How to reliably overwrite a file in Windows

I want to overwrite the content of a file atomically. I need this to maintain integrity when overwriting a config file, so an update should either pass or fail and never leave the file half-written or corrupted.

I went through multiple iteration to solve this problem, here is my current solution.

Steps to overwrite file «foo.config»:

• Enter a global mutex (unique per file name)
• Write the new content in «foo.config.tmp»
• Call FlushFileBuffers on the file handle before closing the file to flush the OS file buffers
• Call ReplaceFile which will internally
  • rename «foo.config» to «foo.config.bak»
  • rename «foo.config.tmp» to «foo.config»
• Delete «foo.config.bak»
• Release the global mutex

I thought this solution to be robust, but the dreaded issue occurred again in production after a power failure. The config file was found corrupted, filled with ‘NULL’ character, .tmp or .bak file did not exist.

My theory is that the original file content was zeroed out when deleting «foo.config.bak» but the filesystem metadata update caused by the ReplaceFile call was not flushed to disk. So after reboot, «foo.config» is pointing to the original file content that has been zeroed out, is that even possible since ReplaceFile is called before DeleteFile?

The file was stored on an SSD (SanDisk X110).

Do you see a flaw in my file overwrite procedure? Could it be an hardware failure in the SSD? Do you have an idea to guarantee the atomicity of the file overwrite even in case of power failure? Ideally I’d like to delete the tmp and bak file after the overwrite.

How to Recover Overwritten Files in Windows 10/8/7 Easily

Many users are asking for help on how to recover overwritten files. To fix this issue, here we’ll introduce two possible overwritten data recovery methods to recover overwritten files in Windows 10/8/7. Besides, a file recovery tool is recommended to help you recover lost, deleted, or formatted files effortlessly. The tutorial work with Word, Excel, PPT documents as well as many other types of files.

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To recover an overwritten file on Windows 10 PC:

Step 1. Open Windows Explorer and find the folder where the file was located in.

Step 2. Right-click anywhere inside this folder and select «Properties».

Step 3. Select the «Previous Versions» tab. Look for an earlier version of the overwritten file and restore from it.

This page shows two useful ways in all to recover overwritten files as listed in the table below. Besides, a professional file recovery software is recommended for lost data recovery.

Workable Solutions	Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Recover from previous version	Right-click the file and choose «Properties». Open the «Previous Version» tab. Select the latest. Full steps
Fix 2. В Restore via system restore	Initiate the search for «system restore».В Click on the result.В Choose the date before the infection. Full steps
Bonus tip. Recover lost files	You can resort to EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover lost files by accidental deletion. Full steps

IsВ thereВ any way that I can effectively recover overwritten files?

«Is there any way to get my Word documentВ back that wasВ overwritten? I have replaced an existing Word file with a newly built document with the same name by accident. I asked for help from my friend but only was told that the overwritten document cannot be restored. I don’t want to give up because the original Word document is vital to me. Any help? Thanks in advance.»

The word or Excel file getting overwritten happens a lot. And most of them are human errors. The overwritten files don’t end up in Recycle bin; therefore, even if you can recover files from emptied recycle bin in Windows 10/8/7, you can’t get back the lost original files.

Luckily, there are still several ways that can be applied to recover overwritten or replaced files. In this article, we will introduce two possible overwritten data recovery solutions. All of them work with Word, Excel, PPT documents, as well as many other types of files. What’s more, a file recovery tool is provided to help you recover lost, deleted, or formatted document effectively.В

2 Possible Ways to Recover Overwritten Files in Windows 10/8/7В В

The most effective solutions to recover overwritten files are demonstrated below. You can try them all until the issue is solved.

Method 1. Recover Overwritten Files from the Previous Version

Previous Versions is a backup and recovery feature in Windows that can be used to restore deleted, formatted, modified, damaged or lost files and folders. You might be able to restoreВ overwritten files from the Previous Version if you are lucky enough! Here’s how to do it:

1. Right-click the file and choose «Properties».

2. Open the «Previous Version» tab.

3. Select the latest version and click «Restore» to get back the overwritten files.

Method 2. Restore Placed FilesВ Using System Restore

Restoring your system to the last backup point using System Restore is the easiest and most efficient way to recover overwritten files. Here are the steps.

1. Initiate the search for «system restore».

2. Click on the result.

3. Choose the date before the infection appearance.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to recoverВ overwritten files.В

How to Recover Lost Files with EaseUS File Recovery Software

If you can’t use the above solutions to recover overwritten files or lost files, you can resort toВ data recovery software for help. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is capable of recovering lost or deleted files in any complicated situationwhen you don’t have any backup.В

EaseUS file recovery software

• Recover permanentlyВ deleted files, documents, photos, audio, music, emails effectively
• Recover files from formatted hard drive, emptied recycle bin, memory card, sd card flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders
• Support data recovery for deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash, etc.

Step 1. Select a location and start scanning.

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover on the partition where you lost data, then click «Scan».

Step 2. Preview and select the files.

Wait until the scanning completes. If you need to double-click the item to preview the file, then select the data you attempt to recover.

Step 3. Recover lost data.

Click «Recover», choose a location to save the recovered data, then click «OK». You should store the data in another place instead of the original one.

FAQs About How to Recover Overwritten Files

Here are a few more questions related to recovering overwritten files. If you also have any of these problems, you can find the methods here.

Is it possible to recover overwritten files?

