Recovering accidentally replaced folder

[paolo90]

I accidentally deleted the contents of one folder by moving a folder into another folder that contained another folder of the same name (God, I hope that made sense). Thinking it would work like Windows, I didn't bother reading the dialog box that popped up and just clicked erase. Are my files gone for good or is there a way to recover them?

 

[sushi]

If I understand you correctly, you copied a folder called say "XYZ" onto a place where a folder called "XYZ" already existed.

Then when the COPY dialog appeared, and stated:

An item named "XYZ" already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the one that you are moving?

Then you clicked REPLACE?

If so, then the original contents of the folder "XYZ" are gone.

If you have Time Machine, then it might be possible to retrieve an older copy of the folder "XYZ" or some of it's contents.

 

[paolo90]

Yes, that's exactly what happened. Unfortunately, I don't have Time Machine so I guess I'm out of luck.

Thanks.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Data Rescue 2 should be able to recover the files, if they haven't been overwritten by the hard disk.

 

[sushi]

Data Rescue 2 should be able to recover the files, if they haven't been overwritten by the hard disk.

Recovery programs are a possibility for sure.

Was over on another thread talking about secure erasing, so I was in that mindset with my comments above.

To the OP, there are some file recovery programs that might work depending on the size of the folder and how many files it contained. Data Rescue 2 & DiskWarrior might be of help to find your folder and files.

The reason for this, is that if you do not secure erase the files on your hard drive, the OS will attempt to save new files at different locations than the ones that you deleted. Depending on the empty space available at the time, you may be able to recover all your files. There are many variables involved so there are no guarantees. But it would be worth a shot.