Find and restore a file

What you'll do: get back a file you deleted or changed by mistake.
What you need: your backup drive (and its password if it is encrypted).
How long it takes: 2 minutes.

In this example, Alex overwrote ~/Documents/Notes.txt by mistake and deleted notes.txt.

AppCommand line

1. Plug in the backup drive. Open Deucalion and go to Restore. (If the drive is locked, click Unlock and type its password.)
2. • Browse: click Home folder, then the folders down to the file (Documents). The names are the original ones.
   • Or search: type part of the name in Search the backup. Results come from the whole backup, with their folder.

   Find the file:

   

3. Tick the file (or several files, or a whole folder).

   

4. Keep To their original place and click Restore….

5. Read the preview. Files that are different and will be replaced are listed; their current versions are kept in the undo folder Deucalion-before-restore in your home folder.

   

6. Click Restore.

   

7. Click Done.

1. Plug in the backup drive and open a terminal.

2. Find the file. deucalion ls lists a folder of the backup with the original names:

   $ deucalion ls ~/Documents
     Budget 2026.ods  44.9 KB
     CV - Alex.pdf  177.7 KB
     notes.txt  31 B
     Notes.txt  39 B
     report: final?.txt  33 B
     Tax/  2 files, 116.2 KB
     Work/  2 files, 93.8 KB
     Συνταγές.txt  54 B
     Ταξίδι στην Κρήτη 🌍.md  34 B
   

3. See what a restore would do, without changing anything:

   $ deucalion restore "~/Documents/Budget 2026.ods" --dry-run
   Restore plan
     home/Documents/Budget 2026.ods  →  /home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods
     New:                     0
     Overwrite:               1   (current versions are moved aside first)
     Already the same:        0
     To copy:                 1   44.9 KB
     Will overwrite:
       /home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods
   Dry run: nothing was changed.
   

4. Restore it (put names with spaces in quotes), and answer y:

   $ deucalion restore "~/Documents/Budget 2026.ods"
   Restore plan
     home/Documents/Budget 2026.ods  →  /home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods
     New:                     0
     Overwrite:               1   (current versions are moved aside first)
     Already the same:        0
     To copy:                 1   44.9 KB
     Will overwrite:
       /home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods
   Restore now? [y/N] y
   Restored 1 file (44.9 KB).
   Files that were replaced are kept in /home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135
   

You can name several files or folders in one command.

What you have now: the file as it was at your last backup, in its original place, with its permissions and date. The version it replaced is in ~/Deucalion-before-restore/<date and time>/….

An older version

The backup holds the version from your last backup. Older versions of a changed file may be in Removed Files: open the drive's Deucalion-Backup/_removed/ folder in the Files app and look in the dated folders.

Next steps: Restore a folder to another place · Undo a restore.