If you’ve accidentally overwrittenВ a file orВ folder, you can try toВ restoreВ it fromВ the previousВ versions. To recover overwritten files on Windows 10 computer, you can use the File History feature or restore points. As long as you have activated either of the two tools, you canВ use it to scan and recover overwrittenВ filesВ from your hard drive.

Can Recuva recover overwritten files?

No, Recuva doesn’t work all the time. Recuva, as well as any data recovery software, cannot recover the data that has been overwritten. These data recovery software can only restore deleted, formatted, and other lost data.

Can overwritten files be recovered from the SD card?

If you have overwrittenВ yourВ SD card by mistake, the file is lost by overwritten in SD card still can be recovered by means of file recovery.В You can try to recover the files from backup or using a data recovery program to recover the lost data.В

Recover Overwritten Files: All You Need to Know

This article is fully dedicated to overwritten files. Here you will find out:

• what is overwritten files and why you should be afraid of overwriting

• is that possible to restore overwritten files

• 3 recovery methods

Are you ready? Let’s read!

Overwritten files: what are they?

When data is overwritten, new information is recorded over the old information.

At the same time, unused file system clusters are used to record new information. This happens when, after data is lost, the user continues to use the disk for various purposes and writes new files over the old ones. Professionals are unlikely to make such an oversight, but ordinary users may not notice that they have overwritten the data.

Can overwritten files be restored?

Strictly speaking, it is impossible to recover overwritten files. BUT, if the file was archived or the file is skipped when other files were overwritten, it can be restored. Are the chances for recovery of overwritten files high? Answer: Definitely not. In any case, it is worth trying to recover overwritten files in Windows 10 or other versions. You may be lucky.

Method 1. Use “Backup and Restore” from Windows

Try to recover overwritten files to use the built-in recovery utility in Windows. To do this, go to Start and select «Backup and Restore.» then select one of the options:

To enter «Backup and Restore» on Windows 10, press Windows button + S and you will see a search box. Type «Backup and Restore» or only “backup”, as the best match will be «Backup and Restore (Window 7)”. Click on it.

Use “Backup or restore your files”, if Windows Backup was set up, or «Select another backup to restore files from». Here you can select any desired data for overwritten file recovery.

Again, this method is good if you have set up Windows Backup. If you haven’t, proceed to the next method.

Method 2. Use a previous version of the file

This is another good option to recover an overwritten file. Try it; maybe fortune will smile on you.

You need to remember the exact name of the original file. Now create a new empty file with the same name in the same place and right-click on it. Select Properties. Go to the tab «Previous version». Now find and select the latest version of the file and click Copy. Now you just have to click the Restore button in the location you select.

If this method did not help, proceed to the next, more reliable method.

Method 3. Use DiskInternals Partition Recovery

This software is able to scan the disk thoroughly and recreate your file system to find your lost data. Therefore, you will be most likely to recover overwritten files with DiskInternals Partition Recovery.

The software works with the following file systems: FAT, ReFS, UFS, HFS, NTFS, ReiserFS, Reiser4, XFS, Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4. In addition, DiskInternals Partition Recovery is equipped with a powerful Recovery Wizard, which makes the whole process of overwritten file recovery as automated as possible and accessible even to ordinary users. This software has a free trial version; download and use it before purchasing a license to verify the accuracy and quality of the product. You will also be pleased with additional free features from the manufacturer, which takes care of every potential buyer.

As mentioned above, it is not an easy task to recover overwritten files. However, if you are determined to do it, you are more likely to have a positive result with good, professional software. And DiskInternals Partition Recovery is the leader in data recovery!

Windows: Overwrite File In Use

I am trying to write a utility that will allow moving files in Windows, and when it finds a file in use, will set that file to be moved on reboot.

It seems that MoveFileEx (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365240(VS.85).aspx) is the right call for this, however I cannot figure out what error code I’m looking for from GetLastError (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms679360(VS.85).aspx) to see that the file was in use.

I want the utility to fail when there is an actual permissions problem. Is there anyway to differentiate a you-can’t-write-there and a in-use overwrite error?

Also, if I have the files I am moving in the user’s temporary folder, will they get deleted before the delayed rename?

1 Answer 1

You have to call CreateFile first to see if the file is in use.

To see if the file is in use:

If you get a valid file handle then you know the file does not have conflicting sharing permissions with a process that already has this file open.

If you specify no sharing access (0 to the dwShareMode parameter of the CreateFile call), then you will not get a file handle if any other process is currently using that file in any way. GetLastError in this case would return: ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION (32)

To see if there is a security problem with accessing the file:

To see if there is a permissions problem accessing that file, the CreateFile call will also fail but with a different GetLastError. You will get: ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED (5)

How to overwrite existing files in batch?

The following command copies and moves a file but I also need it to overwrite the file it’s replacing.

10 Answers 10

Add /Y to the command line

Add /y to the command line of xcopy :

you need to simply add /Y

and if you’re using path with spaces, try this

If the copy command is run from within a batch job you do not need to use the /Y switch: it will overwrite existing files.

You can refer Windows command prompt help using following command : xcopy /?

A command that would copy in any case

For copying one file to another directory overwriting without any prompt i ended up using the simply COPY command:

If destination file is read only use /y/r

Here’s what worked for me to copy and overwrite a file from B:\ to Z:\ drive in a batch script.

The «/Y» parameter at the end overwrites the destination file, if it exists.

Not the answer you’re looking for? Browse other questions tagged batch-file overwrite or ask your own question.

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