Royal_IT
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: File Recovery

One of my end users had a folder on his desktop and all of his people would connect to his folder to pull files from to work on them or move into another folder. He used this one more as a distribution folder.

Yesterday he or someone/something else deleted the folder and it had some important files that are now lost.

 

The deleted folder isn't in anyone's Trash bin and can't be found anywhere else..

 

Is there anyway to recover this folder or is it gone because (assuming) someone else deleted it?

Mac desktop, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jul 24, 2015 11:57 AM

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Royal_IT

Q: File Recovery

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  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jul 24, 2015 11:58 AM in response to Royal_IT
    Level 10 (314,606 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 24, 2015 11:58 AM in response to Royal_IT

    Try using a data recovery product such as the ones listed here. Don't write anything else to the drive until the files are recovered or you choose not to recover them.


    (130717)

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Jul 24, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Royal_IT
    Level 9 (56,622 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 24, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Royal_IT

    I take it we should assume that the user sharing the files did not have a backup of any kind...

  • by Royal_IT,

    Royal_IT Royal_IT Jul 24, 2015 12:03 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 12:03 PM in response to KiltedTim

    Of course not..Which is unfortunate. Before I started they pulled the "Oh my computer will never have any problems, I don't need a backup" Then something happens and they can't get them back. At least now he realizes he needs one and I'm setting that up right now.

  • by Royal_IT,

    Royal_IT Royal_IT Jul 24, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Niel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Niel

    I was looking at the Data Rescue 4 and just used the Demo, but I still couldn't find the file.

     

    Would I have to run that one every computer that had access to the file to see if it's on any of their systems or where do you think it would have gone if someone else deleted it?

     

    I'll keep looking into those anyways. Thank you

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Jul 24, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Royal_IT
    Level 5 (7,813 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 24, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Royal_IT

    The data should be on the Mac that was hosting the sharing.

     

    It sounds like this Mac is still in use (from your 'setting up backup' comment). It is critical that this disk is not used in any way if you want to recover the most data. The OS will overwrite files & empty space which could be where the deleted files are still on disk. Deleted files may not have the original file name, so you may need to hunt through many files to find the one you need after recovering.

     

    Have you (or the user) considered setting up Dropbox instead?. It can sync across the local network & will keep backups on the server. It is an on web service, so bear that in mind if this is for personal or private info, but sharing works well.

    https://www.dropbox.com/home

     

    10.7 also has 'document revisions' if you recreate the file it may allow you to revert to an earlier version. I would make a full clone to test this - you can't afford to write anything to the current disk if you hope to use any data recovery. Your best bet is to send it to a professional data recovery company if you can afford to do so.