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Topic: Accidentally wiped out my collection (Read 14583 times) previous topic - next topic
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Accidentally wiped out my collection

?Is there a posibility to restore files and directories deleted from the playlist tree without additional software and system restore?

Hi,

I got fascinated by the foobar2000 0.9.2 and have played with it recently. I also installed the playlist tree component and it works fine!!!

I made some directories (static), added files from my library (25GB) but then wanted to delete them and chose "delete files" which resulted in deleting my whole music library from the hard drive!!!

......I started laughing....just couldn't believe what happend since I thought those were shortcuts to my music files and folders - the usual behaviour of the majority of 3rd party software!!!!

I am running WinXP SP2 on NTFS partitions which makes me think of a system restore or installing additional software.

Before I embrace one of these options I thought it'd be a good idea to ask if someone here has already had such a funny experience like me and how to solve this problem best?

I would be grateful if you could help me!

Mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #1 –
it sounds like you might have lost most of your music. i would immediately halt ALL activity on that drive because the files may still be left intact if data isnt written over them. i would use a program called restoration to try and recover the files.
 

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #2 –
Quote from: gob on
it sounds like you might have lost most of your music. i would immediately halt ALL activity on that drive because the files may still be left intact if data isnt written over them. i would use a program called restoration to try and recover the files.


thank you very much for the restoration tool!

the good news is that it managed to find all deleted files and folders, so they are still there 

the not so good is that i must restore each file manually and specify the destination folder - 3120 operations 

i tried "system restore" and it couldn't restore them automatically, so i did undo "system restore" and i'm back to where i started 

i will see if i can find a less time-consuming solution on the net and post it of course! if not.....there's still an option

meanwhile, if someone knows of such a solution, please let me know, it would save me a lot of hard work!

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #3 –
with no offence to the developers of the "foo_playlist_tree" component i would like to express my opinion of it:

imho the controll (especially the "del" function) of the playlist tree in foobar over hardware items is absolutely unnecessary and can cause much trouble as in my case!!!!

it can be either excluded since one can "del" hd items otherwise or redefined - a pop-up window that asks if files should be deleted permanently (from hd) or only from the selected playlist!!!!!!!

an option would be also to send the deleted file to the recycle bin so that one can easily restore them!!!!!!

correct me if i'm wrong but the name of the component is  "foo_playlist_tree" and not "foo_win_explorer_tree" - playlists are supposed to be references to actual files and folders and not the opposite!!!!!!!!!!

having said this i would still appreciate if somebody could name me a tool with the help of which i can restore my lost data (25GB of .mp3 files and their folders) automatically to their previous location.

ps.: i am really curious to know what the developers reasoning was in implementing such a "hard core" functionality - in my oppinion absolutely useless and extremely dangerous!!!!!

mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #4 –
Quote from: gob on
Quote from: mpeople on

Quote from: gob on

it sounds like you might have lost most of your music. i would immediately halt ALL activity on that drive because the files may still be left intact if data isnt written over them. i would use a program called restoration to try and recover the files.


thank you very much for the restoration tool!

the good news is that it managed to find all deleted files and folders, so they are still there 

the not so good is that i must restore each file manually and specify the destination folder - 3120 operations 

i tried "system restore" and it couldn't restore them automatically, so i did undo "system restore" and i'm back to where i started 

i will see if i can find a less time-consuming solution on the net and post it of course! if not.....there's still an option

meanwhile, if someone knows of such a solution, please let me know, it would save me a lot of hard work!

cheers,
mihail


if you select the directory the files were stored in you can do it in one operation. make sure you restore to a different drive, otherwise you might end up overwriting the data.


i have 11GB free space on my other drives and 27GB on the affected drive - the drive where i lost the 22GB music data.

how ???

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #5 –
Quote from: mpeople on
Quote from: gob on

Quote from: mpeople on

Quote from: gob on

it sounds like you might have lost most of your music. i would immediately halt ALL activity on that drive because the files may still be left intact if data isnt written over them. i would use a program called restoration to try and recover the files.


thank you very much for the restoration tool!

the good news is that it managed to find all deleted files and folders, so they are still there 

the not so good is that i must restore each file manually and specify the destination folder - 3120 operations 

i tried "system restore" and it couldn't restore them automatically, so i did undo "system restore" and i'm back to where i started 

i will see if i can find a less time-consuming solution on the net and post it of course! if not.....there's still an option

meanwhile, if someone knows of such a solution, please let me know, it would save me a lot of hard work!

cheers,
mihail


if you select the directory the files were stored in you can do it in one operation. make sure you restore to a different drive, otherwise you might end up overwriting the data.


i have 11GB free space on my other drives and 27GB on the affected drive - the drive where i lost the 22GB music data.

how ???

cheers,
mihail


you have to look for the folder. sort the list by name by clicking on the name header, then look for the directory name that your music would be in.

as for the delete key, i dont know what you did with that. pl tree is in focus and i hit delete, it removes the track that is focused in the playlist, but it does not delete the file. do u have foo mass delete assigned to this key?

