Is Cinder Recovery really free to try?
Yes. Scanning a drive and previewing every recoverable file — with its original filename — is free forever. You only pay when you're ready to save files back to disk. There's no account required to scan.
How do I recover deleted files on a Mac?
Download Cinder, open it, pick the drive you lost files from, and run a scan. Quick Scan finds files still known to the filesystem (including many in the Trash); Deep Scan carves raw sectors for files the filesystem has forgotten. Preview what's found, then recover the ones you need.
Does Cinder work on Windows?
Yes — Cinder Recovery is available for both macOS and Windows. Both use the same recovery engine, which supports FAT32, NTFS and exFAT drives.
How do I check whether a USB drive or SD card is fake?
Use the built-in, free Drive Integrity & Capacity Test. Counterfeit "fake capacity" drives report a larger size than their real chip, so writing past the true capacity silently overwrites earlier files. The test writes and re-verifies markers across the claimed capacity to catch that wraparound.
Can Cinder recover files after I emptied the Trash or Recycle Bin?
Often, yes. Deep Scan looks for data the filesystem no longer lists — including files emptied from the Trash — on external drives formatted HFS+, APFS, or standard NTFS. The sooner you scan and the less you write to the drive, the better your odds.
Can it recover deleted data from my Mac's startup disk?
Quick Scan works on the startup disk, but deep raw-sector recovery of already-deleted data does not: macOS System Integrity Protection blocks raw access to the disk you're currently booted from. This affects every Mac recovery tool. To deeply recover a startup disk, boot from another drive and scan it from outside.
Will I get the original filenames back?
Yes, wherever the filesystem metadata still exists. Cinder reads FAT32, NTFS and exFAT directory records to restore real names and folder paths — not generic "File001.jpg" reconstructions. Files found by pure signature carving get descriptive generated names.
Which file types can it recover?
Audio, images, video, documents, spreadsheets, archives, databases, and code — plus many more by signature. You can filter results by type and preview photos, audio, and video inline before paying.
What's the difference between Annual and Lifetime?
Annual ($69.95/year) covers unlimited recovery on up to 2 Macs with a year of updates. Lifetime ($199 one-time) adds unlimited Macs, all future updates, and session save/load. Both unlock saving files; scanning and preview are always free.
Why does my Mac say the app is "damaged"?
It isn't — that message appears because the app isn't yet notarized through a paid Apple Developer account. Right-click the app, choose Open, then Open again. You only do this once. See the install help on the download page.