Windows 7: Very important file overwritten, need help.

Hi there,

Sorry if I'm being a leecher, but I'm honestly in hysteria and have no idea what to do. I've recently accidentally overwrote my GCSE art final piece (a graphics project, PSD file), with an older save, and have just lost the whole of my final piece. It has to be in by tomorrow. If anyone could nudge me into the direction of getting it back or just help a little, I'll be very, very thankful.



It was overwritten with another PSD file on a USB, from another USB, if it helps :/
Once again, thanks in advance to anyone who bothers to help... ;_;

Hello EFG, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might see if you may be able to use Previous Versions to restore a older copy of the file back. If not, then you might try the free program ShadowExplorer to do so.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Welcome to SF!

Don't worry about being a leech; that's what we're here for.

Did you happen to have a Windows backup? If so, you can restore a previous version of the file, in the Properties tab of the new one.

Other than that, you should be looking at data recovery software. You can try the free DiskDigger and Recuva.

Alright Shawn, thanks for the speedy reply and welcome. Will Shadow Copy and explorer work for USB devices though? I copied one file over from another USB, and overwrote it on another... I gave the programs you listed a quick glance, and they don't seem to support that? ;_;

Also Jonathan King, thanks to you too, I'll go check them out.

I have never seen any shadows on a USB stick. And most of the afore mentioned programs work off the shadows. Recuva might be your best bet - although slim.

Alright, I've checked all the methods you guys suggested, Shadow Copy seems to be Vista exclusive and I'm running Windows 7... DiskDigger and Recuva only recover the deleted files on the USB, not overwritten, so that doesn't work. However, thanks for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it.

You would do a scan of your hard drive using those programs.

Yep, but the file overwritten was USB specific, I didn't actually do the project on the current computer, the laptop it was done on isn't in my posession, and the project was deleted there too. However, I'm guessing I could try the recovery on the laptop too, I'll go get it in a sec. Does it affect my chances of getting the file back alot if it was deleted Tusday afternoon? :s

That would not matter as long as there is a shadow with the data -then Shadow Explorer can retrieve it.
BTW: Windows 7 uses shadows too - only less frequent than Vista.