Recovering specific photos from erased iMac without iCloud or Time Machine backup

Do you really believe their guarantee? They still operate the same way as the AntiVirus companies claim they are protecting your system and the VPN companies claiming they provide security. It is the result of paid testimonials and sponsored articles on web pages. It is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that puts them on the top of all search results.

They all start by teasing you with the files they claim they can recover, then require payment. Users are left with data files that are completely useless. It takes very little effort to find those users who have tried and this site also has users who have contributed with their experience. You won't find them on the companies website that are trying to sell their services to you.

Like I said, it may be possible on External drive, USB drives, and Flash Drives, just not your internal drive, since you have a newer Mac that would have a SSD installed.

LidiaDiali wrote:

That's not true. There are technicians who check hard drives and recover them as long as they aren't overwritten. The problem is finding them or the cost.

Not the internal SSD drive that you have on your Mac. The way SSD drives free up space to make available to the OS is by using the TRIM process to erase the data that was stored there. That is drastically different than in the old days where the mechanical drives just marks the space as available and left the data there. You were able to recover those photos because they were still saved on your computer, just not in your Photo Library.

Once you drag a file to the trash and empty the trash, the file is gone within minutes as that data is overwritten using TRIM and the free space is made available to the OS. Not recoverable. Flash drives, USB thumb drives, and some third party drives don't use TRIM so you would have better luck recovering files on those drives.

On the Mac, internal SSD drives use TRIM by default and external drives typically do not use it because they use the USB controller when connected.

As you discovered, the technician you hired couldn't recover files that you didn't already fine yourself. Modern Macs with SSD drive effectively erase your data immediately. The data is lost.

The only way to recover is from your backup. As you have no backup, there will be no recovery.