Oct 24, 2019 OS X El Capitan remains available for Mac computers that can't upgrade to macOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, or Sierra, or that need to upgrade to El Capitan first. Reinstalling macOS is a piece of cake provided you have created a USB install disk for El Capitan to begin with. As you may have guessed, not many people take that extra step. In helping take the pain out of reinstalling macOS, Apple has included so-called Recovery Mode in macOS.
Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Mac computers can get corrupted, format at any times as Windows and as a result, the end-users end up losing their important data in any situations. If you are a Windows user, you are in luck as there are several data recovery tools available for the computers running the operating system. On the other hand, if you are using Mac, it may be a bit challenging to get an efficient Mac data recovery software for Mac OS X El Capitan.
That being said, if you find it is hard to search for good Mac data recovery software for Mac OS X El capitan, you can base on what kind of data types to search documents recovery, photos recovery, videos recovery, zip files recovery and more to find the best solution to your problem.
Following are the names of Mac data recovery software for Mac OS X El Capitan along with their description as well as pros and cons. Choose the most suitable software for Mac data recovery of your choice.
01 – Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac
When it comes to the best and most professional Mac data recovery software, Recoverit must be one of them. Recoverit Mac Data Recovery allows you to recover 1000+ types and formats of data, including pictures, videos, music, Office documents, archive files, zip or rar files and so on. With a 96% recovery rate and advanced deep scan technology, you will never need to worry about the permanent loss of data, no matter why and how you lost them.
Get the reliable and effective Mac data recovery software for Mac OS X El capitan to help you retrieve any data from Mac hard drive, trash bin, memory sticks, cameras, SD cards, flash drives, tablets and more other media.
Pros
- Recoverit has a simple and intuitive interface that walks you through the data recovery process in a wizard-like ambiance.
- Allows you to save and resume the scan results of the recoverable files.
- You can pick individual files to recover.
- You can preview some files before recovering them.
- The program is capable of recovering fully corrupted and even deleted partitions.
Cons
- The software comes with a price tag.
02 – iSkysoft Data Recovery (for Mac)
This program is another best data recovery for Mac after Recoverit for Mac. The software has all features to recover the lost data from a Mac PC. iSkysoft Data Recovery displays the available data recovery options in a tile-like interface that comes up when you launch the application on Mac.
You can click any tile based on your choice to initiate its corresponding feature.The program will guide you through the whole data recovery process from there.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Straightforward design and interface.
- Intuitive wizard-like structure.
- No technical skills are needed to use the program.
03 – Disk Drill for Mac
Disk Drill data recovery for Mac is available for both Basic and Pro versions which support free(Basic) and paid respectively. Disk Drill not only supports Mac OS X computers to recover lost data or drives, it is also capable of scanning iPads, Kindle devices, and iPods. The best part is, even though the software doesn’t need any technical training, a plenty of easily understandable tutorials are integrated within the program to help the end-users get the most out it.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Allows you to preview the files before you can recover them.
- Allows you to scan other devices connected to your computer for lost or deleted files.
- Comes with easy tutorials.
Cons
- The interface is not that straightforward.
- The Pro version of the software must be purchased to use all its features.
04 – Do Your Data Recovery for Mac Free
The program is capable of recovering data on Mac that is lost as a result of hard drive crashes, voltage fluctuations, downgrading or upgrading the operating system, etc. Do Your Data Recovery for mac Free also has a preview feature can help you check the files’ contents before you recover lost data on Mac.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Despite of being a free program, Do Your data recovery for mac Free is effective and efficient.
- Preview feature is available.
Cons
- The Preview feature is not capable of reading all the files.
- Better recovery results need to pay for Pro version for Mac.
05 – Tenorshare Any Data Recovery for Mac
Tenorshare Any data recovery for Mac supports most of the advanced versions of Mac OS X including Mac OS X El Capita (10.11). The program is capable of recovering the lost media files, emails, photos, etc. from your Mac hard drive.
The software is also capable of detecting and scanning any other digital devices that you connect to your Mac computer via USB.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The application’s step-by-step guide allows you to perform the data recovery along with displaying the important tips and suggestions that may be helpful during the process.
- The interface of the program is intuitive and easy-to-understand.
Cons
- No log files are created for the data recovery process.
- The application comes with a price tag.
06 – Stellar Phoenix Mac data recovery
Stellar Phoenix data recovery for Mac is another data recovery software for Mac. The program supports almost all the advanced versions of Mac OS X including Mac OS X El Capitan. With this application, you can easily recover data on Mac including your lost media files, photographs, or other documents from within a crashed hard drives, corrupted or deleted partitions, or from the NTFS Boot Camp partitions.
Even though for Mac, the program supports various filesystems that it can detect when any external devices connected to the computer.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Supports raw data recovery from the corrupted or deleted partitions.
- Enables full hard disk drive scan to recover the lost data.
- Supports various filesystems including HFS, exFAT, NTFS, etc.
Cons
- The software has a price tag.
- With numerous supported file systems, the data recovery process may sometimes get confusing. However, you can always use the built-in help files to address the concern.
