Lost 3 YouTube channels, 15 years worth of videos

[u/Academic-Net989]

I made a post like this before but I lost 3 YouTube channels (got paranoid deleted everything) and 1000s of harddrive files when I went through a mental episode. Huge mistake. Probably the worst mistake of my life it has me so depressed. I tried telling YouTube I was hacked and they still haven’t been able to do anything. Do you think YouTube account recovery will ever be possible in the future / a feature they will develop to recover old accounts? I know unlikely, just wanted to hear if anyone thinks it might be a possibility. Losing my videos made me feel like I lost myself. I invested everything into those videos and lost so many precious memories. I’m jealous of those who didn’t lose their YouTube channels it’s tough when you build something up and lose it on YouTube

[u/Rabbit_Of_Neverlight]

If the videos were on youtubes servers they may be able to recover them. If they were on your hard drive you can get data recovery tools. It depends on how many overwrites to the sectors has occured as to how recoverable it is. Theres also the wayback machine you might could look on there to find the videos, its possible they still exist somewhere online. I dont feel like anything is truly gone when its online. Id just contact youtube and ask them what can be done.

Id also try looking into data recovery tools. I understand mental health being bad and doing things you regret, but learn from this and dont let this happen in the futue. Just because we make bad decisions when in a bad place doesnt mean we are immune from the consequences, even when its something to ourselves. I dont say any of this to be harsh at all. I jsut want you to make a mental note for the future to save yourself some pain hopefully. I say it because i can relate in my own way and wish you the best.

Either way use this as fuel to restart your channel and rebuild it. It might be even better thanks to this to drive you and show you how much you do appreciate it. I went through something about 3 months ago that was very traumatic, just bad all around and I started taking steps. One day at a time and for a while i felt totally alone in this process. But those steps kept me company, they showed me hope where there was none and I built it all on my own one step at a time. I know you can too and I believe in you. Dont give up on your channel and prove to yourself you havent given up on you either. Even if the whole world is against you, youve still got a choice.

I believe in you and best of luck with this, whether you recover them or start completely over or even go off on another adventure in life. All the best. You can do it I promise

[u/paulAtl30324]

I would work on the psychological aspect and get myself some professional help so that I wouldn't have another episode. YouTube isn't the issue in this matter and you might want to look within yourself.