Accidentally deleted media files and then synced, please help restore

Anki Syncing & AnkiWeb
1

Dear dae,

I accidentally deleted all my media files from my computer. Then, I accidentally synced to anki web. Now my deck has none of my images, and I would like to restore from a previous sync when I had my media.

I’m hoping you might be able to restore my media from anytime before 5/19, before I deleted the files.

Thank you so much, I truly appreciate it. This would be a lifesaver.

I have also posted on ankitenderapp

Best,
ES

2

I’m going to ping @dae so he’ll be sure to see this the next time he’s online.

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3

Thanks so much Danika!
Best,
Emily

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4

I’ve restored your recently-deleted media. It should automatically download the next time you sync.

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5

You are such a lifesaver @dae! Does it matter if I sync on my computer or my phone?

Best,
ES

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6

Either will be fine.

7

Dear Dae,

Thanks so much for your email!! I synced on my computer.

Unfortunately the media is still gone : (

Here is a photo of what I see:

image.png
image.png1052×486 32 KB

Where there used to be images

Is it possible that the images are lost because I accidentally deleted the files from my computer?

Best,
Emlly

8

Did you wait long enough for the images to fully sync to your computer? If you had a lot of media, it can take a few tries until you have it all downloaded.

Tools > Preferences > Syncing > Media Log
Tools > Check Media

3 Likes
9

Dear Danika,

Hm. Heres what I see:

image.png
image.png1558×1526 519 KB

Furthermore, I didn’t hit “force sync one way” and “download from ankiweb” which I realized in hindsight might have been necessary.

Do you think if we reset again to a time before 5/19, and if I downloaded from anki web in a forced one way sync, that might work?

Best,
ES

10

After you sync a few more times, is the number of missing files decreasing? If so, then the files are still downloading. Media files may take time to sync - Frequently Asked Questions

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11

Dear Danika,

From the last 48 hours, the number of missing files has remained around 1300. Should it download directly from anki-web to the media folder?
Best,
ES

12

Yes, it should be downloading the media.

When you look at those notes/cards on AnkiWeb, are the media files present and working fine?

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13

@dae
I have accidently deleted my media folder as well and synced. I have been Anki user for 3+ years for now. please help me download them. Please Please. I have 7000+ media items. (((((

14

Ouch, that hurts! If there’s anything that can be retrieved on the server side, dae will be able to respond about that the next time he’s online.

Since there’s no guarantee that will be possible – have you looked everywhere else possible?

  • If you recently deleted the folder from your computer – does your system move it to a “trash” folder where you can restore it from?
  • Do you have the important files on your computer backed up anywhere – to another device or cloud service?
  • Have you synced your Anki collection to any other devices? Even if you haven’t synced it recently, you may be able to recover a media folder from recently enough to help.
  • Are any of your decks shared decks that you can re-import the media for? [You don’t want to take the chance of the new import overwriting any of your edits or review history in the deck, so import the shared deck to a new (temporary) profile, then copy the contents of the collection.media folder to your main profile’s collection.media folder, and run a Check Media to see what helped.]
2 Likes
15

Thank you so much for your quick response.
I tried recovering using a data recovery software. But couldn’t recover all. Please help me recover these missing files.
@dae @Danika_Dakika Thank you for your support

16

As mentioned on tenderapp, your files have been restored.

17

Hi @dae Ihave synced both from App as well as Desktop.
It doesn’t seem to have restored. Please check the attached image.

Thank you so much for your quick responses

image

18

I suggest you check the cards on AnkiWeb. If the images show there, it indicates you need to wait for media syncing to complete. If the images fail to appear on AnkiWeb as well, that implies that they were never synced to AnkiWeb, and unfortunately can’t be restored.

https://faqs.ankiweb.net/media-files-may-take-time-to-sync.html

19

I checked. And glad that its available on ankiweb. I am trying to sync both on phone as well as desktop. syncing is completed. but media not synced yet. let me wait for some days.

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20

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