How To Recover Lost Cut And Paste Files On Mac?

Updated on March 26, 2022

Earlier Mac OS X users had a complaint that there is no ‘Cut and Paste’ option alike in Windows OS that eases the work of moving files from one location to another. Since, there was no default Cut-paste option in Mac, users employed third-party solutions for cutting and pasting the files such as ‘TotalFinder’. But, this would mess up things among most of the users.

Fortunately, after a very long period, Apple developed a solution in OS X Lion i.e. a keyboard shortcut where users can Cut and Paste a single file.

How to Cut and Paste Files/Folders in Mac with Keyboard Shortcuts?

Here goes the option for how to cut& paste files on Mac:

Step 1: Press Command + C that copies the file (it doesn’t cut yet).

Step 2: Go to the destination location, and press Option Command + V. This will remove the file from the old location and places it in the destination location.

Since, the file remains in its old location until you press option Command + V keys, losing files is rarely seen. However, there are certain situations wherein users lose a file while cutting and pasting it on Mac OS.

What are the Possible Scenarios for Cut-Paste File Loss on Mac?

• Technical failure: There are certain issues that still trouble the users while using cut and paste options and hence may end up in loss of files on Mac.
• Abrupt/Unexpected power failure: Sometimes it may happen that after cutting the file, the system suddenly stops responding or goes down due to power surge. This puts you into trouble by making you think about how to recover cut files from the computer.
• When third-party solutions are used on Mac to perform the cut-paste operation, any irregularities during the process may result in the losing/deletion of files.

When files get lost from the Mac system during the Cut and Paste process, most of the users think that there are no possibilities of getting back those lost files. But, with the help of a good reliable file recovery tool for Mac one can easily restore lost data within a few seconds. One such proficient file retrieval software is Yodot Mac File Recovery.

How Do I Recover Lost Cut and Paste on Mac?

Method 1: Recover Lost Mac Cut and Paste Files Using Command and Z Keys

Go back to the application from where you cut the file and press the Command and Z keys until it appears or the application beeps.

Method 2: Recover Mac Cut And Paste Files From Time Machine

Step 1: Connect an external storage device, such as a Thunderbolt drive or USB.

Step 2: Open Finder, go to “Application”>>” Migration Assistant ” and choose to transfer the information from a Time Machine Backup.

Step 3: Now, Select the recent backup and click on Continue.

Step 4: Choose the file you want to transfer and click Continue.

Step 5: When the transfer is complete, restart the computer and you will see all the recovered cut-paste files.

If you don't have a backup of the lost cut and paste files from Time Machine, or if you haven't been able to recover lost cut-paste files using either of the above methods, you can always use the Yodot Mac File Recovery tool.

Method 3: Recover Lost Mac Files During Cut and Paste Using Yodot

Yodot Mac File Recovery utility can successfully recover lost cut and paste files on various Mac OS machines without any difficulty. One can bring back all types of files from the system drive, portable hard drive, USB drive, etc. that are either deleted/lost due to numerous reasons. It is designed with read-only restoration algorithms to safely extract files and folders from storage devices without causing any damage to the files during the recovery process.

The software has an advanced powerful scanning strategy that can retrieve data from storage media having HFS and HFS+ file systems. It can recover data from the hard drive and external hard drives that have SATA, IDE, ATA, SCSI, SAS, and other interfaces on Mac OS X. You can employ this application on 32 bit and 64 bit Mac OS versions like Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11.0), Monterey (12.0) and on all previous versions.

Steps recover Mac Cut And Paste Files:

Step 1: Download and install the Yodot Mac File Recovery tool on your Mac system from which files are lost.

Step 2: Launch the application and select the ‘Lost File Recovery’ option and click Next.

Step 3: Select the appropriate drive from which files are lost and proceed.

Step 4: After the scanning process is complete, Preview the Cut-Paste files using Data View and File Type View.

Step 5: Now, opt for required files from the list of recovered files and save them by clicking on the Save option.

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