07 – Data Rescue 5 for Mac
Data Rescue Mac can recover videos and photos from a Mac hard disk with its strong capability. With the data rescue software for Mac, you can make the selection for the scanned files based on the name, size and modified date. It also supports the preview of lost files. Moreover, it can recognize the data duplication and eliminate the duplicate ones. The biggest drawback is that it can only recover 100 types of files. It means that once many of our common data get lost, it doesn't work at all.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Allows deep scan of the hard disk which is useful when the normal scanning fails to detect the deleted files.
- Allows the Clone feature that creates a replica of your existing drive, and then scans the clone drive for deleted or lost files. This ensures that your main hard disk remains intact even if something goes wrong during the process.
Cons
- An annual subscription is needed to use the program for unlimited data recovery for Mac.
- Only support the recovery of 100 types and formats of data and files.
To Wrap Up
Update From El Capitan
Different people have different needs and different approaches to help them recover data on Mac. All the above Mac data recovery tools are efficient in their own ways and this Mac data recovery software can perform a good recovery process to users as an individual, you may find a perfect software from the list to best fit your needs.
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If OS X El Capitan came preinstalled on your new Mac, you’ll probably never need this article until you decide to sell it. At that time, it’s a good idea to erase the disk and install a fresh copy of OS X for the next owner.
If you’re thinking about reinstalling because something has gone wrong with your Mac, know that an OS X reinstallation should be your last resort. If nothing else fixes your Mac, reinstalling OS X could well be your final option before invasive surgery (that is, trundling your Mac to a repair shop). You don’t want to reinstall OS X if something easier can correct the problem. So if you have to do a reinstallation, realize that this is more or less your last hope (this side of the dreaded screwdriver, anyway).
In this article, you discover all you need to know to install or reinstall OS X, if you should have to.Reinstalling is a hassle because although you won’t lose the contents of your Home folder, applications you’ve installed, or the stuff in your Documents folder (unless something goes horribly wrong or you have to reformat your hard drive), you might lose the settings for some System Preferences, which means you’ll have to manually reconfigure those panes after you reinstall.
And you might have to reinstall drivers for third-party hardware such as mice, keyboards, printers, tablets, and the like. Finally, you might have to reregister or reinstall some of your software.
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s almost always inconvenient. That said, reinstalling OS X almost always corrects all but the most horrifying and malignant of problems. The process in El Capitan is (compared with root-canal work, income taxes, or previous versions of OS X) relatively painless.
How to install (or reinstall) OS X
In theory, you should have to install El Capitan only once, or never if your Mac came with El Capitan preinstalled. And in a perfect world, that would be the case. But you might find occasion to install, reinstall, or use it to upgrade, such as
If your Mac is currently running any version of OS X except El Capitan
If you have a catastrophic hard-drive crash that requires you to initialize (format) or replace your boot drive
If you buy an external hard drive and want it to be capable of being your Mac’s startup disk (that is, a bootable disk)
If you replace your internal hard drive with a larger, faster, or solid state drive
If any essential OS X files become damaged or corrupted or are deleted or renamed
If you sell or give away your Mac
The following instructions do triple duty: Of course they’re what you do to install OS X for the first time on a Mac or a freshly formatted hard or solid-state disk. But they’re also what you do if something really bad happens to the copy of OS X that you boot your Mac from, or if the version of OS X on your Mac is earlier than 10.10 El Capitan. In other words, these instructions describe the process for installing, reinstalling, or upgrading OS X El Capitan.
You must have Internet access to complete this procedure.
If you’ve never had El Capitan on this Mac, the first thing to do is visit the Mac App Store, download El Capitan (it’s free), and install it. Once you’ve done that, here’s how to install, reinstall, or upgrade to El Capitan, step by step:
Boot from your Recovery HD partition by restarting your Mac while holding down the Command+R keys.
The OS X Utilities window appears.
Select Reinstall OS X, and click Continue.
The OS X El Capitan splash screen appears.
Click Continue.
A sheet informing you that your computer’s eligibility needs to be verified by Apple appears.
Click Continue to begin the process of installing or reinstalling OS X.
If you’re not connected to the Internet, you’ll be asked to choose a Wi-Fi network from the AirPort menu in the top-right corner.
The El Capitan software license agreement screen appears.
Read the license agreement and click Agree.
A sheet drops down, asking whether you agree to the terms of the license agreement.
Click Agree again.
Yes, you did just click Agree; this time you’re being asked to confirm that you indeed clicked the Agree button. If you don’t click Agree, you can’t go any farther, so I advise you to click Agree now.
Choose the disk on which you want to reinstall OS X by clicking its icon once in the pane where you select a disk.
If only one suitable disk is available, you won’t have to choose; it will be selected for you automatically.
Click the Install button.
A sheet asks for your Apple ID and password.
Type your Apple ID and password in the appropriate fields, and click Sign In.
Your El Capitan installation (or reinstallation) begins. The operating system takes 30 to 60 minutes to install, so now might be a good time to take a coffee break. When the install is finished, your Mac restarts itself.
