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Upgrading to MacOS Ventura erased all Notes ($100k+ damages)
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saving important data in notes alone does not seem like a wise business decision... ya might wanna save that in a hard file format and back it up. notes it more for quick things and works best synced across iCloud....
Take advice already suggested and call Apple. Also take this as a learning moment. I suffered a similar issue with that Snow Leopard bug. One copy is not a backup. Have three copies of this type of data (if I lose a Photoshop installer I don’t care). Follow 3-2-1. Three copies, two different media, one offsite. That way you are covered from localized disasters.
Yeah this is all well established. I'm just saying maybe dozens of copies of the same post don't really help anyone.
I have Notes myself, stored local and online. Its on my Mac, stored at my current ISP storage and of course TimeMachine. And my TimeMachine is a Drobo RAID unit.
TimeMachine has been really great for me over the years. Files I had lost or overwritten months ago were recoverable in most of their versions.
Backing up is mandatory nowadays, even if you don’t own a business of some kind, our lives have become very much dependent on digital data. It is crucial to backup and sometimes even keep paper copies.
Some data, like photos, has to be kept safe for decades.
TimeMachine has been really great for me over the years. Files I had lost or overwritten months ago were recoverable in most of their versions.
Backing up is mandatory nowadays, even if you don’t own a business of some kind, our lives have become very much dependent on digital data. It is crucial to backup and sometimes even keep paper copies.
Some data, like photos, has to be kept safe for decades.
been researching this a bit, but mostly curious to see if the OP returns with a report, after calling apple. if the database is still there, can it in fact be retrieved? but am thinking that, if it's been overwritten by an empty database, then there's no hope.
there used to be a program on the app store called 'note2txt', that backed up all your notes to basic text files. might be worth looking into.
for me, notes need to be in icloud (i work on both my mac and iphone with the app). having the icloud backup is essential.
there used to be a program on the app store called 'note2txt', that backed up all your notes to basic text files. might be worth looking into.
for me, notes need to be in icloud (i work on both my mac and iphone with the app). having the icloud backup is essential.
I think it's been repeated to death, but always backup, backup and backup again.
I back everything up on my Time Machine, but I also back up on iCloud too.
I truly hope you do manage to recover your files, but sadly, the only person to blame here is you.
I back everything up on my Time Machine, but I also back up on iCloud too.
I truly hope you do manage to recover your files, but sadly, the only person to blame here is you.
OK I have done some tests:-
Installed and booted from a test Ventura on a External
Signed into my test AppleID
Created some notes on iCloud and On-My-Mac
Ran Time Machine
Deleted notes
Closed Notes app
Browsed "Time Machine backups"
Restored (from before the deletions) the folder ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes
Opened Notes app
All notes had been restored, but the iCloud ones disappeared before my eyes after a second or two.
I repeated but turned off iCloud Notes in Settings > Name > iCloud > Notes
Restored again
Opened Notes app
All notes present iCloud and On-My-Mac...and the iCloud ones did not disappear in a couple seconds.
(Crucially at this point in a real world situation I would be able to copy all the iCloud Notes to On-My-Mac)
Then I turned iCloud Notes back on and the iCloud ones promptly disappeared again.
The problem obviously is that when iCloud Notes is turned on, the version in iCloud overwrites the local copy. So I signed in to iCloud.com and deleted all the notes there hoping that there would then be nothing to overwrite the restore. This was daft of course because the database was now empty so it overwrote the local database with an empty one. What I needed to have done was delete the iCloud Database completely, hoping the restored local one would be pushed to iCloud, but don't know how to do that.
I note that on iCloud.com there are Data Recovery options for Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, but not for Notes.
Conclusion
At this point the best I have achieved is to turn off iCloud Notes before doing the restore, then copy all the restored iCloud Notes to On-My-Mac, before turning iCloud Notes back on. Then you can copy the restored notes back to iCloud.
Does anyone know what the trick is to stop the restored notes being overwritten?
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Happened to our systems also. Lost 4 moths of notes stored on the iCloud. Plus lost the sorting of photos in the iCloud when we added the new photo sharing. Had to undue the photo sharing and rebuild the databases. Very fortunately no photos were lost. FYI, iCloud is not and never was a data backup for IOS devices. One purpose and one purpose only, sharing. The only backup Apple has ever had, TimeMachine and TimeCapsule.
I know someone who also lost all their notes after a macOS update, though it was Monterey iirc. Since then, I regularly make backups of my notes with a free App Store app called "Exporter" (black icon enclosing a white circle, black arrow pointing down inside it). I still like using notes, don't have to pay for it on a subscription like other note-taking apps, and it syncs quickly across all my devices. Absolutely agree that it is unacceptable that these things happen, and also agree that you should make a backup of everything (including cloud backups on servers you don't own) regularly, especially right before a major macOS (or other-) update.
