Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that your files will be present in the Trash folder, especially if the option to automatically remove items from the folder after 30 days is enabled on your system.
Each Mac storage device has its own Trash folder, so this step is critical. We know that you’ve probably done so already, but we strongly suggest you check the Trash folder one last time before exploring the three main solutions described below. One thing that’s great about macOS is that deleted files are first moved to the Trash folder, including files deleted from an external hard drive.
Honorable mention: Restore from the Trash Bin Here are four solutions to recovering deleted or lost files from an external hard drive.
