How to find the original content when the folder is already "replaced"?

Question

I'm new to mac and I made a big mistake. I was trying to back up internal HD (macbook pro). While I wanted to save what was on internal HD's "Folder A", there was already a folder named "Folder A" on my external HD. What I wanted to do was to merge the 2 to make a folder (in ext HD) that contain ALL the file together in "Folder A". When I dragged the folder from int. HD onto ext. HD, the pop up window asked: "this folder name already exist, do you want to replace?" and I clicked on "replace". Only 2 seconds after, I realized that the contents on my ext HD "folder A" was actually more recent (because I was editing 3 video projects directly from this ext. HD "folder A" during the last 3 days). So I clicked on "stop copying" immediately, but it had started replacing "folder A" to my int HD version thus my original content in "folder A" on ext Hd was all gone.

Is there any way to restore the original content of "folder A"?

Answer 1

Depends on the filesystem. If it was HFS+, it's probably gone for good. If it was FAT32 there's a really small chance an undelete utility can find the files intact. You may have to plug the drive into a Windows computer to find a good utility.

Glary Undelete works great (if the files are intact and if you can find a Windows PC).