Recovery Of An Overwritten Microsoft Word File.

[woodyleonhard]

Mobi -

I'd like to help, but this has turned into a very long thread, most of which doesn't seem germane, and I don't have a whole lotta time.

Permit me to summarize. You're running Win7 Pro, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default backup or restore settings. (Two questions: 32 or 64 bit? And what AV product?) You're running Word 2010, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default settings for creating copies on open.

You have a Word .docx file. You made changes to the file and saved it. You want to bring back an earlier version of the file.

So far so good?

If you right-click on the folder that contains the latest version of the .docx file and choose Restore Previous Versions, what do you see?

- Woody Leonhard (I write books about this stuff. Google me.)

P.S. It's probably better if you email me, woody at khun woody dot com, and if we can solve the problem, you can post the solution. By the way, the earlier advice to ask Phuket Data Wizards is excellent advice. Gregory at PDW can pull bits out of thin air. But let's try using the Win7 tools first.

[frinch11]

Mobi -

I'd like to help, but this has turned into a very long thread, most of which doesn't seem germane, and I don't have a whole lotta time.

Permit me to summarize. You're running Win7 Pro, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default backup or restore settings. (Two questions: 32 or 64 bit? And what AV product?) You're running Word 2010, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default settings for creating copies on open.

You have a Word .docx file. You made changes to the file and saved it. You want to bring back an earlier version of the file.

So far so good?

If you right-click on the folder that contains the latest version of the .docx file and choose Restore Previous Versions, what do you see?

- Woody Leonhard (I write books about this stuff. Google me.)

P.S. It's probably better if you email me, woody at khun woody dot com, and if we can solve the problem, you can post the solution. By the way, the earlier advice to ask Phuket Data Wizards is excellent advice. Gregory at PDW can pull bits out of thin air. But let's try using the Win7 tools first.

Brilliant! But can you please make sure you post the result on here , because I tried to make sense of those recovered files and got nowhere, and if someone else can, I would love to know how - inquiring minds and all that!

Edited November 14, 2010 by frinch11

[huma79]

This is getting complicated...

I suggest you skip everything that has to do with restore points.

Separate your thnking into

1. system (can be reinstalled easily)

2 user data (all the value in your life)

1.If you really need to backup your system so you can get back to a certain point including the installed programs and settings, do a partition backup (one of the very few times a recommend partition backup) Clonezilla have the tools you need like Partclone. Use these programs on your own responsibility. I have not tested enough to have any opinion on their quality. Once you have done a partition backup, restore it immediately to a different disk and test it, so you know it works.

2. Separate your user data in folders, one for each project.

Use a distributed version control system if it fits your work (editing 2 hour HD video clips does not) and push regularly to a remote location.

If you for some reason don't want to use version control systems backup using the traditional daily,weekly, monthly or Towers of Hanoi rotation schemes.

Martin

This is sound advice! Instead of a versioning control system, I use DropBox though. It's a bit easier to set up for the average joe than versioning control systems IMO! The only limitation is that access to file changes are limited to the previous 30 days - more than that and you have to pay for their packrat service.

[Mobi]

Mobi -

I'd like to help, but this has turned into a very long thread, most of which doesn't seem germane, and I don't have a whole lotta time.

Permit me to summarize. You're running Win7 Pro, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default backup or restore settings. (Two questions: 32 or 64 bit? And what AV product?) You're running Word 2010, genuine, and haven't made any changes to the default settings for creating copies on open.

You have a Word .docx file. You made changes to the file and saved it. You want to bring back an earlier version of the file.

So far so good?

If you right-click on the folder that contains the latest version of the .docx file and choose Restore Previous Versions, what do you see?

- Woody Leonhard (I write books about this stuff. Google me.)

P.S. It's probably better if you email me, woody at khun woody dot com, and if we can solve the problem, you can post the solution. By the way, the earlier advice to ask Phuket Data Wizards is excellent advice. Gregory at PDW can pull bits out of thin air. But let's try using the Win7 tools first.

Thanks for your offer of help.

I will answer your question in detail on an email, but for those following the thread, here are my responses.

Two kind members have already looked at the files I restored using external recovery software and have given me exactly the same results - that these files now contain random stuff from all over my hard disk and are no longer Docx files and that the original text is no longer there.

I did send a long email to Phuket Data Wizards last week, but so far have not had the courtesy of a reply.

The whole debate about W7 restore points was a bit of a diversion, but I did clearly establish that for whatever reason , they weren't being created as they should have been on my system, but they now are. ("gates and Horses bolting" spring to mind)

When I first lost the file, I would right click on the overwritten file and get the message "there are no previous versions available".

Now, when I right click, I do get an 'earlier version' of the file, because I have the restore points working but it is the overwritten version, not the lost version.

I am running W7 Pro genuine, 64 bit.

I run Avira daily and Malwarebyte, Spybot and Ad Aware weekly.

I have already given up, but if you think there is still hope then I am prepared to give it another try.

M

[siamect]

This is getting complicated...

I suggest you skip everything that has to do with restore points.

Separate your thnking into

1. system (can be reinstalled easily)

2 user data (all the value in your life)

1.If you really need to backup your system so you can get back to a certain point including the installed programs and settings, do a partition backup (one of the very few times a recommend partition backup) Clonezilla have the tools you need like Partclone. Use these programs on your own responsibility. I have not tested enough to have any opinion on their quality. Once you have done a partition backup, restore it immediately to a different disk and test it, so you know it works.

2. Separate your user data in folders, one for each project.

Use a distributed version control system if it fits your work (editing 2 hour HD video clips does not) and push regularly to a remote location.

If you for some reason don't want to use version control systems backup using the traditional daily,weekly, monthly or Towers of Hanoi rotation schemes.

Martin

This is sound advice! Instead of a versioning control system, I use DropBox though. It's a bit easier to set up for the average joe than versioning control systems IMO! The only limitation is that access to file changes are limited to the previous 30 days - more than that and you have to pay for their packrat service.

Thanks...

I would not use Dropbox as a way to backup stuff and It is not a replacement for a distributed version control system.

Deletion of files will propagate... 30 days of changes is also a nono for backup systems. If you delete a page in a large document you don't know when, if at all you will discover it. You auditor wants 10 years of history of your books or so....

As a shared resource it can work, and people are happy about it, but be careful...

Martin