How to recover data lost after having used the mirror option by mistake

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Posts: 3
Joined: 27 Nov 2018

migueloptero

I did delete many files using the mirror option instead of the two ways option. And I did delete an awful lot of information. I've seen that there is a trash folder and many information on it, but that data doesn't keep the structure of files and folders it once had.
Is there any way of recovering this data with the freefilesync software?
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Posts: 2248
Joined: 22 Aug 2012

Plerry

No, there is no simple "undo" button or action.
The obvious reaction would be: simply restore the files from your backup.
But creating a backup is likely what you want to use FreeFileSync (FFS) for in the first place.

Apparently you have used the Recycle-bin as your Delete Files option. So, at least your files are still there, albeit not in their original folder structure.
Luckily for you, you did not select Permanent as your Delete Files option.

FFS even has a user-error "shield" built-in in the form of the Compare results window, which shows the planned actions in between the Compare and Sync phase. There you could have noticed that the planned actions were not what you intended, and could have decided not to continue (with your actual sync) …

But, like with any new tool, the universal advice is:
familiarize yourself with the tool using non-critical or dummy data.
Not doing so means you might have to suffer the consequences, like you are unfortunately experiencing now.
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Joined: 8 Mar 2017

Radish

Just to add to Plerry's excellent explanation, that the size of your Recycle Bin might be critical in this. If you have set your Recycle Bin to a small maximum size but FFS has deleted an amount of data that exceeds that maximum size -- just as you inadvertently instructed it to do -- then you may have 'permanently' lost some files because of the way Windows manages the Recycle Bin.

If that is the case you could try finding and download some file recovery tools but whether you do or do not get files back by that route is anyone's guess. I've used file recovery tools myself in the past and found Test Disk and/or PhotoRec (available at the same website) to be the best there is, but they are a bit difficult to use. If you need to try them then do some research on the internet on how to use them before you try recovery for real. In the meantime, if you do need to attempt file recovery, do NOT write to the partitions on which the data exists that you will try to recover.

Good luck.
Posts: 3
Joined: 27 Nov 2018

migueloptero

Thanks a lot for your answers. I guess I've been silly. I've already tried PhotoRec but I think it adds chaos to my actual situation. Anyway, as you said, the data is there, somewhere...
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Joined: 25 Nov 2018

tracync

Did I miss something? It sounds like you just deleted to the recycle bin. Using the restore function from there should put the files back into their original location. Did this not work?
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Radish

Yes, tracy. I never use the Recycle Bin myself (always do 'permanent' deletes) but I just did a quick test of this on Windows 7 and restoring files from the Recycle bin does indeed put the files back to their original location (at least for my quick test).
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Joined: 27 Nov 2018

migueloptero

Really? I'm going to use it as soon as I have time at home. I'll tell you later
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Posts: 143
Joined: 8 Mar 2017

Radish

Miguel,

To see what is in the Recycle Bin just double-click on it and it should open an Explorer window showing the contents. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Bin and select Open.

Once you can see the contents of the Bin just select, by the normal means, any files/folders that you want to restore. Once you have them selected right-click on one of them and select Restore. They should then be restored to the path they originally had when they were deleted.

If there is any name conflict between a file you are trying to restore and one that already exists on the hard-disk then Windows will inform you of the conflict via a dialogue window and ask what you want to do. Note that on Windows 7 part of that dialogue window shows an option titled More... (you will need to look very closely at the dialogue window to see this option) click on that if you want to avoid overwriting a file that already exists on the hard-drive. Once you click on that Windows will offer to rename the file you are going to restore.

Good luck.