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #6 –
Quote from: gob on
you have to look for the folder. sort the list by name by clicking on the name header, then look for the directory name that your music would be in.


there is some misunderstanding, i think.

the affected folder is still there, i can browse it. some of the subfolders (artists) are not there any more but the majority is still there since there have also album pics and .m3u playlists which are there!

the music files in them were deleted but the folders were not because they contained also other files.
the folders that had only music files were deleted completely (the folder and the files in it).

to sum up:

my main folder is D:\Music - it contained some mixes and subfolders (named by artist). the mixes are gone, the folders containing only music files are gone, the folders containing also other files are still there without the music files!!!

so, what do you mean by "look for the directory name that your music would be in"?

mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #7 –
Quote from: gob on
as for the delete key, i dont know what you did with that. pl tree is in focus and i hit delete, it removes the track that is focused in the playlist, but it does not delete the file. do u have foo mass delete assigned to this key?


i haven't said i deleted the files in the playlist window (the right side of the pane)!

i activated the context menu with a right mouse-click on the selected playlist (which is simply a subfolder of the playlist tree - the left side of the pane) and chose File operations > Delete file(s). that is what i did! i had previously created the playlist in question from the main menu: Library>Playlist Tree>Root>New Query... . i haven't assigned any kind of "foo mass delete" or whatever that means!

as a result i was asked for a confirmation and a pop-up window appeared saying there were empty folders and asking me if i wanted to delete them. at that moment i was thinking that the items deleted were the content of the folders of the playlist i wanted to delete anyway. since i delete the content of the folders they remain empty, so i answered "yes".

generally speaking, i personally have never used a media player which has a functional permission to delete files and folders of the source (hard drive) of its assigned library. nor is it a common behaviour of a player, in general, to have such!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! logically, this perception applies to the player's plug-ins!

the basic function of a media player is can be derived fromits name - to play media.
it is, by no means, supposed to act like a "file manager" program ("windows explorer", "total commander", etc.). this means that "normal" users like me have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of such a function of a given "media player" or ist components (plug-ins) unless they are explicitly warned of it.

obviously, (!the!) developers that build in such a functionality in a media player are either thinking of a file manager while actually making a media player or serving other interests both of which have NOTHING to do with the main purpose of a media player, let alone the damage to the users and the "open source philosophy"!

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #8 –
Quote
i activated the context menu with a right mouse-click on the selected playlist (which is simply a subfolder of the playlist tree - the left side of the pane) and chose File operations > Delete file(s).
I'm sorry, but that's pretty clear to me.  You told it to delete the files, and it did so.  You wanted to remove the files from a playlist, not delete them.  Why would you choose delete?

As to whether or not a media player should have that functionality is not for this discussion.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #9 –
Surely I wouldn't like having to start another app just to fisically delete the files I'm dealing with.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Raja on
Quote
i activated the context menu with a right mouse-click on the selected playlist (which is simply a subfolder of the playlist tree - the left side of the pane) and chose File operations > Delete file(s).
I'm sorry, but that's pretty clear to me.  You told it to delete the files, and it did so.  You wanted to remove the files from a playlist, not delete them.  Why would you choose delete?

As to whether or not a media player should have that functionality is not for this discussion.


you obviously do not get it right!

when you create a playlist in a media player and "virtually" assign files to it does not mean that you want to manipulate them "physically" but "virtually" if you can follow my thought.

logically when you do not need the "virtually" created playlist anymore you delete it which simply means that you delete the reference to the assigned files and NOT them!!!!

as to your last comment, please note that i rerefer to the "foobar2000 0.9.2" media player (and not any..) and to its "foo_playlist_tree" component which obviously has this built in functionality. therefore it is very well  "for this discussion"!

mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #11 –
Quote from: fabiospark on
Surely I wouldn't like having to start another app just to fisically delete the files I'm dealing with.


as "you" put it "you" wouldn't like....... . this represents only your opinion!!!!!

