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StephenJRFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Retrieve previous file names

Not sure which zone(s) this should be in, but in Windows 7 I have managed, via a third-party application, to rename a bunch of several hundred files and was wondering if there is any way to retrieve the previous names.

I have tried system restore (doesn't seem to do files), windows backup (I must have cancelled it). I have a back-up on external drive for some of the files, but another approach would save me some manual graft.

TIA.

Stephen
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Run5k
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Yes, it's important to remember that a System Restore won't affect user data files and folders, only the operating system itself, the registry, etc.

However, if you still have viable system restore points you should conceivably be able to use the built-in Restore Previous Versions functionality to recover the file names:

Restore Previous Versions of Files in Windows 7
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StephenJR
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ASKER

Run5k - thanks for your response. Annoyingly, although the previous versions seems to work for some other folders, none of the files in question have previous versions. Does it depend on the type of file? These are all jpgs. Or maybe they were just never backed-up. Looks like I'm going to have to get busy.

Or could it have something to do with permissions?
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Run5k - I think you're on to something. The parent folder has a previous version from a few days ago which should pretty much restore the files I think. Have to dash now, but will check out properly tomorrow and report back. Thanks for your help.
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Always glad to help.  Keep in mind that you can use the Open button to see what's in that Restore Previous Versions folder and ensure it is what you actually want before you decide to Copy or Restore the data.  Personally, I almost always utilize Copy just to play it safe.
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StephenJR
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Thank you so much for setting me on the right track. You saved me a lot of tedious work.
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Glad to hear that!