In fast-paced work, we deal with many files or documents daily. Have you accidentally overwritten a file on your Mac? Can it be saved, or is it lost forever? This article will help you better understand this and how to recover replaced files on Mac. Let's get started!
This refers to replacing existing files during transmission or overwriting previous content when saving edits. The files can have the same or different names, but they must be of the same type, such as a Word document or JPG image. Usually, we use this method to avoid confusion caused by too many versions. However, if you accidentally replace key contents, it will be a disaster.
This is a common accident and happens more often than you might imagine. Here are some typical scenarios where you might overwrite documents, photos, and other items on your Mac:
Compared to other cases of data loss, such as deletion, files accidentally replaced on Mac are more difficult to retrieve because they do not leave an obvious trace. But it is still possible.
Like most computer systems, data on a Mac is stored in binary form, using only 0 and 1 to encode information. You should know that unless the contents of these two files are exactly the same, their encoding information will definitely be different, which means that even if the file is overwritten, some of its contents will still be retained on the hard drive. For this reason, even if you don't have backups, you can still use a recovery app to get back replaced files on Mac. However, the requirements for this tool are higher as it involves the process of reorganizing items.
As mentioned above, retrieving overwritten files on a Mac is more challenging. However, you can still try the following methods. Before starting, please carefully read the corresponding restrictions to save time.
When you enable Time Machine, it will automatically back up the selected data and allow you to roll it back to an earlier version. This is very useful for accidentally replacing a file on the Mac. The following are the retrieval steps:
The application's version management can handle this problem well for users of "I accidentally replaced the file how to recover without Time Machine."
Here are examples of retrieving different types of files, such as Apple's iWork Suite (Numbers, Pages, and Keynote), Microsoft Office (Word, PPT, or Excel), and Preview.
The operation methods for Word, PPT, or Excel are similar. Next, we will use how to recover a replaced Word document on Mac as an example to list the detailed steps.
Tip: For other types of documents, if you want to know how to undo a replaced file on Mac, you should first check whether the corresponding application has version control capabilities and then follow the instructions to complete the process.
Its working principle is similar to that of the Time Machine, except that iCloud saves your synchronized files to a network server. If you have used this service before, please follow the following steps to find files that have been accidentally overwritten:
Tip: If If you use services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, please find the corresponding file, click on its menu, and click "Version History" to perform this operation.
How do I recover overwritten files on Mac without backup? You can also use recovery tools equipped with unique algorithms to search and reassemble their encoding information to achieve this.
For this reason, although most applications in this category have been excluded, you can try iBeesoft's file recovery software for Mac. It has the following features that make it easy to complete this task.
Tip: The above steps are also applicable to recover permanently deleted files on Mac.
When the above solutions fail, your last choice should be a service that focuses on file recovery. Such a service has the experience and skills to handle such accidents. If the replaced content is highly valuable, you can try to understand it.
Accidentally overwriting a document or other type of item on your Mac can be devastating, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose that data. If you found this article about how to recover replaced files on Mac helpful, share it with others who may benefit from it.
This refers to restoring a file to its previous state after it is accidentally replaced or overwritten by another file with the same name.
No. The function of Trash is to prevent users from accidentally deleting files. After overwriting the file, its storage location did not change; only the file was replaced with a new one.
When this happens, please stop using the drive where this file is stored and check if there is a Time Machine backup or a built-in historical version of the application available for recovery. If not, please try the professional data recovery software - iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac.
Unlike other types of files, video is composed of consecutive fragmented items. Therefore, for users who accidentally replace videos on a Mac, there is a high chance that you will lose it. But don't despair; you can also try iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac, which has a video repair function that may be able to help you.
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