i absolutely understand your convenience with that functionality but this is not the point.

the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

if it were so, why not include in a "media player" also disc pratitioning, e-mail client, etc etc.
the answer is simple - because we are talking about a "media player". so, please, do not mix these up!

what i mean is simply that if such a function is included there must be an explicit warning or reference since it does not belong to the default list of functions of a "media player".

from the above said this function is useful and prductive only if users are explicitly warned of it. otherwise it is absolutely dangerous and destructive!

mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #12 –
Quote from: mpeople on
the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

Better let Microsoft know this, as Windows Media Player has the ability to remove files from the computer too.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #13 –
Quote from: kockroach on
Quote from: mpeople on

the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

Better let Microsoft know this, as Windows Media Player has the ability to remove files from the computer too.
Not to forget iTunes, QMP, musikCube, MediaMonkey, Winamp (via third-party plugin), and probably a lot of other media/audio players that have some kind of library functionality to help you organize your collection. Also, playlist modifications in foobar2000 0.9x are reversible thanks to the built-in undo functionality, so there is no need to ask for a confirmation in those cases - unlike file deletion.

Anyway, back to the point: The command in question is implemented by foo_masstag which is an official component that is bundled with the installer but not installed by default. It will ask you to confirm the deletion of  files. If you are trying to delete 50 files or more, it will even ask twice. The description of this command is "Phyiscally removes selected files. Use with caution." You can read this description in the status bar, if you open the context menu in the playlist.* We will try to make it even more obvious what you are about to do, but we will never be albe to eliminate user error.

*: Since foobar2000 0.9, there actually exists an API to override the status bar contents, but it is not demonstrate in the tutorial yet.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #14 –
Quote from: mpeople on
Quote from: fabiospark on

Surely I wouldn't like having to start another app just to fisically delete the files I'm dealing with.


as "you" put it "you" wouldn't like....... . this represents only your opinion!!!!!

i absolutely understand your convenience with that functionality but this is not the point.

the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

if it were so, why not include in a "media player" also disc pratitioning, e-mail client, etc etc.
the answer is simple - because we are talking about a "media player". so, please, do not mix these up!

what i mean is simply that if such a function is included there must be an explicit warning or reference since it does not belong to the default list of functions of a "media player".

from the above said this function is useful and prductive only if users are explicitly warned of it. otherwise it is absolutely dangerous and destructive!

mihail


Sorry to insist.

Foobar is not just a player but, with the right plugins, it is a media library too.
The playing part (playlists, volume, albumart etc) is just a section of the capabilities of the app.
And using FB you deal with your files in many way, maybe without being aware of that (but you should).
In fact, just with Foobar you can convert between formats, write info into your files (masstagger, freedb, replaygain etc) and, thanks to the devs, get rid of your files if you like.
What happened to you is not due to the presence of a feature in an application but to the misuse or unaware use of it. That menu command is not clickable by mistake as it is buried under a couple of levels of menus. And the parent menu says it all: "File operations:".

Unfortunately, I've made my mistakes too in this field or, even worse for me , with masstagger. Do you know that you could wipe out ALL of the infos you patiently inserted manually into your classical music files or in the jazz ones (performers, forms, works, director and so on) with just a wrong assumption when using the masstagger? I had to know it. My bad I didn't tested with a bunch of files before applying the script to the whole collection.
When WE make mistakes, just blame ourselves and then forgive us.

As stated in some posts above, the nightmare is WMP: before using FB I started with that and I soon discovered that if you renamed an artist in the player, WMP renamed the artist dir too without asking you about.

And for the delete command, I think it is a built in Foobar command and PLT just made it avalaible in the Foobar context menu.

Foosion was quicker.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #15 –
You could try O&O Undelete. Works good for me.
Blubb

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #16 –
Quote from: kockroach on
Quote from: mpeople on

the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

Better let Microsoft know this, as Windows Media Player has the ability to remove files from the computer too.


huhhh?????

foo_playlist_tree's del function erased my music folder and not windows media player (wmp), so what's your point??
i don't get it   

on the other hand i do not use wmp since my default player is winamp and it surely doesn't delete files from the hd (at least not so easily or not that i know).
even if i used it and had the same issue with it (deleting 20GB per mouse-click), i would let them know, believe me!
i also doubt that deleting files from the hd in wmp is that easy, and if it were there would be a reasonable explanation - simply "made by microsoft"!

mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #17 –
Quote from: hödyr on
You could try O&O Undelete. Works good for me.


excuse my ignorance but what does that mean and how should i apply it?
somewhere in a command line or how?

