Losing valuable information can be one of the most harrowing events you face in the digital world. Part of the anxiety associated with file loss is that you will have to start all over or that sensitive data will be forever gone.

Relax! You can take a few breaths and stop holding the keyboard in a white-knuckled clutch. In many cases you can retrieve lost data by using a few simple tools that are easily downloadable on your Mac.

Before downloading a recovery program, make sure to search your recycle bin for old or forgotten versions of your lost file. It’s always a bummer to spend time and energy going through the recovery process only to realize you hadn’t really lost your file in the first place. Take a moment to search your computer thoroughly on the off chance you find what you’re looking for.

Another preemptive task is to check your email and any backups you have. You should configure Time Machine so that your computer is automatically backing up data. This will make future incidents much easier to handle.

Alright, but if you can’t find the file in the bin and you don’t have backups, what do you do? It’s pretty simple actually. Download a recovery app for Mac. Different programs have different pros and cons; some of them are more specialized to focus on iphone recovery or photo recovery and some of them are more general. That said, all of them work the same way. If you’re unsure about which one to get, pick something that’s native to Mac OS X and has a comprehensive scan feature.

Download the software of your choice then proceed to scan your disc for lost files. This can get tedious because the file names of deleted files get destroyed, which means that you won’t be able to search for the data you need according to the name you gave it. Instead, you’ll have to manually search and use the preview function to make sure that the file your restoring is the correct one.

Searching can be a pain, but once you isolate and find the file you need, recovery is a snap. Most apps have a recover button for you to click. You may end up waiting a little bit while the app recovers the file, but you won’t have to do or worry about much else. The last thing to keep in mind is that because the file name was probably destroyed, finding the recovered file on your computer will take a bit. You can’t use finder so you’ll just have to hunt it down the old-fashioned way.

And that about sums it up. A good idea is to backup the recovered file to a location other than its original drive. Otherwise, you run the risk of the file being overwritten in the process of recovery and this will only make more work for you.

Good luck and happy recovering!