Git Data Recovery

Lost commits survive until gc prunes (default: 14 days dangling, 90 days reflog-reachable). Recovery is a race against gc.

Path 1: Reflog (for commits you were on)

git reflog                     # HEAD history
git reflog show <branch>       # per-branch
git log -g --oneline           # same as log

git branch rescue <sha>
git reset --hard HEAD@{5}
git cherry-pick HEAD@{1}

Reflog is local, per-ref. A fresh clone has none.

Path 2: fsck (when reflog is gone)