Git Recovery

What is Git Recovery?

Git recovery means getting back lost commits, branches, or files.

Git keeps a record of recent changes so you can undo mistakes, even after a reset or delete.

When to Use Git Recovery

Use Git recovery when you:

• Accidentally delete a branch or file
• Reset your branch to a previous commit and lose changes
• Need to recover lost commits or changes

Recover Lost Commits with git reflog

git reflog records changes to the tip of branches and lets you find lost commits.

git reflog
e56ba1f (HEAD -> main) HEAD@{0}: commit: Revert "Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here..."
52418f7 HEAD@{1}: commit: Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here...
9a9add8 (origin/main) HEAD@{2}: commit: Added .gitignore
81912ba HEAD@{3}: commit: Corrected spelling error
3fdaa5b HEAD@{4}: merge: Merge pull request #1 from w3schools-test/update-readme
836e5bf HEAD@{5}: commit: Updated readme for GitHub Branches
...

Find the commit hash you want to recover from the list.

Restore a Deleted Branch

If you deleted a branch but the commits are still in reflog, you can recreate it:

git checkout -b branch-name <commit-hash>
Switched to a new branch 'branch-name'

This brings back the branch at the commit you specify.

Recover a Deleted or Changed File

If you deleted or changed a file and want to get it back, use git restore:

git restore filename.txt

This brings back the file from the latest commit.

Recover from a Hard Reset

If you used git reset --hard and lost commits, you can use the reflog to find and restore them:

git reflog
9a9add8 (HEAD -> main, origin/main) HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~2
e56ba1f HEAD@{1}: commit: Revert "Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here..."
52418f7 HEAD@{2}: commit: Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here...
9a9add8 (HEAD -> main, origin/main) HEAD@{3}: commit: Added .gitignore
81912ba HEAD@{4}: commit: Corrected spelling error
3fdaa5b HEAD@{5}: merge: Merge pull request #1 from w3schools-test/update-readme
...
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}
HEAD is now at e56ba1f Revert "Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here..."

The reset is the newest entry, HEAD@{0}. The entry before it, HEAD@{1}, is where the branch was just before the reset, so resetting to it brings back the lost commits.

Tips & Best Practices

• Regularly commit your changes to avoid losing work
• Use git reflog to find lost commits
• Use git restore to recover deleted or changed files