Step 6 of 6

Keep a way back

Copy the folder before anything is deleted or overwritten. A snapshot costs a minute now; recovery costs a week, and only sometimes works.

What happened

What it costs when you skip it

An agent is asked to clean up a folder. It removes the wrong thing, reports success, and you notice two days later when a client asks for an old draft. The file is not in the trash: a command-line delete does not use it.

From there the options are file recovery tools, a cloud version history if the folder happened to be synced, or asking a client for a copy of their own document. All three are slower and less reliable than a copy taken before the operation ran.

Do this

1. Before a risky operation, copy the folder. _backup/20261112-1430/ next to the task folder. Copy, do not move, and do not compress until after you have confirmed it works.
2. Or put the workspace under version control. git init in the task folder, one commit before the risky step. Small text-heavy work is better served by a commit than by a copy of the whole tree.
3. Test one restore. Copy a single file back into a temporary folder and open it. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup.
4. Keep two generations. Yesterday's copy and the one before the risky step. One generation is a snapshot, two are a way back.
5. State the no-delete rule every time. "Never delete. If something is wrong, make a new version." A prompt is not a guarantee, but it converts most silent deletes into questions.
6. For continuous cover, use a tool. Brake Recovery takes the snapshot when a risky operation is about to run, so you do not have to remember. Design stage, stated on the product page.

Checklist

• A copy exists from before the risky operation, not after.
• The copy is on a different drive or a different volume.
• One file has been restored successfully as a test.
• Two generations are kept, not one.
• The no-delete rule was in the prompt for this task.

Common mistakes

• Taking the snapshot after the damage. A copy made after a delete contains the delete. The whole value is in the order.
• Backing up to the same drive. It protects you from the agent, not from the drive. Put the copy somewhere else, even a USB stick.
• Trusting the trash. Files removed by a command are not in the recycle bin. If it did not go through the app, it is simply gone.
• Never testing a restore. Permissions, partial copies and wrong versions all look fine until the day you need them.
• Assuming cloud sync saves you. Sync copies the delete too. Version history helps only if the folder was synced and the window is short enough.

What you need for this step

Brake Recovery is the tool for this step. Data stays on your machine, and it monitors without intervening. It is in planning and not open for testers yet.