Recovering geodatabase

[EliseCoughlin]

Hi,

I'm using ArcGIS for my dissertation and whilst mapping I accidentally pressed ctrl X rather than ctrl Y which has subsequently led to my geodatabase being wiped. Don't believe that one small mistake can lead to a massive issue. Does anyone know how to recover it?

Thank you, any suggestions greatly appreciated!

[NinaRihn]

What did you delete by doing Ctrl X?    All of the features from the layer (points/lines/polygons) while editing?   or did you delete the feature classes from the geodatabase?      or did you delete the entire geodatabase?

what software are you using (ArcGIS Pro, or ArcMap?)

note that if you clicked Ctrl X, that is "Cut", so theoretically if you haven't copied or cut anything else since then or closed your software, it is still in your clipboard so you should be able to paste whatever you cut.. but more information would be helpful to know..

[EliseCoughlin]

I deleted all my layers of mapped glaciers (polygons) whilst editing like you say. But when I go onto the geodatabase there are no files in the folder. All the files appear with an '!' next to it in the contents pane. Using ArcGIS pro. Yes I read that it means cut however I did other things in between in my panic. I tried pasting over my geodatabase folder but it wouldn't let me. Is there a particular place you should paste? Hope this helps, thanks so much for getting back to me 

[NinaRihn]

If you were in Editing mode, and actually editing features, if you just closed your project without saving your edits, the polygons should still be there when you reopen, but it is still unclear to me what you actually are missing since the red exclamation points are something you would see in your map's layer list if you are missing the actual data source (file geodatabase feature classes)...    If so, try this: open your ArcGIS Pro project again, then under View, turn on your catalog pane, and expand Databases.. if you don't see your file geodatabase,  right click on Database and choose Add Database, then try to browse to wherever you have your file geodatabase stored.  click on your file geodatabase and add it to the project.   Then double-click on it to open it, and see if there is anything in it.   if not, try right clicking on the database and choosing refresh.    If there is nothing in the database, then unfortunately you have somehow deleted all of your feature classes.  Once you have done that, there is really no way to get them back unless you were working on a network share that is being backed up each night or something, in which case you could request the restore a backup from the previous night.        If the feature classes are showing in your file geodatabase, if you are still seeing the red exclamation points by your layers, you can try resourcing them to the geodatabase layers by going into their properties, and in the source section, try browsing to the geodatabase feature classes to source them...  or you could just drag your feature classes into the map fresh from the catalog pane.         I hope this helps at all; it is kind of hard to help when I can't see the project, but let me know if you have any other questions!

[EliseCoughlin]

I was in editing mode but I didn't close the program - just pressed ctrl X which led to the exclamation marks next to all my feature classes within the geodatabase. I can still find my geodatabase in my files however it is empty. I did however manage to reupload it onto a new project and all the feature classes within it were there in the catalog pane. But when I tried to move them across to the contents pane an error came up saying the geodatabase could not be accessed. Seems as though it's gone corrupt but doesn't explain how I am still able to see the feature classes and not upload them. Hope this makes sense! Thanks for your explanation too, very helpful and reassuring to know that I was doing the right thing. Still have hope that they might be recoverable - fingers crossed! If not, I guess it's a learning curve. Thanks again!

[NinaRihn]

I would probably try to export them into a new file geodatabase or export to a shapefil....     while you have the project open with the file geodatabase open in the catalog pane, under Databases, create a New File Geodatabase...    Then, for each feature class in the geodatabase, right click on it, and choose Export/Feature Class to Feature Class, then export it to your new file geodatabase.  If that doesn't work, maybe try Feature Class to Shapefile.   If that doesn't work, try just copying and pasting the feature class from the old geodatabase to the new geodatabase.   if that doesn't work, then the data is probably corrupted.

[RhettZufelt]

Still a little unclear on how you "deleted" layers using the cut option.  I can't figure out how to get pro to delete a feature class without cutting and pasting it to a different database.  Just selecting cut without a subsequent paste just ignores the cut operation and leaves the data there.  However, if I cut, then paste the feature class, it "moves" it from the cut folder into the paste folder.

In any case, may be too late now, but you could try the windows key + "V", which on some computers keeps recent history of the clipboard, and you could try to paste the cut data back to where it belongs.

another options, if there is a restore point set up on the computer the data was saved on, you can try windows explorer to navigate to the folder, right click the folder and get properties.  Look in the previous versions tab.

If there is a restore point on the computer, you will see snapshots of that folder from various dates, and you can copy/paste the last known good one.

R_

[KWilliams]

Nina gave an excellent explanation of checking for the data and remapping it back in if its still there. 

On top of that I'd like to add that ArcPro can be finicky, moving around quickly can cause unexpected and unintentional errors. I have definitely done similar things before where I accidentally delete something, or my ArcPro crashes and I lose edits. A good practice, which is a little annoying, is to save back ups. Such as making a copy of the database before making further edits. That's a safe practice especially for a project that contains a lot of data or one that would take a lot of time to replicate. 

Good luck!!

[EliseCoughlin]

Sounds like we've both learnt this lesson the hard way! You're right, it can be very sensitive. Stupidly when I backed up my map I thought I was also backing up all my layers including the geodatabase - whoops. Have now sorted a good way to back up everything. Thanks for your advice!