I accidentally deleted a folder with some important files and only realized it after I emptied the trash. I was looking around in Disk Utility and wondered if it can actually recover deleted files or if its only for fixing drive problems.
Has anyone here used it for something like this? Or do I need different software? The files were on my Mac’s internal ssd if that makes any difference.
@Sarah-Miller oof, short answer no, Disk Utility isn’t built for that at all, kinda a common mix-up. It’s for stuff like First Aid, partitioning, erasing drives, that kind of thing. This page covers what it’s actually meant for, none of that touches recovering files you already nuked from the trash
Also, since you said internal SSD, that actually matters a lot here ngl. Modern Macs run TRIM, which tells the drive to wipe the space a deleted file used almost right away, not just mark it as “free” like old hard drives did. window to get anything back shrinks FAST once trash is emptied. Stop using the Mac as much as you can 
First thing I’d check is whether you’ve got Time Machine set up, if yes that’s way easier than any recovery software. If not, set it up once this is sorted so you’re not in this spot again
@RalphK just checked, no backup unfortunately 
wish I’d set that up before this happened…
Ah well ok so you’ll need actual recovery software then, no way around it. Honestly, it’s hit or miss, tried a bunch over the years and results vary depending on timing mostly. Used Disk Drill before and it found my stuff that one time at least
Tbh not sure why so many people think Disk Utility does recovery, it’s literally never done that lol. Anyway sooner you try something the better, TRIM doesn’t wait around for anybody. soo good luck!!