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File deleted from trash, Disk Drill didn't find any of the files deleted; am I out of luck?

As I said in the title -- I deleted a pages file from my trash without realizing. I tried disk drill and other recovery service; Disk Drill didn't find a single missing file (it was mostly screenshots and then this accidental notes file). Am I using it wrong? Are there other options? Or am I just hosed?

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.10

Posted on Feb 25, 2021 4:29 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 26, 2021 2:13 AM

High probability of being hosed. Restore the document from Time Machine, or bid farewell to it.


When you delete a document, the pieces scattered around the filesystem are marked as available storage for use by the operating system and applications that request new storage. If any of that deleted Pages document is subsequently reallocated, you might as well abandon document recovery efforts.


I have not purposely deleted a Pages document and then tried to recover it with any tool. I use Time Machine. Each Pages document has several encrypted files within it that only Pages knows how to create, write, or read. The standing question is how Disk Drill would have knowledge that Apple does not share with anyone on how to rebuild a valid Pages document that would open again in Pages as if nothing had happened.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 26, 2021 2:13 AM in response to Lio The Messi

High probability of being hosed. Restore the document from Time Machine, or bid farewell to it.


When you delete a document, the pieces scattered around the filesystem are marked as available storage for use by the operating system and applications that request new storage. If any of that deleted Pages document is subsequently reallocated, you might as well abandon document recovery efforts.


I have not purposely deleted a Pages document and then tried to recover it with any tool. I use Time Machine. Each Pages document has several encrypted files within it that only Pages knows how to create, write, or read. The standing question is how Disk Drill would have knowledge that Apple does not share with anyone on how to rebuild a valid Pages document that would open again in Pages as if nothing had happened.

File deleted from trash, Disk Drill didn't find any of the files deleted; am I out of luck?

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