All data missing from Obsidian

System information: Linux Mint (Obsidian v0.13.33 was installed on the Linux system) and Windows 11 as a dual boot arrangement.

Issue: All of my notes and folders on Obsidian went missing suddenly and I can’t seem to find them on the drive.

Change: The only major change I can recall is moving some of the folders from my desktop to a different drive on the PC (I already checked that drive but can’t seem to find any files there.)

Things I have tried

  1. Searched for ‘.md’ files using file explorer on the hard drives, but couldn’t find any of the files I had.
  2. The folder md.obsidian.Obsidian doesn’t have those.
  3. System’s trash folder doesn’t have them either.

What I’m trying to do

Could someone help me relocate / restore those?

Omg. Sorry to hear that. Try check if u still have File Recovery enabled (it’s enabled by default unless u disable it). Settings > File Recovery.

Also by default deletion is sent to system trash. Check on either system if they are there.

As a final note, syncing can be a bit tricky when moving many files. Better to ensure both system updated first before doing so, or backup the

Thanks for those suggestions!

The snapshots was enabled and I used to save the notes by default, but the section is empty. (screenshots attached)

I did check both the Obsidian’s and the system’s trash folders carefully but didn’t find any of them there.

I am afraid, the vault itself is missing. Couldn’t find it under the default system location in .var folder. Any idea how I might locate the vault or restore it if accidently deleted (which I don’t think happened). Though I don’t recall the vault name and think hadn’t created one but was using the default location that the application begins on installation I’ve also already tried searching for specific filenames of the notes but don’t see any.


If u think you’ve deleted the files, Recuva might help u. I’ve recovered deleted photos before with this. Text files would have higher success rate. Download Recuva | Recover deleted files, free!

Not sure abt equivalent linux app.

But if u think u misplaced the files, file indexer might help, my favourite is locate32 below. It will index files in ur system and then u can actually search the filename or file content. http://locate32.cogit.net/

I don’t have much experience with linux, but I’ve read that FSearch or AngrySearch do the same thing locate32 does but for linux. GitHub - cboxdoerfer/fsearch: A fast file search utility for Unix-like systems based on GTK+3

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