Emptied trash by mistake – how do I restore?

[Gunner Jones]

Check the Auto Save Vault. Maybe you’ve actually got a back up.

NEVER EVER finish the work day w/o a working backup project file that is saved somewhere OFF your computer. To not do so is very, very foolish.

[Tim O’grady]

Thanks for the clarification Peter.

Tim

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

You know, all of these replies are usually posted following a DIFFERENT (and more common) problem:
A crashed hard disk.

I know this is a (somewhat) similar issue, but still, how did a lot (apparently) of important files get moved to the Trash?

And, following THAT, why/how was the Trash summarily emptied?

This is so strange that I’m thinking there may be a misunderstanding somewhere in this situation.

[Tim O’grady]

I think you’re assuming too much. The program mentioned above is interesting, and attractive for that rare occassion that a file might go missing (for what ever reason), but it’s not something I feel I need, like say Disk Warrior. Just curious, I guess.

[Andy Mees]

Hi christian
sadly i’d have to echo bogiesan’s advice … don’t expect to recover your data, prepare for the worst.

whilst the file recovery programs ‘do’ work, they are primarily geared towards recovering data from a damaged disk … most importantly they scour the hard disk for directory data and use that data to locate the files … recovering data that has been ‘trashed’ and the trash ’emptied’ is not entirely the same as the directory data has been erased … such file recovery is only possible by scavenging the entire disk … and frankly it is rarely very successful (often, they may find files but with none of the header info, rendering them useless, especially if they are Mac files with resource “_rsrc” data)

simply put, whilst in os 9 file recovery was relatively simple and the results usually good, in os x this is is not the case.

if the lost files cannot be recaptured and you have no backup or other recourse then you might consider sending your drive to a data recovery specialist, they are expensive but they do have expertise in these matters BUT again i should stress that theres still no guarantee of actually recovering any of the lost files.

shit happens. nobody ever means for it to happen, so just ignore the smug ‘how can you have done this’ comments. but one thing is for sure … theres nothing like some real world experience of data loss to make a person implement some effective backup strategies in the future.

best of luck with your lost files
Andy

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Andy Mees] “so just ignore the smug ‘how can you have done this’ comments.”

That was very hurtful of you.
Why do you think it was intended as a SMUG comment?

The POINT is, it is so unusual for a chain of events like this to HAPPEN…
that its a red flag that maybe that’s NOT what happened!
(Does no one else SEE this as a possibility?)

My questions are about FURTHER EXPLORING exactly what took place (or what was THOUGHT to have taken place) to make sure that any of these drastic measures really need to be implemented.

Most of us are HERE on the COW because we want to HELP!

So, if this in FACT, is a real situation, what are the DETAILS of exactly what happened?

What KIND of files where erased, how MANY, what kind of DRIVE, etc.
Exactly how did these files get MOVED to the Trash
(-OR- “are you SURE they were IN the Trash?)

So, you’re darn RIGHT I want to know “how this could happen”
or is this detail stuff of no interest or importance to anyone trying to HELP?

[Christian Friis]

Hey guys – thanks for all the info + enthusiasm etc. I sense the need for a thorough explanation…

I posted the question on behalf of a friend, who isn’t an experienced fcp editor. She was in need of a fast answer so I guided her over the phone – As she (for some unknown reason) wasn’t (instantly) able to create a cow account… I posted the question instead.

Anyway. What happened was that she had moved some jpgs (some of which were the base of a slideshow in fcp) from her internal hd to a firewire disc. Or at least she thought she’d done that. One folder was missing. She was in a hurry, and in need of storage space (and very tired I guess. The actual reason why the actions to deletion was taken… and why there was no backup… is not really worth questioning her about at this point), so she deleted the files from the internal hd – and emptied the trash. When opening her fcp project of course there were missing files, that couldn’t be reconnected. Basically that’s the story.

I hope this clarifies the motive for the question.

From what I hear now, she was able to recover some of the jpgs, but not all of them. So the time, effort and inputs were worth the while. THANKS again.

Christian.

[Andy Mees]

hi Thax

with the boards indulgence i will reply …

my comment was not directed personally at you nor the other poster who made a similar comment, please don’t take it so. i was simply focused on the original post …

christian mentions that his question is not directly fcp related and he mentions specifically that he emptied the trash, his post appealed to board members who may have some knowledge or experience in recovering the deleted files and i responded to that.

i do feel that when someone posts a specific scenario and appeals for specific help then we should be trying to give what guidance we can and not simply question the posters facts. however, clearly your intentions were good and my comment caused you some offense, in retrospect the use of ‘smug’ was unecessarily inflamatory and my appologies to you. my presence on the board is of course primarily selfish, i’m here to glean whatever expertise i can, but when i think i may be able to contribute something of value i do so. i’m certainly not here to cause enemies.

respectfully
Andy Mees

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Christian] “What happened was that she had moved some jpgs (some of which were the base of a slideshow in fcp) from her internal hd to a firewire disc”

Ah, now we see that these were not captured media files or FCP project files.
We know what kind of drive they were on.
We know how they were erroneously trashed and emptied.
(It might even be that the folder IS somewhere on either disk…
further more intense searching (by, say, a NAME of a single “lost” file) might yield surprising results.

AND we know that Jpeg files WOULD actually be much easier to “recover” in a usable form for FCP
(even if some might need another “trip thru Photoshop).

More INFO posted is always better… so we don’t spend too much COW-time speculating.

[Jiazhou]

I have the same problem. Partner using FC overzealously cleared hard drive space, and in the process accidentally threw away a bunch of capture scratch files and emptied the trash. Any recommendations that will let me avoid reloading all those 40 GB of clips? (Some of which may be incorrectly logged.) Are people having success with Data Rescue?

I’m using OS X 10.3.[something], Panther, on a 150GB harddrive G5.

Thank you!