What to do right now
- Look in the Recycle Bin, your Adobe cloud storage and any backup or sync folder first.
- If the file is not there, stop writing to the drive and scan it for PSD and PSB files.
- Large files may come back only partly, so open each result in Photoshop and keep your exported copies.
Step by step
Check the Recycle Bin and backups
Open the Recycle Bin and sort by date deleted. Very large files sometimes skip the bin and are deleted straight away, so if it is not there, check your backup drive, File History or a sync folder such as OneDrive.
Check Adobe's own copies
If you saved the file as a cloud document, look for deleted items in your Adobe account, where they are usually kept for a while. If Photoshop closed before the work was saved, its AutoRecover folder may hold a copy; the unsaved file finder on the FileFix Ultimate home screen checks Adobe recovery folders for you.
Stop writing to the drive
A single PSD can be hundreds of megabytes, so even one new export can overwrite part of it. Save nothing to that drive, and if it is drive C:, run the FileFix Ultimate portable ZIP from a USB stick.
Scan with Deleted file recovery
Open Deleted file recovery, select the drive and start the scan. Filter the results for PSD and PSB, and search for the file name if you remember it. You can pause the scan and keep looking at results while it runs.
Check status and confidence
Each result shows whether it was verified, recovered partially or extracted without verification, plus a confidence level. Results from file records with high confidence are the best candidates; partial results may open with missing layers or not open at all.
Save to another disk and open it
Save the file to a different physical disk and open it in Photoshop. If it opens, save a new copy straight away. If it does not, keep the recovered file and look for exported JPEG, PNG or PDF versions of the same design.
Why large Photoshop files come back incomplete
Layered PSD files are often hundreds of megabytes, and PSB files can be far larger. Files of that size are rarely stored in one continuous run on the disk, especially if the drive was nearly full. When the file record survives, the scan knows where each piece is and can put the file back together.
When the record is gone, signature search finds the start of the PSD but has to assume the rest follows on directly. If the file was fragmented, the result may contain the right beginning followed by unrelated data. That is why FileFix Ultimate marks such results as partial or unverified instead of presenting them as complete.
What a damaged PSD can and cannot give back
FileFix Ultimate finds and recovers PSD and PSB files but does not repair them. A PSD stores its layers one after another, and Photoshop may refuse the whole file if one part is broken, so a partial result is sometimes unusable even though most of its data is present.
For that reason, the exports you made along the way are valuable. JPEG and PNG exports, PDF proofs and images sent to a client can all be recovered as well, and can at least give back the finished look of the design if the layered file cannot be opened.
Other design files: INDD, EPS and Illustrator
InDesign INDD and EPS files are among the recognised signatures, so they are found the same way as PSD files. Linked images placed in an InDesign layout are separate files and need to be recovered too.
Illustrator AI files do not have their own entry in the signature list. Files saved with PDF compatibility, which Illustrator usually turns on, may be found as PDF files instead, so check PDF results of a similar size. Files found through file records keep their names and the .ai extension regardless.
When recovery will not work
- The file was on an SSD with TRIM, and the blocks were cleared soon after deletion.
- New exports or scratch files on the same drive overwrote the space after the deletion.
- The PSD was badly fragmented and its file record is gone, so only part of it can be found.
- The drive makes clicking noises or disconnects, which needs a data recovery lab rather than software.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- Restores deleted PSD and PSB files with their names and folders from NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT records.
- Finds PSD, PSB, INDD and EPS files by signature and marks each result as verified, partial or unverified.
- Checks Adobe recovery folders and temporary files with the unsaved file finder.
- Free for personal use with no recovery limit, read-only, and saves only to another disk.
FileFix Ultimate is free for personal use, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Business use needs a one-year licence per PC. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a PSD deleted weeks ago still be recovered?
Sometimes. It depends on how much has been written to the drive since. A drive that is mostly used for storage gives better chances than the system drive, and an SSD with TRIM gives the lowest chances.
The recovered PSD opens without some layers.
Part of the file was missing or overwritten. Save what opens as a new file right away, then compare it with any exported copies to rebuild the missing parts.
Do I need Photoshop on this PC to recover PSD files?
No. The scan recognises PSD and PSB files on its own, so you can recover them on any Windows PC. To check the layers and content afterwards, you will need Photoshop or another program that opens PSD files.
Why is the recovered PSB far smaller than the original?
Signature search may have found only the first part of a fragmented file. Check whether the same file also appears in the results from file records, which can rebuild all of its pieces.
Can I recover a PSD from a memory card or USB stick?
Yes, and often with good results, because these have no TRIM. Stop copying files to the card or stick and scan it directly.