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #18 –
Quote from: fabiospark on
Quote from: mpeople on

Quote from: fabiospark on

Surely I wouldn't like having to start another app just to fisically delete the files I'm dealing with.


as "you" put it "you" wouldn't like....... . this represents only your opinion!!!!!

i absolutely understand your convenience with that functionality but this is not the point.

the common perception of a media player does not at all include actual file management but a management of references to already managed files.

if it were so, why not include in a "media player" also disc pratitioning, e-mail client, etc etc.
the answer is simple - because we are talking about a "media player". so, please, do not mix these up!

what i mean is simply that if such a function is included there must be an explicit warning or reference since it does not belong to the default list of functions of a "media player".

from the above said this function is useful and prductive only if users are explicitly warned of it. otherwise it is absolutely dangerous and destructive!

mihail


Sorry to insist.

Foobar is not just a player but, with the right plugins, it is a media library too.
The playing part (playlists, volume, albumart etc) is just a section of the capabilities of the app.
And using FB you deal with your files in many way, maybe without being aware of that (but you should).
In fact, just with Foobar you can convert between formats, write info into your files (masstagger, freedb, replaygain etc) and, thanks to the devs, get rid of your files if you like.
What happened to you is not due to the presence of a feature in an application but to the misuse or unaware use of it. That menu command is not clickable by mistake as it is buried under a couple of levels of menus. And the parent menu says it all: "File operations:".

Unfortunately, I've made my mistakes too in this field or, even worse for me , with masstagger. Do you know that you could wipe out ALL of the infos you patiently inserted manually into your classical music files or in the jazz ones (performers, forms, works, director and so on) with just a wrong assumption when using the masstagger? I had to know it. My bad I didn't tested with a bunch of files before applying the script to the whole collection.
When WE make mistakes, just blame ourselves and then forgive us.

As stated in some posts above, the nightmare is WMP: before using FB I started with that and I soon discovered that if you renamed an artist in the player, WMP renamed the artist dir too without asking you about.

And for the delete command, I think it is a built in Foobar command and PLT just made it avalaible in the Foobar context menu.

Foosion was quicker.


well, it seems it was my turn to learn my lesson too

but if there is a delete function (bypassing the recycle bin) there must be an undelete option too.
do you know of a such?

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #19 –
Quote from: mpeople on
i also doubt that deleting files from the hd in wmp is that easy
I don't normally use Windows Media Player, but it was quite easy to find: right-click on playlist, select "Delete", select "Remove from computer".

Quote from: mpeople on
and if it were there would be a reasonable explanation - simply "made by microsoft"!
That is not a reasonable explanation, it is just trolling, and as such not wanted around here.


Quote from: mpeople on
but if there is a delete function (bypassing the recycle bin) there must be an undelete option too.
do you know of a such?
There is no undelete function in foobar2000, but there are special software programs for that purpose like O&O Undelete which was mentioned above. Note that even the recycle bin would not help much with 20 GB of files.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #20 –
Quote from: foosion on
I don't normally use Windows Media Player, but it was quite easy to find: right-click on playlist, select "Delete", select "Remove from computer".


well, at least it says "Remove from computer" which alarms much stronger than only "Delete file(s)", doesn't it?

Quote from: foosion on
That is not a reasonable explanation, it is just trolling, and as such not wanted around here.


i agree with you! it is still my personal opinion.

Quote from: foosion on
There is no undelete function in foobar2000, but there are special software programs for that purpose like O&O Undelete which was mentioned above. Note that even the recycle bin would not help much with 20 GB of files.


thank you for the tip! i found a very good recovery tool too (548KB only) - "Handy Recovery 1.0", http://www.handyrecovery.com/handyrecovery-fw.exe
it's free, extremely fast, efficient and it's russian (i hope you don't regard that trolling too!) 

the only thing left is to get some dvd-rs to backup my files since i don't have enough free space on my other partitions to restore the lost data. good that i can do it at all

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #21 –
You are trying to blame foobar for *your* error. So, to justify to yourself what you did, you expect the player to be changed. Quite an egocentric and arrogant attitude. It was plain and simply YOUR FAULT.

One single thing which i agree with howver is that the delete-command of foobar should honor the system-settings regarding file-deletion - that is: if the trashcan is enabled, then it should be used.

