06-19-2009, 04:40 AM

I need you help, please...
I lost a very big important file: I created a movie with imovie and wanted to create the dvd with idvd and then... most likely the imovie file was thrown in the garbage and the garbage was emptied.
I lost this big important file, it's nomore on my machine.

BUT it should still be on the disk somewhere right? it shouldn't have been over-written...
Does any of you know a programm, a software which I could use to fish that movie again?
Did any of you did encounter this same pb? How did you do?
Thank you very very much in advance for your help,
I will be so grateful...
looking forward to your advices...

06-19-2009, 05:12 AM

I would like to mention that this file which I lost is for my PhD...
Therefore unfortunately it was a VERY important file and I need to solve this pb quite urgently...
Thank you all for the concern you'll give to my request.

06-19-2009, 05:44 AM

Unfortunately, unlike Windows, OS X tends to write over the information which has been 'deleted' almost instantly. Plus, it will have broken it up into lots of little bits and scattered them all over the hard drive. I don't think you're going to be able to get it back.

06-19-2009, 06:24 AM

were you using time machine?

its at times like this that you realise just how important it is to be using.

06-19-2009, 08:02 AM

It's not that bleak. You just need an undelete utility (I would refrain from using your Mac for the time being to avoid the data being overwritten).

Take a look at these programs:

FileSalvage - Mac OS X Data Recovery, Undelete Files, Rescue Lost Data

Boomerang Data Recovery Software - MacOS X Version

Mac Data Recovery Software, Mac Data Rescue, Digital Data Recovery Disk for Mac

They're a little pricey, but should do the trick.

Also, regardless of whether you do or don't recover the file, take this as a lesson of the importance of backups. Go out and invest in an external hard drive that is equal to or greater than the capacity of your drive and use Time Machine to automate backups. This is particularly important for any machine you're using to do sensitive work on.

There are two types of computer users in this world, those that have lost data and those that will...

06-26-2009, 12:54 AM

Annela: I surely do hope you recovered your dissertation. It is a heck of a large investment to lose. When I relocated in the middle of my dissertation (back when we used floppies), I mailed a hardcopy and, the next day, mailed a disk to my new address. I carried a hardcopy and a disk in my car. My wife carried a hardcopy and a disk in her car. Why so anal? Because I had already deleted the data from the university's mainframe. Tech services was able to recover it but I learned a pretty good lesson about backing up.