Project files deleted themselves after error

Development Platform & Builds
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Hello, I just started learning Unreal Engine and came into the most unfortunate error(?).
I’m using UE 5.4.4, and while I was importing some foliage from fab it showed a cache error:

Forgot to build ShaderCompileWorker or delete invalidated DerivedDataCache?

I clicked on one of the options, and the project quit itself. When I tried to open it again, I found that all my project files were gone. I had several versions of the same level saved (gone), the auto-save files were also gone, and there was nothing in my trashcan. I couldn’t find a crash log or anything. All the files I used on the project are still in the folder, the only thing left from the previous project is a .txt file where I was able to grab the error information.
Is there a way to recover the last project? But I guess more importantly, is there any advice on how to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future?

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Hey there @aloenina! Welcome to the community! I’ve never seen an entire project disappear unless some form of source control causes it. If you aren’t using any kind of source control, that is a pretty dangerous bug I’d like to get more information on!

In the project folder, is the file structure intact? ie:

image
image626×303 15.1 KB

Or is that completely blank?

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Hi!
It is not completely blank, there are some files but only content. All files that could be opened with unreal are gone.

1
1617×164 14.6 KB

The most information i have about what was done in that project is .txt that was saved in the logs folder, i don’t know if it has valuable information but i could upload it if interested.

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If you have the last log file that occurred from the Saved/Logs folder that might help. There may even be one for the crash under Saved/Crashes.