Large PSD file overwritten with a PDF file

A
Posted By
Auror
Oct 3, 2008
Views
427
Replies
8
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Closed
Hi everyone,

I’ve been searching google for this for a while but I can’t find an answer.

Ok, so I’m working with a large PSD (100+ layers, over 170MB). I wan’t to preview it as a PDF. I click Save As … and I make a new file on the desktop. I minimize Photoshop, go to desktop and open the PDF. Ok everything’s ok. I go back to photoshop (just maximize it). I work work work …. Ctrl+S every once in a while … and I suddenly realize that the file I’m working on has changed its name from project2.psd to project2.pdf (I see this in the top bar of the window). I minimize photoshop, go to the folder where my psd file is stored and I check it for weight -> it’s now 24MB instead of 170MB. Ok, now I’m stressed and I go crazy. Istead of going back in history I decide to Overwrite my original project2 (which is now a pdf as the windows explorere shows … [oh yeah, and the pdf I’ve created on the desktop is still there as a totally separate file]) with the project I have currently opened in photoshop (I still have layers in the layers pallete and everything, it’s just the photoshop shows the name of the file in the top bar "project2.pdf"). I do that. Now I close all the projects opened in photoshop (I guess that’s the moment I really screwed up) – though I don’t close the program itself if that matters at all – and I reopen my project2.psd.
Yes, it opens as a PSD ….. but it’s flatten. No layers. God I’m so angry with myself now.
I have no idea why after creating a new pdf file on the desktop the whole project I was still working with turned into a PDF file.
Is there any home-made cheap solution to this? I wan’t to get my 170MB 100+ layers file Does Vista store some temp files anywhere? I suppose it won’t be there.

Sorry for being so emotional about all this but I’m really screwed if I don’t get my original file back.

PS. I’ve found a file called Photoshop Temp631890 in the Temp directory. Can’t open it with PS. Is there anything I can do with it?

Thank you in advance,
Auror
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RB
Robert_Barnett
Oct 3, 2008
Just save the open file as a PSD file and get on with it. Then I would spend sometime learning how to use a computer a software. Your the one that changed the format to PDF not Photoshop. Your one that apparently wasn’t aware that you did that. That makes you the one that needs to learn how comptuers, software and file saving works.

Robert
G
Greg
Oct 3, 2008
, 10/3/2008 13:04 hrs:

Hi everyone,

I’ve been searching google for this for a while but I can’t find an answer.
Ok, so I’m working with a large PSD (100+ layers, over 170MB). I wan’t to preview it as a PDF. I click Save As … and I make a new file on the desktop. I minimize Photoshop, go to desktop and open the PDF. Ok everything’s ok. I go back to photoshop (just maximize it). I work work work …. Ctrl+S every once in a while … and I suddenly realize that the file I’m working on has changed its name from project2.psd to project2.pdf (I see this in the top bar of the window). I minimize photoshop, go to the folder where my psd file is stored and I check it for weight -> it’s now 24MB instead of 170MB. Ok, now I’m stressed and I go crazy. Istead of going back in history I decide to Overwrite my original project2 (which is now a pdf as the windows explorere shows … [oh yeah, and the pdf I’ve created on the desktop is still there as a totally separate file]) with the project I have currently opened in photoshop (I still have layers in the layers pallete and everything, it’s just
the photoshop shows the name of the file in the top bar "project2.pdf"). I do that. Now I close all the projects opened in photoshop (I guess that’s the moment I really screwed up) – though I don’t close the program itself if that matters at all – and I reopen my project2.psd.
Yes, it opens as a PSD ….. but it’s flatten. No layers. God I’m so angry with myself now.
I have no idea why after creating a new pdf file on the desktop the whole project I was still working with turned into a PDF file.
Is there any home-made cheap solution to this? I wan’t to get my 170MB 100+ layers file Does Vista store some temp files anywhere? I suppose it won’t be there.
Sorry for being so emotional about all this but I’m really screwed if I don’t get my original file back.

PS. I’ve found a file called Photoshop Temp631890 in the Temp directory. Can’t open it with PS. Is there anything I can do with it?

Thank you in advance,
Auror

Something’s not quite right here. If you change the format of a file, xyz.psd to xyz.pdf, the computer should make a new file called xyz.pdf, which will not overwrite xyz.psd. xyz.psd should be untouched on your drive.

Do a search of the drive for the file – Start/Search/Files or Folders looking for the .psd file. Use *.psd in case the filename happens to be a bit different than what you think it is.

Good luck,

Colin D.
RK
Ronald Keller
Oct 3, 2008
Auror,

Sorry for the bad news but there is no way to get your layers back. The temp file contains no useful data.
To avoid such disaster in future never close a file unless you are absolutely sure it is saved in the right file format. Once a file is closed your history is gone.
It also is very dangerous to overwrite existing files. Much better to save as a different versions…
One consolation: you probably will never again in your life make the same mistake.

I am sure we all feel your pain except maybe Robert who apparently is perfect and never made a mistake in his life.

Ronald
A
Auror
Oct 8, 2008
Much thanks Ronald …. yes Robert you too.

Sorry to answer this topic with such a delay. I’ve been busy finishing this project. Not re-doing the whole thing thank God!

Ok so I know that if I overwrite a file it’s lost.

I didn’t loose everything ‘couse I was able to recover an earlier copy that was erased. Some data-recovery software found it on my drive and was able to recover it. Moreover while I was recovering it I remembered that I’ve left a copy of my PSD file on my clients FTP server 2 days earlier. I did loose a couple of hours of work but all wasn’t lost.
I could swear to god I saved my PSD "AS A" PDF and somehow both files turned into PDFs. Well … s**t happens right?
gonna be more carefull next time.

Thakns for everything.

Auror
RK
Ronald Keller
Oct 9, 2008
Auror,

Luckily you were able to recover at least some parts of your work. In case you are interested, there is a program called WatchDirectory which monitors your directories and copies new or changed files to another location.
I use this and it prevents such disasters. The copied files are not overwritten but instead the date and time are added to the new file. (at least if is setup this way)
An example: I have a file Mywork.psd. As soon as I save this it gets copied to another location e.g. D:\Mywork.psd. A subsequent save will produce D:\Mywork20081009165545.psd (date and time added). So never will a file be overwritten.
This needs lots of disk space of course but at the end one can delete what is not needed anymore.

Regards,
Ronald
CF
chris_farrell
Oct 9, 2008
For all professional work you MUST back up all files after every significant amendment to save yourself this very problem…..and wasted time ( $$$$$ )

We’ve all been there…..
B
Buko
Oct 9, 2008
are you saving these files with the extension visible? If not, that is your problem. Always use the extension at the end of the file name and there is no way to save a PDF over a PSD.
DM
Don_McCahill
Oct 9, 2008
Another trick I used when freelancing was to frequently change file names when saving, so an error during a save didn’t toast the only copy of the file. It can chew up disk space when you get up to bigjob24.psd, but then you just have to go back and delete the bigjob.psd to pigjob22.psd. Always have a couple versions current though.

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