How to Recover Overwritten Files
Worse yet, we can accidentally copy something over the top of another file.
It's an error eventually made by every user at least once, and often when it happens, the overwritten file is an extremely important one.
The immediate concern for any operator is to know if you can recover overwritten files, and how to perform the process.
Under the best of circumstances, the file will exist somewhere else, making it easy to restore it to its previous state.
However, in order for this to be the case, there would need to be a backup system in place.
If regular backups are performed, then a fairly recent version of the file should be easily recovered from the last backup.
Sometimes, it can be worth redoing a few hours of work in order to move forward smoothly, rather than spending numerous hours trying to find and restore a file that has been lost, deleted, corrupted, or overwritten.
While repeating work is a pain, it is not as bad as suffering through the process of trying to locate and restore the previously completed work.
Some newer computers, particularly those with the Apple 10.
5 operating system or later, have a backup in place.
This program is called Time Machine, and performs periodic automated logging of system data which can be accessed in search of files that have been lost, corrupted, or overwritten.
You may not even be aware of it if you've never had cause to use it.
However, most computers do not automatically come with this sort of backup program.
Even those computers which incorporate time logs and auto backups do not approach the full functionality of the external backup programs available on the market.
If you've lost or accidentally overwritten files, you should consider purchasing a comprehensive backup system to handle any future events of the same nature.
The presence of such a system makes it significantly easier to recover overwritten files, as well as earlier versions of those which have been accidentally deleted, corrupted, or lost.
Unfortunately, sometimes we have to learn the hard way, and in the case of trying to recover overwritten files, this is very often the case.
The threat of permanent loss of critical data can be significantly lessened by the use of an appropriate backup process, programs, or external drive.