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macOS 10.13, 10.14, 10.15 and later macOS is using the new file system – Apple File System (APFS). It doesn’t allow any application to access to the system hard drive (the hard drive where the macOS is installed). So, no data recovery software can directly scan the system hard drive (also called startup hard drive, boot hard drive, Mac HD, etc) under macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later macOS. If you want to recover lost data from the system hard drive in APFS, you should disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) first and then run the data recovery software.

Do Your Data Recovery for Mac can help you directly recover lost data from other hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card or external device under macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later macOS. But, if you want to recover lost data from system hard drive under macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later macOS, just follow the steps below.

System Integrity Protection (SIP) is a security feature introduced in Mac Operating System to restrict the access of third-party applications to system disk and partition. This feature prevents any modification in protected system files and folders on your Mac.

Follow these steps to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) and recover lost data from system hard drive in APFS (macOS 10.13, 10.14, 10.15 or later).

Please use your Phone to take pictures of the steps below before you restart your Mac.

Step 1: Click the menu on your Mac and then select Restart.

Step 2: Now your Mac will restart, press and hold 'Command + R' key until your Mac boots into Recovery Mode. (Press and hold the power button if you are using M1 Chip Mac.)

recover lost data from system hard drive under macOS 10.13 High Sierra

Step 3: Click on Utilities menu and launch Terminal.

recover lost data from system hard drive under macOS 10.13 High Sierra

Step 4: Type in csrutil disable in the window of command line and press Return.

recover lost data from system hard drive under macOS 10.13 High Sierra

Step 5: restart your Mac again, and then Run Do Your Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from system hard drive in APFS file system (macOS 10.13 and later macOS).

recover lost data from system hard drive under macOS 10.13 High Sierra

If you have any question, just send an email to support@doyourdata.com. You also can share this article to your facebook, twitter or mobile phone before restarting your Mac.

DoYourData Author

Written & Updated by Justin Kenny

Justin Kenny is a writer & editor of DoYourData. He joined DoYourData in 2016 and focuses on writing articles about Windows data recovery, Mac data recovery, external device data recovery, hard drive clone, data erasure, Mac cleanup, computer issue fixes, etc. He is a super fan of Apple devices and is big on testing new digital device and system utility software.

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