Many attachments have been disappearing from Bookends. One search hint suggested that that they might be found in iCloud recently deleted files. I was surprised to find over 5000 files there, almost all of them the missing PDF attachments. There were only a few other files mixed in. Unfortunately, when I tried to restore them, it failed. "5000 files could not be restored."
I have not intentionally deleted these attachments. I do not have optimization turned on to move files off the local computer. I know of no other app to suspect. Using Perplexity to search for reasons files might be disappearing suggested that Preview or PDF Expert sometimes inexplicably cause files to disappear. I've checked the file system integrity with Apple and other utilities. I have not had system crashes.
Sequoia 15.4.1. Some earlier macOS systems may have been suspect, but I could not find any suspicion of recent macOS releases.
Any ideas? Especially about how to get iCloud to restore the files that it is failing to recover?
Thanks.
iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
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smarcopolo
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:30 am
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smarcopolo
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:30 am
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
Every time I access file recovery iCloud has to rediscover the files.
More information: I am able to mark for recover 20-30 PDFs at a time. Any more than that fails.
More information: I am able to mark for recover 20-30 PDFs at a time. Any more than that fails.
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
What version of Bookends are you using?
Jon
Sonny Software
Jon
Sonny Software
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
> Any ideas? Especially about how to get iCloud to restore the files that it is failing to recover?
As security measures for the future, routinely create local (not iCloud) ZIP archive backups of your attachment library and routinely run the backup library option from the File menu in Bookends, again to create a local (not iCloud) backup of your library.
My understanding otherwise is that iCloud is its own can-of-worms with regards to the trust that one should place in it to be a *permanent* cloud storage option versus as a *temporary* cloud transfer service. As to methods to recover lost files, consider asking the same question on forums such as Mac Power Users, where the focus is specifically on macOS, iPadOS, and iOS hardware or software concerns.
As security measures for the future, routinely create local (not iCloud) ZIP archive backups of your attachment library and routinely run the backup library option from the File menu in Bookends, again to create a local (not iCloud) backup of your library.
My understanding otherwise is that iCloud is its own can-of-worms with regards to the trust that one should place in it to be a *permanent* cloud storage option versus as a *temporary* cloud transfer service. As to methods to recover lost files, consider asking the same question on forums such as Mac Power Users, where the focus is specifically on macOS, iPadOS, and iOS hardware or software concerns.
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JJW
JJW
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smarcopolo
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:30 am
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
@Jon
version 15.1.3
I update whenever I get notifications of a new version
version 15.1.3
I update whenever I get notifications of a new version
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
OK. Please contact support@sonnysoftware.com and let me know where you are wrt recovering the PDFs, and if you've had any similar problem since the first occurrence.
Jon
Sonny Software
Jon
Sonny Software
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smarcopolo
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:30 am
Re: iCloud Recently Deleted attachments recovery
@DrJJWMac
I agree that iCloud is not reliable, from this and other experiences. Its value is sync'ing with portable devices when I am not near my computer.
Fortunately, I do keep other backups for reasons mentioned. I posted here because the magnitude and recency of data loss might be of interest to other Bookends users, if it happens to anybody else. It could have to do with Bookends and/or Mellel that I use together, or perhaps some other app. Both Preview and PDFExpert have been implicated in disappearing PDFs, rightly or wrongly. Or none of the apps themselves
The disappearance of very recently added PDFs is most disturbing, though they are also the easiest to replace because I keep duplicates of those PDFs I'm adding to the library. Recent PDFs that I knew had been added that were suddenly missing is the reason that I discovered this trouble. It's just a big nuisance facing about 5000 disappearances over the last 30 days.
In the course of investigating I have spent hours on the phone with Apple support. Initially using iCloud data recovery for Recently Deleted I did find about 5000 missing PDFs with the expected names. I could not recover all at once because an iCloud error was generated. I did recover some in small batches, and those attachments reappeared in Bookends. However, I then started encountering a universal message that 1,899 files were discovered and a continual spinner that went unchanged for hours, then days. No longer are any file names displayed. It did not matter which device or browser (Intel 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, M1 MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone 16; 4 different browsers, flushed caches. Optimization for iCloud is off. I only make updates on one computer.). Always the same 1,899 answer after initiating an iCloud search for recently deleted files. My case has now been escalated through two layers of senior Mac support engineers at Apple and referred to engineering. There is an unidentified error status of my iCloud storage.
I agree that iCloud is not reliable, from this and other experiences. Its value is sync'ing with portable devices when I am not near my computer.
Fortunately, I do keep other backups for reasons mentioned. I posted here because the magnitude and recency of data loss might be of interest to other Bookends users, if it happens to anybody else. It could have to do with Bookends and/or Mellel that I use together, or perhaps some other app. Both Preview and PDFExpert have been implicated in disappearing PDFs, rightly or wrongly. Or none of the apps themselves
The disappearance of very recently added PDFs is most disturbing, though they are also the easiest to replace because I keep duplicates of those PDFs I'm adding to the library. Recent PDFs that I knew had been added that were suddenly missing is the reason that I discovered this trouble. It's just a big nuisance facing about 5000 disappearances over the last 30 days.
In the course of investigating I have spent hours on the phone with Apple support. Initially using iCloud data recovery for Recently Deleted I did find about 5000 missing PDFs with the expected names. I could not recover all at once because an iCloud error was generated. I did recover some in small batches, and those attachments reappeared in Bookends. However, I then started encountering a universal message that 1,899 files were discovered and a continual spinner that went unchanged for hours, then days. No longer are any file names displayed. It did not matter which device or browser (Intel 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, M1 MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone 16; 4 different browsers, flushed caches. Optimization for iCloud is off. I only make updates on one computer.). Always the same 1,899 answer after initiating an iCloud search for recently deleted files. My case has now been escalated through two layers of senior Mac support engineers at Apple and referred to engineering. There is an unidentified error status of my iCloud storage.