If you were reinstalling El Capitan on the hard disk that it was originally installed on, or upgrading from Mavericks, you’re done now. Your Mac will reboot, and in a few moments you can begin using your new, freshly installed (and ideally trouble-free) copy of OS X El Capitan.
If, on the other hand, you’re installing El Capitan on a hard disk for the first time, you still have one last step to complete. After your Mac reboots, the Setup Assistant window appears.
Getting set up with the Setup Assistant
Create Recovery Usb El Capitan
Assuming that your installation process goes well and your Mac restarts itself, the next thing you should see (and hear) is a short, colorful movie that ends by transforming into the first Setup Assistant screen (Apple Assistants such as this are like wizards in Windows, only smarter), fetchingly named Welcome.
To tiptoe through the Setup Assistant, follow these steps:
When the Welcome screen appears, choose your country from the list by clicking it once, and then click the Continue button.
If your country doesn’t appear in the list, select the Show All check box, which causes a bunch of additional countries to appear.
After you click Continue, the Select Your Keyboard screen appears.
Choose a keyboard layout from the list by clicking it once, and then click Continue.
If you want to use a U.S. keyboard setup, click the U.S. listing. If you prefer a different country’s keyboard layout, select the Show All check box; a bunch of additional countries’ keyboards (as well as a pair of Dvorak keyboard layouts) appear in the list. Choose the one you prefer by clicking it — and then click Continue.
The Select Your Wi-Fi Network screen appears.
Click the name of the wireless network you use to connect to the Internet, type its password, and then click Continue.
If you don’t see the network you want to use, click Rescan.
If you don’t use a wireless network, click Other Network Setup, and then choose one of the available options, or choose My Computer Does Not Connect to the Internet. Click Continue.
The Migration Assistant (also known as the Transfer Information to This Mac) screen appears.
Do one of the following:
Choose to transfer data, and then click Continue.
If this is a brand-new Mac or you’re installing OS X El Capitan on a Mac and have another Mac or Time Machine backup disk nearby, you can transfer all of your important files and settings by following the onscreen instructions and connecting the new and old Macs via FireWire or Ethernet cable.
Transferring data can take hours — that’s the bad news.
The good news is that once the data transfer finishes, you’re finished, too. In other words, you can ignore the steps that follow (which are only for brand new installations with no data to transfer).
Goodbye and good luck.
Choose not to transfer data, and then click Continue.
The Enable Location Services screen appears. Location Services allows apps such as Maps and services such as Spotlight Suggestions to gather and use data including your approximate location.
Select (or don’t select) the Enable Location Services on this Mac check box, and then click Continue.
The Sign In with Your Apple ID screen appears.
Do one of the following:
If you want to use your Apple ID with this Mac, type your ID (such as tcook@me.com) and password in the appropriate fields, and then click Continue.
If you don’t have an Apple ID or prefer not to use one with this Mac, click Don’t Sign In, and then click Continue.
To learn more about getting an Apple ID, click the blue Learn More link. In a nutshell, an Apple ID lets you make one-click purchases at the iTunes Store, iPhoto, or the Apple Store, and includes free iCloud membership.
The Terms and Conditions screen appears.
Read the Terms and Conditions and click Agree.
A sheet drops down to confirm your agreement.
Click Agree again.
The Create a Computer Account screen appears.
Do one of the following:
If you provided your Apple ID (in Step 6), select the Use My iCloud Account to Log In check box. Then fill in the Account Name (sometimes called Short Name).
Fill in the Full Name, Account Name (sometimes called Short Name), Password, Verify Password, and Hint fields.
This first account that you create will automatically have administrator privileges for this Mac. You can’t easily delete or change the name you choose for this account, so think it through.
You can’t click the Continue button until you’ve filled in the first two fields. Because a password is optional, you can choose to leave both password fields blank if you like. If you do, your Mac warns you that without a password, your Mac won’t be secure. If that’s okay, click OK. If you change your mind and want to have a password, click Cancel.
If you want a different picture, click the little picture to the right of your name (labeled “edit”) and do one of the following:
To take a picture of yourself with your Mac’s built-in camera, click the Take Photo Snapshot button. Then click Continue.
When the picture appears, you can change its size by using the slider control directly below the image and move it around in the frame by clicking your face and dragging. If you’re not happy with this snapshot, click Retake a Video Snapshot.
To select a picture from the Picture library, click the picture you want to represent you — the butterfly, dog, parrot, flower, or whatever — and then click Continue.
Click Continue to exit the Create a Computer Account screen. If you didn’t provide an Apple ID, skip to Step 13.
If you provided your Apple ID in Step 6, the Set Up iCloud Keychain screen appears.
Do one of the following:
Click Set Up iCloud Keychain. When the screen requesting your passcode appears, type your four-digit passcode, and click Continue.
If you’ve forgotten your passcode or don’t have one, click Forgot Code to Reset iCloud Keychain.
A verification code is sent to your iPhone or other Apple device.
Click Set Up Later.
If you choose this option, skip to Step 14.
Type the code in the verification field and then click Continue.
Wait a few minutes while your user account is created and El Capitan is configured for you.
The OS X Finder’s Desktop appears.
And that’s all there is to it. You’re done.