I recently had an issue where I edited an Excel file, replacing the old version with the new one, but 30 minutes later I realized that some data from the old version hadn't transferred to the new one. The problem was that the old version had been overwritten and couldn't be recovered. I lost access to it. This was frustrating as I couldn't get back the lost data.
My wife accidentally overwrote photos on her computer because the new photos had the same file name as the old ones, causing them to be replaced instead of being saved as duplicates.
Accidental file deletion can be a nightmare, but thankfully, the recycle bin and trash give us a last chance to retrieve them. However, a more tragic scenario is when old files are replaced or overwritten, making them disappear without even entering the recycle bin. To avoid this, it's essential to know how to recover replaced or overwritten files.
As a non-tech user, it's hard to understand how engineers recover lost files, but they suggested stopping writing new data on the hard drive once you've identified the overwritten files. This allows you to recover as much data as possible without overwriting the original files, which are still stored on the hard drive but invisible. Engineers recommended using tools like Deep Data Recovery to scan the entire drive and recover the overwritten files, but warned not to write new data to the computer before rescuing the lost files. Some useful programs can be used to scan and recover overwritten files, and I'll introduce one of them in detail.
1. To recover overwritten files, a non-tech user should first obtain a professional file recovery tool. Run the software on your computer, select the file types you want to recover (or choose all file types), and click "Next". Additionally, if you're trying to recover files from an external hard drive, connect the device to your computer and launch the software.
2. Select the location where the original files were overwritten or replaced, then click the "Scan" button to start scanning and recovering the overwritten files. This will list all the files found.
3. After the scan is complete, you can filter the files by "path", "type", or "time" to find the desired file. If there are too many files, you can click the "Search" icon and enter keywords to quickly select the file. Once you've found the file, click the "Recover" button to save and recover overwritten or replaced files.
If you're unable to find what you're looking for, you can click "Deep Scan" at the top to thoroughly search the entire disk. This may take some time, but it can help you recover overwritten files. Once the scan is complete, you can select the files you want to recover.