Is it possible to recover deleted projects?

[Wardwar]

I accidently deleted my project from the epic games launcher. Is it possible for me to recover it somehow? I right clicked the project and clicked Delete by mistake >.<, I dont want to start over so if u guys got any ways to recover it that could help me out id be most thankful!

[anonymous_user_10b2fd67]

If its not on your HDD then its most likely gone forever.

And that is why you should use source control.

[Jamendxman3]

There is software that can recover deleted files. When you “delete” something, it sometimes doesn’t actually delete, but just marks that space as available; although that is not always the case, it is worth a try if it is a lot of work to redo your project. Here is what I have used in the past: Download Recuva | Recover deleted files, free!

I hope this works out for you, good luck!

[Wardwar]

Dang it that sux:( thnx for your replies though guys, much appriciated. i guess i could also try to restore the computer back to a point that was before i deleted it, perhaps that could work. But might as well just start over and get to learn how to use the tools etc in Unreal Engine better:)

[_cDub]

You should ‘git’ with the program.

Git is a serious help. Even if you are not to familiar with it, source tree makes it pretty easy to have your project backed up in the cloud in no time.

[Jamendxman3]

@Wardwar;322039

Dang it that sux:( thnx for your replies though guys, much appriciated. i guess i could also try to restore the computer back to a point that was before i deleted it, perhaps that could work. But might as well just start over and get to learn how to use the tools etc in Unreal Engine better:)

Don’t try using a system restore point though, this won’t work, that just restores binary & things that affect the system (installed programs, etc…).

[Jamendxman3]

@The Britain;322307

When using a recovery software like Backtrack or Recuva, do not try to recover the entire deleted folder, there are just to many files with Unreal and you will get multiple copies. I mean, you can try for the folder first, but if you don’t get the whole thing, it will just be corrupted anyhow.

Focus on finding and recovering certain time consuming assets. Say you worked for a week on a shader, try to recover that file. If you are not familiar with the Unreal file structure, get familiar with it first before attempting this, so you know what you are looking for. Also, do not use the computer that you are going to attempt the recovery on, the more you use it, the more you lose.

Also, backup. There are those who back-up, and those who have yet learned to back-up. You need to be making regular backups of your projects. To reduce size, do not include “Binaries”, “Saved”, or the “Intermediate” folders.

Yes, backing up files is very important, a task for someone reading this is to make a file that backs up your project’s important folders to a given location, could save some time if all someone has to do is open up a batch file. If you make one, maybe go put it in the ‘community content & tools’ forum area.

[AlBlunty]

@Jamendxman3;321453

There is software that can recover deleted files. When you “delete” something, it sometimes doesn’t actually delete, but just marks that space as available; although that is not always the case, it is worth a try if it is a lot of work to redo your project. Here is what I have used in the past: Download Recuva | Recover deleted files, free!

I hope this works out for you, good luck!

Thanks!
This just happened to me and recuva fixed it.
Just use it as soon as you delete your project files so your hdd will not have time to overwrite them.

[Jamendxman3]

@Etienne Andlau;424309

I just did the same thing. I deleted my project file after I tried to delete a failed export
and accidentally deleted the project file too.
Luckily I took my whole project folder and zipped it earlier and backed it up on my ftp server.
I downloaded the zip file and extracted the whole thing and put it n the right folder.
Unreal picked it up again, opened the project and everything works great.
It just took a tiny bit longer the load the levels for the first time.
2nd time it loaded them very fast.
Saved
ALWAYS do backups.

Yeah, I’m thinking of buying another 1TB drive for nothing but backing up my current drives, as a hard drive failure would pretty much kill me.

[Jamendxman3]

@Etienne Andlau;424329

You know what happened to me last year?
I bought one 5TB Seagate external and then backed up all my other smaller drives onto it.
Cleaned off the smaller drives and was about to make a 2nd backup of the “all in one” 5TB one.
Then I plugged an external battery pack into the drive, wrong Voltage, blew all the way through past the diodes and
corrupted all my data.
Oh man … that was bad.

get rekt skrub. But seriously, that sucks … I have all of my work files on my PC, everything for the marketplace that I am submitting, all of my past work, etc. I’d be screwed if my data went corrupt

[Luftbauch]

@Etienne Andlau;424329

Oh man … that was bad.

Some years ago, had a second good income through webdesign, crypted all my data to protect files.
Worked flawless for years, including backups.
Then after a networkcardchange, (or similar) key was changed, recovery failed.
Work of perhaps five years was lost, including anything pc related/ created.
Backups where crypted too.
Really black four days…

[Chooka]

I had a hard drive die a few weeks ago. Since then i started using bitbucket for all my good projects. The trick is to have a good .gitignore file setup so the uploading is minimal.

[Oxyten]

I know this is an old thread, but I’m surprised no one has mentioned to check the recycle bin. If alls you did was delete it from the original folder, it should be in the recycle bin unless you also empty the recycle bin after or use a program like CCleaner which empties the recycle bin after you deleted it from the folder.