- Lyx
I am arrogant and I can afford it because I deliver.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #22 –
Quote from: Lyx on
You are trying to blame foobar for *your* error. So, to justify to yourself what you did, you expect the player to be changed. Quite an egocentric and arrogant attitude. It was plain and simply YOUR FAULT.


let's make some things clear, if you don't mind:

1) please consider the different points of view - i am a new user to the player and you are NOT! as such i cannot know of all the features of it in depth from the beginning, let alone of the one in question UNLESS explicitly referred to!

2) in addition to that, please acknowledge the fact that one of the most common and used media players - winamp which i have been using for years - does not have this feature by default and there is an undeniable interconnexion between the two players:

"Foobar2000 Media Player is a very very recommendable player. It is developed by Peter Pawlowski who is or used to work on Winamp3."

source: http://addict3d.org/index.php?page=downloadfile&ID=588

3) i do NOT blame the player or anybody related for including this feature!

what i DO blame for is the missing EXPLICIT WARNING which refers to this "special feature" - especially for new users like me!
the feature is useful or extends the player's functionality only IF it is PROPERLY COMMUNICATED to the (new) users!

4) i do NOT want to have the player changed, thus justifying anything to myself!

what i DO want is to have an EXPLICIT reference to the "not so common" features of the player and its components included in their short description in order to prevent such accidents!

this will, in my opinion, add much value to the player, make it more user-friendly and thus attract more users and make it a preferable choice when it comes to media players!!!
so from this point of view, my attitude is closer to altruistic and humble than to "egocentric and arrogant".


Quote from: Lyx on
One single thing which i agree with howver is that the delete-command of foobar should honor the system-settings regarding file-deletion - that is: if the trashcan is enabled, then it should be used.

- Lyx
 

well, at least in one point we share the same opinion!
and if you agree, in a very important and critical - file and system management rules must have higher/top priority which all other applications should respect and comply with. (anders geht's nicht!) 

thanks for getting closer to my point!

cheers,
mihail

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #23 –
Quote
you obviously do not get it right!
I do.  I understand all of what you posted.

The point is that you selected and performed a command that deleted the files, physically.  There is a reason the command is labelled "Delete file(s)" and not "Delete/remove songs/tracks."  As you stated, convention tells us that normal "delete" operations do not affect the file on your HD.  Taking convention into consideration, the command in foobar correctly states "Delete FILES."  Furthermore, there is text in the status bar that describes the command.

Foobar has taken media player conventions into consideration in the naming, description, and operation of the command.  You chose to delete the files by performing the command stated.

Accidentally wiped out my collection

Reply #24 –
Quote from: Raja on
Quote
you obviously do not get it right!
I do.  I understand all of what you posted.

The point is that you selected and performed a command that deleted the files, physically.  There is a reason the command is labelled "Delete file(s)" and not "Delete/remove songs/tracks."  As you stated, convention tells us that normal "delete" operations do not affect the file on your HD.  Taking convention into consideration, the command in foobar correctly states "Delete FILES."  Furthermore, there is text in the status bar that describes the command.

Foobar has taken media player conventions into consideration in the naming, description, and operation of the command.  You chose to delete the files by performing the command stated.


the point is that you don't get my point!

read the previous post (Lyx's second comment) where you can come closer to my point.

i have may recycle bin activated and the Delete file(s) command of the context menu in playlist tree deleted everything bypassing the recycle bin!!!!

we are all the time in the playlist tree panel and not in the playlist panel, note that please, where you do not have the command "Delete/remove songs/tracks". you have the commands "Remove" and "Crop" only in the playlist panel and not in the playlist tree panel!!!!!!!!!!

so, if you create a playlist in the playlist tree panel with assigned tracks but afterwards want to delete it, then  the only way to do so without deleting the tracks physically is through the  Library>Playlist Tree>Selection>Remove and not through the context menu itself and this "looooong" way to safely delete your playlist only is very circumstantial and represents a  major obstacle, esp. to new users, i think!
it would make much more sense if the command "Remove" is included in the context menu of the playlist tree! if you had followed my thought and logic you would have understood what i am pointing at!
obviously, you either cannot or you don't want to, so make up your mind which one is true!

in first place, one would like to remove a selected playlist (or its "assigned" tracks) and not permamemtly delete it from hd!!!
such command is missing in the context menu which is far from taking conventions concerning file management permissions into consideration!

Quote from: Raja on
Furthermore, there is text in the status bar that describes the command.


apart from above said, when my cursor is on the Delete file(s) option in the context menu there is no description text in the status bar of my foobar!!!!!

cheers,
mihail