Is there a way to restore deleted assets after force deleting it?

Development Getting Started & Setup
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I’m working on an arch viz project for weeks now while learning the engine. I’m supposedly trying to export the lights by zipping the project, but I have to delete other files in the level as instructed leaving only the lights. And after zipping the project it was at least 16gb!! (yeah, there are several levels on that project but i only used one level) i had a crazy plan to delete the unused level in which deleting the rest of the file in the content browser, and i managed to decrease the zipped project file to 3gb.

The thing is, I deleted the contents in the content browser with only the light remaining in the level. Thinking I can restore them BUT I SAVED the project before doing all of this…but upon reopening the engine and the project file, the files are still gone?! what the hell happened T^T

I was so sure I saved it before DELETING the assets. and yeah… I “complacently” Forced deleted those assets without thinking and assured myself that i saved it LMAO and it may have gone forever.

For basic troubleshooting, I also looked in recycle bin, autosave, which I’m not successful to find…My project files are in my 4TB HDD for extra info. And in desperation, I installed a file recovery software called Recuva which i read from other thread with kind of similar issue.

I still got the original file without my changes but my week worth of edits/setup and created materials on the map I used is crucial for me…biggest mistake I have ever done so far.

Thank you for your time.

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Some changes are applied without you specifically saving them, and deleting is one of them.

I’d highly recommend you to start using version control to prevent such issues in the future.

Here’s a tutorial on version control with Git for Unreal Engine:

I must add that connecting your project to version control still isn’t enough to be safe, as you might not be able to resolve certain issues by reverting or sometimes you might not be able to revert at all! For that reason, I’d also recommend manually backing up your project and storing your backup(s) in a safe drive.

I really do understand how frustrating it can be to lose progress, but hopefully we’ll turn this loss into a good cause this way :blush:

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