I've been a Backblaze subscriber for a little over a decade, beginning on April 13, 2014. In all that time, I don't recall that I've ever tried to recover a file until this morning.
I tried using Apple's versions from the Revert menu, and I don't know if I'm cursed, if there's some flaw in my file system or what, but I couldn't recover the file I wanted last night. Before I went to bed, I figured I'd try to recover a version using Howard Oakley's Revisionist utility.
I was lying away since about 0230, and I finally got up at 0400 and figured I'd see what I could do with recovering this file. I don't know why, but it occurred to me that Backblaze might be an easier way to go. I'd never tried it before, so it'd be interesting if nothing else.
After logging in, the interface is pretty straightforward. I think it's set up to basically restore an entire drive, but you can drill down to specific files. I almost missed the little calendar that lets you pick the date of the backup. I don't know how far back you can go, but a couple of weeks worked fine.
I restored the file I was looking for to a folder on an external drive. It was restored with the path of the original, which can be confusing when you open the file, and then click on the filename in the window and look at the path. It may appear to be in your User/you/Documents/whatever/ folder. I tried to "move" the file from the file menu in the app I was using, and I couldn't. I wasn't able to select a the desired folder in Documents.
I ended up renaming it in Finder, then opening that file and using a "Save as" to change the name back and put it in the "correct" folder. I'm not sure what all the issues are there, but that seems to have worked ok. I've closed the file and re-opened it, and it's saving and opening correctly from the desired folder.
Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:48 Monday, 6 May 2024