the user or various computer components.

Is it OSX or macOS? For a long time, the operating system on Mac was called OSX. You can still hear some people use this term. However, in 2016, Apple renamed it to macOS, so we will use this term going forward.

Each year Apple releases a new version of macOS. They used to be backward compatible, i.e., they supported all Mac models produced in earlier days.

Mojave was the first macOS which could not be installed on some of the oldest Macs. I expect every next release will have similar restrictions. So, if you have an older Mac, check you can upgrade it to the latest OS.

Siri on Mac

Siri is a great virtual assistant tool which can increase your productivity if used properly.

What can Siri do? Most people use Siri to search for something on the internet. All you do is ask Siri a question, and it will transform the voice command to a text which will be sent to a search engine. Once Siri gets results, it will tell what it had found.

Another use is to find anything on the Mac. For instance, Siri is great when you need to find a document you worked on last week.

In my opinion, the most powerful feature of Siri is controlling Mac and connected devices. For instance, you can ask Siri turn off Wifi and Bluetooth, raise or lower the sound volume, send a message, set the alarm, take a selfie, etc.

And finally, people use Siri when they are bored. Siri can tell jokes, find the music you want to listen or read the news.

Safari

Safari is an internet browser that gets pre-installed on almost all Apple products.

Is it the best browser? Definitely, not, but it does the work. The advantage of Safari is that Apple wrote it specifically for Apple computers. So, it supposed to have some edge over other browsers in terms of energy usage and speed.

If you don’t like Safari, you can always download your favorite internet browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox.

Mail

Mail is fairly simple built-in email client. You can do things that any email client does: write and read emails, send attachments, sort and find messages, organize messages in folders. If you a regular email user then Mail client will be enough. Power users will find features limiting and will most likely invest in better solutions.

I use Mail to combine various secondary emails accounts in one place. I don’t use any desktop clients for my primary email, because I don’t want my messages to be stored on the computer in case if it ever gets stolen or lost.

FaceTime on Mac

If you have an iPhone you probably already know what FaceTime is. With FaceTime, you can make a video call to anyone who has FaceTime installed on his/her Mac or iPhone/iPad. You can also make a group call. In both cases, FaceTime uses Wifi as transport.

Additionally, FaceTime on Mac can connect to your iPhone and make a regular phone call.

Messages on Mac

If you have an iPhone, you probably noticed that messages sent to someone who has an iPhone have blue color while non-iPhone users get green messages. It’s because Apple uses proprietary messaging protocol when sending messages between Apple products using Wifi instead of the cellular network.

What does this mean for you? It means that you can send messages to iPhone or Mac users from your Mac without having a cellular connection. Also, it means that these messages do not count to your SMS limit (if you have one in your mobile plan).

Unfortunately, to send messages to Android friends, you still have to have an iPhone which Mac can use SMS.

News app

With the News app on Mac, you can follow a channel or even a specific topic of interest. Apple will aggregate the news and send them to you periodically. You can read them in the app and then like or even share.

In 2019 Apple launched a subscription service called News+. It’s a paid service. With this service, you can get stories from premium newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal or Time.

Books app

Free word processing software for macbook air

If you frequently purchase books from the Book Store, they will appear in the Books app. You can see books in all (or almost all) Apple devices, including MacBook Pro. If you don’t buy books or prefer to use Amazon, then you don’t need the app.

Stocks app

Besides following news, you can also follow stock prices. With the Stocks app, you can add ticker symbols to your watchlist. You can also view stocks in the Notification center on Mac. Stocks app also allows seeing price charts with multiple ranges.

Overall, it’s a very basic app for an average investor — nothing to write home about. Serious investors may find the app lacking functionality.

Home app

The Home app is a program that may become very big in the future when we all going to have smart homes. If you have a device that can be controlled over the network you can add it as an accessory to the Home app.

Once installed, you can then control lighting, temperature, home security, TV, and speakers. The list is endless. Besides issues commands and changing things in real-time you can set schedule.

For instance, you can set up the thermostat to start heating the house right before you arrive home. And all of this can be controlled thru Siri which will manage the Home app and its accessories.

