In order to utilize it, you’ll need to have an external drive and you must configure it properly.
Time Machine (Mac) – Mac OS X comes with a built-in backup feature called Time Machine. You must turn this feature on in individual programs for it to work with the OS. Macs also have a similar feature to Restore Previous Versions, called “Revert To.” This feature, found under the “File” menu, only works on files that have associated software that allow for saving file revisions. Altogether, this isn’t a very efficient option for quick recovery, but it can help in some narrowly defined situations. In most cases, this option can work far better for system files than for user-created files. In addition, if you saved the file several times since the last restore point or backup, you can only retrieve the original, not any of the ones you’ve saved since.
The advice below will show you how to recover overwritten files on a Mac or PC, and will show you what to do to prevent overwritten files and data loss from happening to you again. Once you realize you’ve lost data to an overwrite you can attempt to retrieve that data utilizing the options below, and you can prepare for the future to mitigate further loss and frustration. You’ve accidentally overwritten an old file or folder with a new one.