Since the above is a tested proven way of restoring Notes from a TM Backup, and doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, and is not like restoring other types of data, I thought it worth giving the short version:
1. Turn off iCloud Notes in Settings > Name > iCloud.
2. Restore the folder ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes
3. Open Notes app
4. Copy all restored iCloud notes to On-My-Mac (On-my-Mac may need enabling in Notes > Settings)
5. Turn iCloud Notes back on.
6. Move the restored notes out of On-My-Mac back to iCloud.
If anyone sees this or another method documented anywhere please post.
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This needs to be KB'ed somewhere. Think Apple would put a bounty out for that?
BL.
I totally agree with you and perhaps someone reading this will be reminded to backup. People get complacent and as he said well he never lost data before so he didn't think it was needed. I've lost irreplaceable photos because I failed to back them up. Also a lot of people don't realize storing the only copy of something on the cloud isn't a backup. Yes it's probably safer than storing it only locally but still have at least a second copy somewhere.
Also the more important something is the more backups are. 100k+ worth of data... There should be five copies of it to include two in separate geographical locations in case of some type of natural disaster. I really feel bad for the OP... Wow what a mess up! I hope he's able to recover this
To the OP hire a professional data recovery service. Just stop and don't do anything yourself that will further make recovery impossible. You don't need to be doing do it yourself recovery at your level. Just no, don't do it.
If you get the data back or even if not hire a company in IT that can set you up a backup solution. It's well worth the cost if your data is so valuable! I wish you good luck!
OP isn't engaging, so just another dead thread...
Q-6
Q-6
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Data is on:
my MacBook Pro. when docked at my office, it then goes to:
Time Machine that backs up hourly to
a 4tb g-drive
a 2tb g-drive
a 12tb pegasus raid
and when I plug them in about once a week or so
a 1tb ssd
and a 5tb lacie rugged
also stored in icloud
and the iMac at home has the same data in my user account
that backs up to a 1tb Lacie rugged when I plug it in
That's about 9 copies. the iMac is at home. the MacBook is at my office or in my backpack. and two of the portable drives are in my backpack. if my home is gone, the office and my backpack should have copies. if the backpack is stolen, ill have the office backups and my home iMac. if the office burns down, ill have my backpack and my home iMac. if all goes down, ill have iCloud. if iCloud gets destroyed ill have my local copies.
as a pastor, I call it technological stewardship
my MacBook Pro. when docked at my office, it then goes to:
Time Machine that backs up hourly to
a 4tb g-drive
a 2tb g-drive
a 12tb pegasus raid
and when I plug them in about once a week or so
a 1tb ssd
and a 5tb lacie rugged
also stored in icloud
and the iMac at home has the same data in my user account
that backs up to a 1tb Lacie rugged when I plug it in
That's about 9 copies. the iMac is at home. the MacBook is at my office or in my backpack. and two of the portable drives are in my backpack. if my home is gone, the office and my backpack should have copies. if the backpack is stolen, ill have the office backups and my home iMac. if the office burns down, ill have my backpack and my home iMac. if all goes down, ill have iCloud. if iCloud gets destroyed ill have my local copies.
as a pastor, I call it technological stewardship
i back up my macbook (over the network, ie thru my imac) and my imac (plugged into) an external 4TB drive, with carbon copy cloner. i also back up both macs to idrive (online). and when i travel, the macbook backs up to idrive for the time i'm away.
my data is in 3 places. if someone stole my macbook & external drive, i have idrive. and if someone stole the bunker in ohio (or wherever), i've got my external. 👍
my data is in 3 places. if someone stole my macbook & external drive, i have idrive. and if someone stole the bunker in ohio (or wherever), i've got my external. 👍
I use iDrive as well. I also have 3 clones of my computer in a 4 disk array with the 4th disk being a Time Machine backup ... and another drive that I back up to once a month that goes into a fireproof safe. And of course iDrive. And none of my stuff is worth even remotely 100 grand. I'm not surprised when the average person doesn't have a back up system as most people aren't really aware that they need it until something goes wrong. But the way OP handled all of this is inexcusable.
Thanks for the tip. 👍
I just installed it and did a backup of my Notes — all 903 of them.
thanks for the share (since 'note2txt' is not silicon-ready). 'exporter' works well enough (doesn't work with any notes with images), but nice to have some sort-of actual backup file 👍