major problem!

i think i messed up bigtime...i recently got an update for reason 4 that required me to drap & drop the new files to the applications folder....when i did ...it seems to have wiped out everything that was there!!! this is BAD news...i had project files there & a load of other stuff too....it all seems to have vanished!....please tell me there is something i can do to recover it!! ....this will be a really tough thing to get over...i cannot understand how this happened since i recently switched from windows & the default behavior there is to replace only the files that are the same...no delete everything else...if i knew this is the way t happens on mac i wudnt have ever tried that!

Windows is the same way. If there was a folder called "Untitled" in the Programs folder and you were to drag over another folder call "untitled" it would ask you if you want to continue and replace or if you wanted to cancel. If you dragged all the files that were in the one "Untitled" folder to the other it would bring up the prompt you're thinking of where it would ask if you only wanted to replace only duplicate items.
There is no way to get info back if you don't use Time Machine.

Couple of ideas:
Be careful about what you are doing with the machine now, the files may still be there on your drive, just not easily recoverable. Using the machine for anything increases the possibility that those files will get over-written.
Download Data Rescue II, install it on a USB drive:
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
It will run in demo mode so you can see if there are any files that are recoverable. If so, you can buy the license.
In the future (and I don't mean to rub it in!) keep your data files in your Documents folder and your programs in the Applications folder.
good luck!

bryphotoguy said:

Windows is the same way. If there was a folder called "Untitled" in the Programs folder and you were to drag over another folder call "untitled" it would ask you if you want to continue and replace or if you wanted to cancel. If you dragged all the files that were in the one "Untitled" folder to the other it would bring up the prompt you're thinking of where it would ask if you only wanted to replace only duplicate items.
There is no way to get info back if you don't use Time Machine.

Click to expand...

Unless I'm misunderstanding your post, it's not quite this way. Windows folder replacement is not the same as Mac OS.

In Windows, if you drag a folder "Untitled" into a location that has another "Untitled" folder, and you do a replace, it will replace all the files but will NOT mess with files in the destination folder that do not exist in the source folder.

In Mac OS, if you perform the same operation above, the destination "Untitled" is completely wiped out, all files inside of it, and is replaced with the source "Untitled" folder.

The Mac OS folder replace is a fully destructive replace, whereas the Windows operation is not (files that exist only in the destination folder are left alone).

i agree with capt salty...thats how it works on windows...i cudnt have been doing it wrong all the years i used it...but im not here to start a mac vs win thing again...i like mac...but am new to it...dint know this would happen...thats all...

anyhow thx for the help sherman...i am trying my best to sort this out
but just as a side-note...i do keep my docs in the documents folder & programs in applications...unfortunately reason is one program for which the project files were saved in the application's folder in applications...(thats sounds funny but i think you'll get what im trying to say)
anyhow now that i know about the whole destructive overwrite thing ill be careful...thanks for the input

I guess you're right. I haven't used Windows extensively since I traded up for Mac.
Sorry for your file losses OP.

well i tried data rescue...it doesn't seem to look for that filetype at all...it finds a load of stuff that i dont need to recover...but not what i need...