Hello, as some of you may know, I am switching laptops, and last night I was sorting out files to move from the old laptop to the new laptop.

I was horrified to find my Downloads folder that I have been working on the old laptop, had gone missing (must have been sometime between July to September, but I didn't notice at the time). I'm not sure if it was me by accident (although it seems odd that I wouldn't have noticed), or the fact that the hard drive is failing (I've tried not to use it since I got told that, but have loaded it up a couple of times to transfer files).

I thought I had a recent backup, so I moved that into the game to test, but that was from 2023, as it turns out.

I have taken it to a computer repair shop, he said he might not be able to recover it, as I moved the backup file into the game, but he'll let me know this week (trying not to cry until I find out).

I tried myself a bit last night, but I couldn't recover it using the usual methods:

• Recycle Bin = I empty this every day

• Restore Previous Versions = No useful files found

• Cloud/One Drive Type Backup = Not set up

• Windows Restore Point = Not set up

• Backup Folder on Desktop = Very old for some reason (I thought it was recent)

I spent a few hours googling it and someone said there is a log in the game files with a list of cc in the Logs folder (I can't check this yet, as the old laptop is still in the shop).

When I get the old laptop back, there is also internet search history I guess, but it may not go back far enough.

I have been digging around in the files I'd already moved to the new laptop, and found the texture files I saved as GIMP layers (luckily I had tweaked most of the textures).

I was wondering if SimPE or Bodyshop would have any record of past files that were edited (I changed Sortindex in SimPE to move them around in CAS, not sure if I did anything in Bodyshop), does anyone know please?

There's a text list file in the Logs folder (Documents location, or same location you normally find the Downloads folder) that's called "CustomContentObjects". It only seems to record some items, though - Looks like it's mainly object meshes and mods, likely whatever shows in the list if you have the CC list showing when starting up the game. Couldn't see much of CAS items there.

A little bit unsure about the Accessory/groups-cache files, but those might have some info, too (unless you've deleted them). I don't have any available at the moment, otherwise I'd check. If you still have the Cigen file, it has any loaded Bodyshop thumbnails since the last time the file was regenerated, and the files in the Thumbnails folder also have thumbnail info since whenever those were regenerated last - but I doubt any of these have the most useful data, as most of the thumbnail data is very scrambled (doesn't sort nicely).

If you've downloaded off Modthesims, there should be a record of what you've downloaded under your profile (Downloads --> Download history). I don't think a lot of other sites have this, though.

Bodyshop doesn't seem to keep a record other than the cigen + cache files.

I don't think SimPE does, either (it does make a cache file, but no idea what it stores there, as SimPE wouldn't open a copy of the file).

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As for backups, it's always better to rely on having at least 1-2 backups away from your computer, and it's a good idea to keep at least one external drive backup, in case something happens during a cloud backup (if it accidentally gets badly overwritten or anything like that), or you for whatever reason need one that's offline. Plus, alsoa good idea to do regular/scheduled backups to your various backup points. Nothing is more annoying that having to rely on old backups that's missing a ton of newer stuff.

Thanks @simmer22, that's really helpful

I used to be really good at backing up regularly, but I think I confused myself with various laptop switchovers and made too many backup folders, then I got confused which ones to keep.

I also filled up my USB sticks and didn't buy any more, when I should have. I got one yesterday with 128GBs, so I can get myself better organised going forwards.

I do need to set up the Windows backups too at some point.

I have got 2 old hard drives from laptops (500GB each), I've ordered external hard drive enclosures for them, so I'm hoping I can use them for storage - maybe they will be good for the external drive backups.

I put dates on anything I've got multiples of, so I know when they're from (the date info for the folder can change, so it helps knowing when the last backup on that particular drive is from), and I keep backups in separate named folders if they're from different devices. If needed, you could always add a text file alongside the backup that has info on the hoods and families, and where the backup is from.

For the game, I also backup the downloads folder that belongs with the particular game backup, so I don't have to keep track of what belongs to which game or if I've removed anything (but that could depend on how you sort/keep your downloads, though - I keep moving stuff in and out all the time). I've had more than enough occasions where I've removed something and later it turns out something in my game was using it (cue missing CC on sims or blue-flashing stuff or vases/fruitbowls everywhere).

Fair warning - don't link up OneDrive or other synched backups to the game to "do as it pleases". It can wreck havoc with your files. Doing backups to a cloud service is fine, but don't let it synch, especially not if it runs while you're playing.

Thanks, that's a good idea.

Backing up the downloads folder separately would help too, I'll have to start doing that.

Thanks, I've turned everything off Cloud/One Drive as I don't want to risk it messing up my game, so I won't do that anyway.

But I was thinking of setting up Windows Restore Point and Restore Previous Versions, as I assume these are offline and just saved on the laptop.