Recovering Deleted Files from OS X Server 10.6.8

[whyrichard]

Hey,

Is it possible to recover files that are deleted from the server? By default, when I delete files from the server running OS X 10.6.8 it says that the files will be deleted permanently. Isn't there a way to change this behavior so that if you accidentally delete a file / folder you can retrieve it?

Is Time Machine the solution here?

thanks,
r

 

[justperry]

I don't know too much about servers but I think the problem here is that there is no Trash Folder (The Trash is an invisible Folder) on the remote Data carrier, same with some other physical disks for instance, if there is no trash Folder the Finder can't move it to the Temp. Folder so it gets deleted instantly.

 

[Les Kern]

Can try searching for invisible folder ":trashes". That's how we used to recover user deletions.
Hindsight is golden, but I'd suggest in the future using Carbon Copy Cloner and use the archiving feature. It's good stuff.

 

[stuckwithme247]

Time Machine would only help you in the future.

If you don't have a Time Machine backup yet, then your best option would probably be Data Rescue 3 for Mac.

 

[Colincoo]

If you did not empty the Trash, click on the Trash icon at the right side of the Dock and drag those files to a different location.

If you emptied the Trash, it is more difficult. Typically, when a file is erase, it is not really erased. The space the file occupied become unallocated, so that new data can be written over that space. If new data files have not yet been written over that space, the old data is still there and may be recoverable.

There are utilities specifically for data recovery. For example (I have not used)

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php


Other more general utilities, such as TechTool Pro by Micromat, have a data recovery "module" as part of the package. I have this utility (and it's a good product), but I have never used it for doing data recovery.

You may be able to use such tools to recover erased data. If you intend to try, you should use the disk that held the erased data as little as possible, to reduce the likelihood that new data files will be written over the space used by the old data.