Overwrote a file: Screwed or not?

Post by **thibodeaux** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:23 pm

Let's say I had a big file I was working on all day. Sure, I saved early and often, but I hadn't made a backup copy. For some bizarre reason, I open a different file, and save it with the same name, in the same path.

Oops.

Is this amenable to the same techniques as file un-deletion?

Post by **TPRJones** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:41 pm

As far as I know, you're screwed. Unless it was an Office file, Office automatically saves occassional backups and you may be able to dig one out.

Post by **GORDON** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:23 pm

Had the same thing happen recently when I overwrote "pic1.jpg" with a different "pic1.jpg."

Recovery tools could not help, I think it overwrote on the exact same disk space. Just a guess.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:11 am

Yeah, that's what I figured.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:34 pm

Yeah. About the only thing that could save you is if the app you use to edit the file makes separate backups.

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:14 pm

I'd at least try. The locations of files are stored in a record that is independent of the location of the data.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:40 pm

I think we've discussed the pains of data recovery here before.

Post by **Vince** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:14 pm

Requires some serious data mining software, and even then there's no way to be sure.

I seriously doubt it's intact now.