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How To Recover Accidentally Overwritten Catalog On A Mac?

External SSD with ExFat filesystem I have a problem with accidentally overwriting the directory. To make the case clear, a little example will allow us to understand. That looks like the structure on disk /DirA/FolderA/F1 /DirA/FolderA/F2 /DirB/FolderA/F3 /DirC/ /DirD/. Then I select /DirB/FolderA to copy it to /DirA/FolderA. Finder popup message and I accidentally click on overwrite instead of merge. Action cause that I don't see F1 and F2 folders and files anymore. It is very strange, cause I used recovery programs and they do not show any of the files from F1 / F2 folders. However, I see other deleted files from other locations. What happened? How i can restore the data?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Vain Rowe

Vain Rowe

Answered on Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Too often, the copy action doesn't overwrite the destination files. As for the trouble you run into, I can only speculate that you mistakenly click on overwrite instead of merge when you copy the /DirB/FolderA to /DirA/FolderA. 

If you have a backup, you can restore the disappearing files from the backup you have made. If you have no backup, I recommend iBoysoft Data Recovery Software here to thoroughly scan the external SSD for lost files. It is configured with advanced disk scanning skills and data recovery algorithms that can bring your invaluable files back at a high success rate! You can give it a try!

 

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