Voice Memos

My personal favorite. Whether you are recording the lecture in class or just recording your notes for the next blog, Voice Memos can capture your recordings. You can then replay or even edit recordings, although editing capabilities are not too impressive. You can later transcribe voice memos to a text.

Notes app

Apple has a rudimentary note-taking app. Whether you need to save a recipe or make a to-do list, you can use Notes. This is not the best app by all means, but it comes with some neat features. You can attach different media such as pictures, videos, and even locations on the Maps.

There is also a collaboration feature. You can share a note with multiple people and work together. I’ve never tried it myself because I believe Google Docs is a much better and simpler tool to use for this purpose.

Calendar

Each computer needs a calendar app, and Macs have a pretty good one. As most applications in macOS, this one integrated with other programs on your laptop. So, if you need to add a location on Maps in your calendar event, you can do it. Other features include sending and receiving invites.

Calendar app obviously connected to your Mail app so you can see all meetings from all Mail accounts in one place. You can also color-code your calendars so you can quickly spot events related to family, work, or others.

Overall, it’s a relatively simple app. I always have it on my Dock because I keep forgetting which date it is 🙂

Contacts

I don’t use the Contacts app at all. With this app, you can aggregate multiple contact lists in one giant collection. But I don’t see any need for that. I prefer to keep contacts on my phone, not a laptop.

Reminders

Another app without a clear purpose. I use Reminders on my iPhone, but on the Mac, I don’t see a need for it when there is a much more powerful Calendar app. And if I need to take notes to collaborate with other people, I can use the Notes app.

Photo Booth

While most of us use MacBooks for work and study sometimes, we want to have some fun, and Photo Booth is super fun to use. With this app, you can quickly snap a selfie of yourself or yourself with friends.

Prefer videos? Not a problem, you can shoot videos with Photo Booth as well. If you need time to set up the scene, there is a default three-second countdown before taking a photo. You can also use various effects to make your photos funny. And finally, you can use any image to create a custom backdrop.

Preview

Preview is a very powerful tool on your Mac. When I switched from Windows to Mac, one thing I was missing was an MSPaint program. It took me some time, but I finally learned how to use Preview to edit images for my blogs. In some case, Preview is even better than my old favorite.

For instance, Preview keeps a history of changes you made to the image even after you close the app. In fact, I don’t know any other standard file editing software other than Preview, which allows you to go back in history after you saved the changes and close the program.

Another area where Preview can be useful is PDF annotations. You can add text, signature, or even shapes to any PDF document. And again, Mac keeps the history of changes so you can always go back in time.

Time Machine

Speaking of going back in time, Time Machine is not a fantasy novel. On the Mac Time Machine is a backup tool. If there is one thing that I would like you to remember from this post is you need a backup strategy for your computer. Things happen (virus, crash, documents accidentally deleted) and often the best and only remedy is to restore the old image of your MacBook from the Time Machine device.

I wrote a very detailed blog post about Time Machine and other possible backup tools, so please check it out: Time Machine on Mac: How it Works, Best Practices and FAQ

Apple Music

For a long time, iTunes was an audio and video player that came standard with any Macbook.

However, it was split into multiple apps with macOS Catalina and the role of iTunes was taken by Apple Music.

There is an Apple Music store where you can purchase music and rent movies. You can join Apple music as a subscriber, and you can manage your subscriptions there.

Apple TV

Another app that spawned from iTunes. You can use Apple TV to watch your favorite shows, movies and Apple TV+ channel.

Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts is the last part of iTunes that became a standalone app. You can subscribe to podcasts and listen them with this app.

App Store

While the list of built-in apps in macOS is good enough, you will always need more programs. There are two main ways to get new programs on MacBook: download from the vendor web site or buy from Apple Store.

If you have both options, I suggest you always go through Apple Store route. Apple has very strict requirements for any app they host in their stores. At the minimum, they all free from viruses. And yes, Macs can get viruses. Another advantage of the App Store is the ease of updates. You can configure the app to install updates automatically same way you configure the operating system updates.

And finally, any app you bought from the App Store you can download again if you deleted it. If you downloaded the app from the vendor web site, the process of downloading and finding a license might be quite complicated.

So this was a brief overview of built-in apps that come pre-installed on any new MacBook. There other applications that you can install for free. Specifically, there are two popular software suits: iLife and iWork.

iLife apps

Initially, the iLife software suite consisted of multiple apps, most of which were discontinued. The only two apps left are iMovie and GarageBand.

