Comparisons & alternatives · Backup and cloning tools
Should I use the Recycle Vault or Time Machine to get a deleted file back?
Short answer: Use the Recycle Vault for anything Storage Studio removed (kept about 6 months). For files you or other apps deleted, check the Trash and then Time Machine or your backup.
It depends on who removed it. The Recycle Vault holds only what Storage Studio removed for you — a clean-up, a duplicate, an uninstall — for about 6 months. If that's how it disappeared, look there first: Restore puts it back where it came from, and Undo last removal reverses the most recent removal in one step.
If you deleted the file yourself, or another app did, it won't be in the Recycle Vault. Check your Mac's Trash first, then Time Machine (or your own backup tool), which covers everything it has backed up.
Restoring items from the Recycle Vault needs the external drive connected, because that's where the files rest. See Recycle Vault.