How to recover gdb from windows backup folder

RogerBarnaby — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:22:44 GMT

I accidentally deleted some shapefiles from my project gdb. I have a windows backup folder, 6 GB in size, which I can open in windows explorer and see the shapefiles that I want to restore. When I go into catalog and add database or add folder connection, I only get an empty folder. What am I doing wrong? I can't believe that I can't find an answer online.

Re: How to recover gdb from windows backup folder

VenkataKondepati — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:21:12 GMT

Hi @RogerBarnaby,

You are not talking about actual shape file (.shp, .dbf, .shx, .prj). Is this correct?

Are you saying that you have accidentally deleted some files from gdb folder?

If you are just talking about gdb files in gdb folder, please do not bring the missing files directly from backup since the state of the geo-database might have changed. It can corrupt if you bring it from back considering if the data has changed.

Instead, you can create a new folder "RestoreData" and get all the files into this folder.
You also need to make sure the file GDB name with extention.
Example:
RestoreData\myfile.gdb\ <all the files>

Now, you can point Catalog to this new folder and see if it is able to recognize it.

This way you might miss recent changes from the backup point in time, but your data is still safe until the backup time.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/geodatabases/manage-file-gdb/file-geodatabases-an...

If this does not work, want to have a quick call, you can book a meeting using the link from my signature.

topic How to recover gdb from windows backup folder in ArcGIS Pro Questions

How to recover gdb from windows backup folder

Re: How to recover gdb from windows backup folder