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highres

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 1, 2005
519
4
Near the Singularity
PLEASE HELP! This has never happened to me before in many years of using Macs, I somehow put my Pictures folder with months of work in it, in the Trash and started the Delete. I quickly realized the error and stopped Emptying the Trash. Does anyone know of a way to recover the files it already deleted? :(
 
Phat_Pat said:
i've come across the folder .trash before which is hidden.... i dunno if you'll be able to find it though... it was pretty random where it was

I'll do a search for the .trash folder, I am panicking, I can't believe I did something this stupid. Even more stupid is not backing up for a couple of months...*Pounds Head Against Desk*... :( I have two websites and many other design files I have put a lot of work into.
 
I am interested to know if you find that folder or not. I have never actually heard of it...but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It is my understanding that data recovery applications have to already be installed and that the longer you take to actually start recovering the data, the more likely that you will not retrieve it.
 
Stop using your machine - NOW - as in, turn it off. OSX overwrites disk space really quickly and the longer you use the machine, the slimmer your chances get.

Get DataRescue X and try to recover the files, its your only hope. Note that Prosoft specifically disclaims the ability to recover deleted trash files under OSX.
 
im not really sure how i found it i remember browsing my external hard-drive and i had some script that was showing invisible folders( something was taking up alot of space) and i found like a 40GB trash folder of all the stuff i'd deleted in like a week.

It was weird but also cool cause it had video files i needed for a project that i had deleted.

perhaps it was copied to the external because i copied my home-folder over to my external and i had stuff in the trash folder. I'm not sure.... :confused:
 
CanadaRAM said:
Stop using your machine - NOW - as in, turn it off. OSX overwrites disk space really quickly and the longer you use the machine, the slimmer your chances get.

Get DataRescue X and try to recover the files, its your only hope. Note that Prosoft specifically disclaims the ability to recover deleted trash files under OSX.

OK I turned my machine off and downloaded Data Rescue on my other networked machine, so now I should turn the machine on, transfer and install Data Rescue and try the recovery? BTW Thanks for the help, I hope the recovery works...
 
Running Data Rescue II for OSX right now, praying it will work, the lesson here is BACKUP YOUR FILES OFTEN...Normally I am very careful about backing up, it's been real hectic lately with all the projects I am working on so I slipped up on my backup schedule, now I am paying the price... :(
 
I have not had terribly great success with Datarescue but it does work. Some of the files it has rescued seemed to be corrupted but other than that, there really isn't much you can do after that. I hope you are more fortunate than myself (lost about five years of irreplaceable pictures).
 
highres said:
Running Data Rescue II for OSX right now, praying it will work, the lesson here is BACKUP YOUR FILES OFTEN...Normally I am very careful about backing up, it's been real hectic lately with all the projects I am working on so I slipped up on my backup schedule, now I am paying the price... :(
So does it really work? It would be great IF deleted data could still be recovered somehow?
 
Yes, it works if used correctly (don't run your computer until you have finished rescuing files). It will scan your hard drive (don't run the program locally if possible). Then it will spit out a list of all the potentially rescued files. This part is rather confusing because these lists are usually numerous. However there is thankfully a search tool.
 
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