To anyone struggling with LOST FILES/SESSIONS (Recovery Guide)

[GX]

1/

Navigate to the data location of your session buddy extension

It's usually under the database folder where google chrome is intalled

So it should look like this if you're on windows:

======================

"C:\Users\SBS\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\databases\chrome-extension_edacconmaakjimmfgnblocblbcdcpbko_0"

======================

2/

There you should find a file with a number as its name "1,2,3 etc.." just make you sure you write that number down in case you need it (and make a copy of this file in case everything goes to the pot).

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3/

Now you should use a file recovery software, this would allow us to restore the overwritten file. It doesn't have to be paid you can just pick a free one, though results may vary as I remember when I used over 10 file recovery software so got me better results than others, this is due to the fact that they use different algorithms to recover your files.

You don't have to scan the whole disk, so If your software allows it just scan the folder mentioned before, your files (hopefully)* will be there.

* : as time gets by, bytes of the files are slowly being overriden and replaced by new bytes of new files thus making the recovery harder and harder.

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4/

Now this is the tricky part:

Obiously, make backups (copies) of your recovered file, it should look 

something like "7,36,41 etc"..

Now, it depends on the file itself:

Try these step by step:

*Name the recovered file after the file you originally found in your disk and replace it.

Now try to load up google and use the extension, if a red error pops up then that means the file is damaged or not recoverable.

*If you know how to deal with databases you might be able to restore the file using a database recovery software "like SQL Recovery Tool" etc.. Otherwise, just skip this step and go into the next one.

*Now this is my own solution thus you won't find it anywhere on the web, I noticed that the file might be corrupted but a huge chunk of the file still has the links in a good shape. So I coded this software so that it extracts the links, which later can be transformed into sessions or loaded into chrome.

FOR WINDOWS:

-Download this executable:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eU35s6ok2BnOvVTin_tnJUlg2ZetWw_f/view?usp=sharing

(Note that, due to the fact that the file is not commonly downloaded, Google might tell you to discard it, just choose the option to keep it).

-Move the recovered file into the same folder with the executable.

-Name the recovered file "input.txt" (NO CAPITAL LETTERS)

-Open a CMD/powershell window under the current path (just hold shift and press right click somewhere on the folder if you are in windows, it should say "open cmd/powershell window here".)

-Copy and paste this command: Of course don't copy the quotation mark (")

".\project1.exe | Out-File gg.txt"

-That's it.

FOR LINUX/MAC: You can check/ copy&paste the source code to a compiler that would output the .pp / .p / .pas file to ELF or .app

SOURCE_CODE: pastebin.com/jET5MkW7

KEYWORDS: Recovery / File / Backup / lost / lose / recover / delete / gone / help / support / forum / extension / session / body / sessionbody / budy / buddy / sessionbuddy / session buddy

[GX]

Update: I'd love it if you pin this post. 

[GX]

I apologize for not mentioning this but make you press enter after you copy and paste the command: ".\project1.exe | Out-File gg.txt"

[Robert E]

On Saturday, 30 May 2020 05:57:13 UTC+10, GX wrote:

I apologize for not mentioning this but make you press enter after you copy and paste the command: ".\project1.exe | Out-File gg.txt"

do you have recommendation for which recovery software?

[Robert E]

Hey what software do you recommend?

[GX]

I'm extremely sorry for the delayed response.

I am happy to say that most (if not all) software recovery tools will work and the files you need will be back in no time. 

When I said "the recovery will be harder as time goes by" I meant that it will require more time for the software to run a byte by byte check on the hard drive thus making the process a bit more heavy on the time side of things.

(say instead of 5 minutes it would take something like 2 to 3 hours)

As for my software recommendation, I would say go for "Disk Drill", the have a free version which you can use to scan for the missing file. A good thing about this tool, other than the amazing recovery algorithms it uses, is that recovering this file (in our case) would be for free. (the file's size is something like 5 to 100 MB, and Disk Drill allows you to recover up to 500 MB without paying)

One more thing, back when I had the issue, I used most of the softwares out there and they yielded nearly the same result.

I have to mention that I recovered my files months after it was corrupted as I was unable to find help back then so the recovery wasn't really great (I was able to recover the links themselves but the sessions themselves were a lost cause)

I had to rearrange the links by loading them up using session Buddy's import functionality and manually making new sessions. 

I know, kind of a tedious task but still better than losing everything.

I'm not saying that you should do the same, as my file was badly damaged and your case might differ.

A good indicator that your file is still intact is whether or not it still has "SQLite format 3" on the first line of the file and checking if it loads up on an SQLite reader.

If you get lost in the recovery process and still need more help then please don't hesitate to ask for assistance, I'd be more than happy to aid you!

However, I should also mention that the good guys at session buddy support could also provide some great help, so if you want to contact them here is their Email: sup...@sessionbuddy.com

Have a nice a day! <3 

[Robert E]

Hi

I recovered the actual file but I haven't opened it yet. I have used 2 recovery software. I selected the extension location solely though, The file is about 4 mb which is much smaller than the 500mb backup i have from a few months ago. Is there anyway to recover the old data or should I just try it? It's obviously been overwritten so I wanted to know how to get the previous version back or would the data be in another location in other recovered files?

[CM]

I followed your steps and when I found the file on Disk Drill, it said I need to buy pro to recover the files. Is there something else I can try? 

[MS]

HI thanks for posting this...

I have tried execute your project1.exe and got the congratuations.txt and gg.txt. .but the gg.txt is completely blank :( 

so i try opening the file with a SQLite reader but when I import my file... it shows "database disk image is malformed"

when i open my file with notepad.. i can see the "SQLite format 3" on the first line 

any idea what i'm doing wrong and any other way to recover my data? I really appreciate your help! 

[MS]

nvm. i was able to figure out myself :D

To others that might be facing the same problem as me.. this is what i did...

I downloaded sqlite from the official website https://www.sqlite.org/download.html  "sqlite-tools-win32-x86-3320200.zip"

unzip and create a folder "sqlite" in c:/  and unzip to that folder (should be 3 exe file)

make sure your database file is in the same folder (make sure to copy a new file into the folder and always have a backup original copy)

then run cmd module and type "cd c:/sqlite" enter, then type "sqlite3" enter

type ".open FILE"  enter  "FILE" is your file name so prob a number ex. ".open 33"

type ".recover" enter

type ".save FILE"   "FILE" will be the the fixed file name, make sure to name a different name than original (you can change it later to put it back into the extension profile folder)

once you have the fixed file.. just follow the advance recovery step 

***Note: for me the file is not completely fixed. it will show up correctly with 1 or 2 empty sessions. If i click on any of them, the database will crash and disappeared from the folder. 

Also can't use the back up function as it will try to access those empty sessions and cause it to crash, so i just select all my saved sessions and use export function. 

[CLU7CH3R]

The original solution doesn't work, gg is empty.
MS, how I can open the file "1"? When I tried, I got -> SQL error: file is not a database

[Jan Westhof]

I tried several file recovery programs but I cannot find the damn file on the two affected computers. Not even with disk drill. Where did you find it with "Disk Drill"? 

Since the files got lost there have been less than 48 hpurs so it cannot be gone entirely on the SSD. What can I possibly do from here? There were some really important links in it..

[Jan Westhof]

I have been able to recover it on one device but not on the other. For some reason it is only showing the new version with almost no entries on that device on DiskDrill. I can however for future reference say that DiskDrill found it.