How to recover photos from a formatted SD card on a Mac

Usually, yes, you can get them back. A normal format, the kind cameras and macOS do by default, only resets the card's list of files. The photos themselves stay where they were until something new is written over them. So the most important step is the first one: stop using the card.

Do this now

Take the card out of the camera and don't put it back. Don't take new photos, don't format it again, and don't copy anything onto it. Every new file can land on top of the ones you want.

What formatting actually does

A memory card keeps a table of contents: which file is where. A quick format throws away that table and starts a fresh, empty one. The photos' data is still on the card, just no longer listed. Recovery software reads the card directly, looks for the start of each file (every JPEG, CR3 or MP4 begins with a recognizable pattern) and copies each one out.

Two things make photos truly unrecoverable:

They were overwritten, because you kept shooting or copied files onto the card after formatting.
The format wiped the card, for example a camera's "low level format" option, or an erase option that writes zeros over everything. Some cards and devices also clear their contents as part of a format. If that happened, no software can bring the photos back.

Step by step

Use a card reader connected to your Mac, rather than the camera's USB cable. It's faster and more reliable for reading the whole card.
If macOS offers to initialize or format the card, click Ignore.
Scan the card with a recovery tool (options below). A good tool only reads the card and never writes to it.
Save what it finds to your Mac or another drive, never to the same card.
Check the results, then copy them somewhere safe before you format and reuse the card.

Your options

Free: PhotoRec

PhotoRec is free, open-source and very capable. It runs in Terminal: install it with Homebrew (brew install testdisk, which includes PhotoRec), then follow its text menus. It recovers many formats, including Canon CR3, Nikon NEF and Sony ARW. There's no preview, and you'll sort through the results in Finder. If you're comfortable with a command line, it's a great choice.

Point and click: Shutterkit Recover

Shutterkit Recover does the same job in a Mac app. It scans the card for free and shows a thumbnail of every photo and video it finds, so you know what's there before you pay anything. Saving the files costs $29, once. It opens the card read-only and contains no code that writes to a card. (We make it, so we're biased.)

What to expect

The file names will be different. Names lived in the table that formatting erased, so recovered files get names like f5569.jpg. The photo, and its date and camera details inside the file, are intact.
Folders are gone too, for the same reason. Sort by the date taken in Photos or Finder.
Long videos may come back only partly. A clip recorded while the card was nearly full can be stored in pieces, and then often only the first part is recoverable.
The first few photos may be gone. Formatting writes the new, empty file list onto the start of the card, which can overwrite the files stored there, usually your oldest shots from that card.
Some photos may be missing if they were overwritten after formatting. The free scan tells you exactly what survived.

Next time

Before formatting a card, make sure its contents exist in two places. Shutterkit Offload copies a card to two or three drives at once and checks every copy. It can also keep a full image of the card, so even shots deleted in camera can be found later.

Updated October 11, 2026.