Recovering previously saved version of file in XP

Phirefly

I've accidently saved over an illustrator file. Is there any way I can recover an earlier saved verion of the file please?

Thanks

isofa

Unless you have a running backup, if you called the file the same thing, then it's extremely unlikely. Some versions of packages offer versioning so you can step back. If you have a system restore point before the new save it might be possible, but I'd doubt you do.

Is everything in layers in your Illustrator file, can you get some previous details back from that?

Phirefly

ok thanks

No I've saved a completely new artwork under that file name

The tech geeks where I used to work were able to access previous saved versions....

I'll explain better....

I saved a file, then later came back and saved a different file as that name, effectively overwriting the first file.

Conor_3

That's because the "geeks", as you call them, restored a backup copy from the file backups.

Vista Ultimate and Business can do this but not XP.

isofa

They must have restored from file backups, as Conor mentions, or had a special versioning backup system in place.

and if you are on Mac OS X running Time Machine, you'll be able to recover it from there too (as long as you've set-up it up previously).

Other than that, it's gone - sorry. Lesson number 1 - always back up crucial files you are working on. Always.

Phirefly

Conor wrote: »

the "geeks", as you call them

hit a nerve?

LadyMorticia

isofa wrote: »

They must have restored from file backups, as Conor mentions, or had a special versioning backup system in place.

and if you are on Mac OS X running Time Machine, you'll be able to recover it from there too (as long as you've set-up it up previously).

Other than that, it's gone - sorry. Lesson number 1 - always back up crucial files you are working on. Always.

Yep. I learnt that the hard way. I always save my work periodically now in case my laptop crashes but I always do it under a different name e.g. put a number in brackets afterwards stating what version it is so I know which is the latest one. That way I can go back to the original if I need to,

I also back up all my important files periodically to disk. You can never be too careful.

Phirefly

Yeah good advice. I'm normally very disciplined with my version control and saving habit. This was a glitch because I've been working round the clock to meet a deadline and experienced a momentary lapse of concentration. I can't save every version though, vector files are by their nature behemoths of things and I'd make my way though some serious storage if I went about saving the file after every live trace