How to recover a Deleted Bookmark folder

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Level 1

114 points

How to recover a Deleted Bookmark folder

After clicking on the "show all bookmarks" button in Safari, I selected the folder I wanted to delete (or thought I had), then went to the Edit Menu and chose Delete. Only later - once the Undo option had expired - did I realize it was the wrong folder.

I know that deleting files doesn't erase them, only transfers them to the empty space of the Hard Drive. Which is why I walked away from my Mac last night until I could post the following question today...

What's the best software out there to recover my old bookmark file?

P.S. Unfortunately I didn't have my bookmarks backed up with .mac.

Thanks in advance!

G4 tower (mirrored doors), Mac OS X (10.4.3), 1GB of ram

Posted on Oct 1, 2006 10:46 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Hawaiian_Starman

Level 7

21,415 points

Oct 1, 2006 10:55 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Dr. Smoke has a helpful piece on Data Recovery.

As an aside, besides my backups on the external drive, I also make a duplicate copy when I think of it of my bookmarks file (command/D), just as a precaution. In the backup realm, redundancy is a great ally.

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Answer 2

Enio Rigolin2 Author

Level 1

114 points

Oct 1, 2006 10:59 AM in response to Hawaiian_Starman

Thanks man,

What do you think of Filesalvage?

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Answer 3

Oct 1, 2006 11:10 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

You're welcome.

Starting here may be the best place to get more information about FileSalvage.

iMac G5 Rev C 20" 2.5gb RAM 250 gb HD/iBook G4 1.33 ghz 1.5gb RAM 40 gb HD LaCie 160gb d2 HD Canon i960 printer 10.4.8

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Answer 4

Oct 1, 2006 6:55 PM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Just saw this listed on the Mac User Group site - This program on Data Recovery Tips may be of interest to you.

iMac G5 Rev C 20" 2.5gb RAM 250 gb HD/iBook G4 1.33 ghz 1.5gb RAM 40 gb HD LaCie 160gb d2 HD Canon i960 printer 10.4.8

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Answer 5

Enio Rigolin2 Author

Level 1

114 points

Oct 1, 2006 7:29 PM in response to Hawaiian_Starman

Thank you Hawaiian,

Filesalvage pulled a txt file with a lot of web addresses surrounded by code, which looks like a serious manual pain to recover from. I've emailed Filesalvage people to see if there's a step I'm missing. If not, I may just get DataRescue, depending on what this gentleman has to say.

Thanks again!

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Answer 6

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Oct 2, 2006 12:14 AM in response to Enio Rigolin2

Hi

compare the txt file to your bookmarks plist file in textedit, or whatever editor you use.

If the file starts with the same

"bplist00Õ„…UTitle_WebBookmarkTypeXChildren...." string - you might just be in luck.

if so, I'd try backing up your current bookmarks.plist, renaming this txt file as bookmarks.plist & dropping it in the Safari folder after quitting safari, then starting safari.....

If you want to be all safe n sound - you might do this in a different user account to see if it works ( if it doesn't, safari will likely crash ).....

Even if this doesn't work, you may be able to re-construct the file correctly by examination of the start & end of a real bookmarks.plist file & mimicking that, using the data from your recovered file.

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Answer 7

Enio Rigolin2 Author

Level 1

114 points

Oct 2, 2006 1:13 PM in response to andyBall_uk

Wow! Thanks Andy. I'm on another Mac right now, but I did a test on this one and it looks like it just might work! Fantastic news. I'll let you all know if it worked.

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