GarageBand

The GarageBand lets you play, record, edit, mix, and share music! You do not have to worry that you do not know a single note. Everything is there. Just open the application, select an instrument, then press the notes that tingle your ears. As easy as that, you can create your music. You can also add your voice by recording it.

iMovie

iMovie, on the other hand, gets you in touch with your video skills. It is the perfect application for neophyte video editors. It provides a user-friendly interface but lets you turn your raw footages into one creatively edited video. Personally, I use iMovie to edit my YouTube videos, and I found it very easy to learn and use.

iWork apps

Free Data Recovery Software For Macbook Air

There is a suite of apps that mimic Microsoft Office functionality, and they are free for anyone using macOS: Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. You can download all three from the App Store.

Numbers is an alternative for MS Excel. You can save Numbers spreadsheets as Excel documents or import Excel documents in Numbers.
Pages is an alternative for MS Word. You can save Pages documents as Word files and edit Word documents in Pages.
And Keynote is an alternative for Powerpoint. As you already understand, it is possible to work with Powerpoint documents in Keynote.

What Apple empathizes is that with iWork, you can work on MS Office documents just in different apps.

Apple provides a way to share the documents built-in iWork apps through the iCloud or Box. Another neat feature you can use Touch ID to lock and unlock the iWork documents.

Software That DOES Not Come With Macs

MS Office on Mac

iWork may be a viable alternative to MS Office, but feature-wise it’s nowhere near to Microsoft suite. Fortunately, Microsoft ported the big trio of apps to macOS. These apps look a little different than Windows counterparts (key combinations are different), but they are very close. If you had experience working with any Office apps on Windows, you would quickly figure out how to edit documents on Mac.

Does MacBook Pro come with Word or Excel? No, Macs do not come with MS Office pre-installed. Although it is free to download, remember that you still have to pay to have an account for the Microsoft office to be activated in your MacBook Pro. The Microsoft Office from the App Store only gives you a 30-day free trial.

How to get Microsoft Word or Excel on MacBook for free?

There are three possible ways to get Word or Excel for free:

Get Office license at work. For instance, your account may allow you to install up to five copies. So you can install one at the work computer and one at home. But first, ask permission from your manager.
Get Office license in college. Most colleges in the US provide free Office licenses.
Download from pirate web sites. I do not recommend doing this for two reasons: it’s illegal and very hacked programs contain viruses. In fact, if you see any link with a promise of a free Word install, know it’s a scam. Don’t click on those links!

There are, however, two ways to get MS Office for less money:

Get a student edition. In this case, you either need to be a student or know someone who’s a student.
Some sites may offer to sell Microsoft apps for deep discounts. What they do is they have volume editions, i.e., multiple licenses they paid for. Then they sell those individual licenses. All you need is to download the program and apply for the license. Is this legal? I don’t know. As they say, consult with your attorney.

Free Blu-ray Player Software For Macbook Air

Photoshop

Does Photoshop come with MacBook Pro/Air? No, it does not. Adobe offers 7-day free trial version after which it is required to subscribe for one of their plans: Photography ($9.99/mo), Photoshop ($20.99/mo) or Creative Cloud Apps ($52.99/mo). Students and teachers can get Creative Cloud Apps for $19.99/mo.

Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X

Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X are the most popular Apple apps, but unfortunately, they are not free. Moreover, they are very expensive. You can buy Logic Pro X for $199.99 and Final Cut Pro X for $299.99 from the Apple App Store.

Antivirus Apps

I often hear people saying that Macs don’t get viruses, however, I know that this is not true. It is true, however, that macOS has some rudimentary defense against malware, but if you are serious about security you need to either download a free antimalware app or buy a commercial one.

Zoom, Skype and Teams

Most video conferencing tools, such as Zoom and Teams are free for Macs. They have some internal limitations, but there is nothing specific to Apple products.

Games

Free Antivirus Software For Macbook Air

Apple computers do not come with games included. So, if you are a fan of Fortnite or Civilization you have to purchase them. The same applies to Steam games.

There is no even Solitaire or Minesweeper on Mac (my favorites on PCs).