How do I restore NotesV2.storedata?

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Level 1

10 points

How do I restore NotesV2.storedata?

Hello,

Today, I wanted to clean up some unused accounts on my MBP. So, I created a new user, then I manually moved data from Downloads, Photos etc. from three other accounts into the Users folder for the new account. The account is a light use account (my girlfriend uses it mainly for web browsing etc.). Once I Got all of the data moved over, I deleted the unnecessary accounts, using the option to DELETE the data from the accounts...

A few hours later, she has the Notes app up on the screen and asks, "Where are my notes?" ... oh crap ... So, I used Data Rescue to search for and recover the three files that I discovered are contained in the Users Library Container under apple.blah lbah blah ... the three files starting with NotesV2.storedata ...

She DID NOT have her notes synced to iCloud because she does not use iCloud ... and NO, I don't use Time Machine because it's a pain in the *** on a MBP because I don't like having hard drives attached to my laptop, which I need to be MOBILE (I do use an online backup service, but I don't backup all accounts on the machine) .. so PLEASE all of the haters out there who want to make smart assed comments about backups can just go jump in a lake ... I'm not interested in your scolding. I've been in I.T. professionally for 20 years and I know the obvious pitfalls of not having a backup. This thread is about how to recover the Notes data files into a new account. NOT about scolding people for not having a backup.

SO, does ANYONE have any idea how I can recover these files? I tried copying them over to what would be the same folder under the new User folder, replacing the current files (that have no notes in them), then I opened up the Notes app, but the notes are not there. I know her notes are in these files, because a cryptic view of them in TextEditor reveals her data ... but simply copying the files over to the folder that the Notes app would use for the storing of data does not work ... so I'm looking for advice from anyone in the know.

The files I'm referring to of course are:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV2.storedata
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV2.storedata-shm
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV2.storedata-wal

Thank you in advance for taking the time to reply to this post.

Mike Sims

Posted on Aug 2, 2014 11:29 PM

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Answer 1

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findromy

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2014 3:25 PM in response to W0rkOH0lic

I am also looking for a solution to do a clean recovery.

But here is a work around to access the data, you will also see some garbage data. But you will be able to recover most of the Notes in single file.

Make a backup of all these files, just to be safe.

Create a new folder on Mac Desktop, copy these files there and change/add a .html extension to all these files and when prompted choose yes to use .html extension.

After doing that just double click the file and they will open in default browser. Copy all the notes from there, but its all in single file. Not very pretty, but at-least you will recover your data. Good luck

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