# Hunting for an old file online.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunting-for-an-old-file-online/604020>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 25, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunting-for-an-old-file-online/604020 "2011-11-25T02:54:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunting-for-an-old-file-online/604020/1 "2011-11-25T02:54:20Z")

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Suppose I want to find a .wmv file that was uploaded a few years ago. The site that the link was put on has been taken down since then (and in fact I dont remember its exact name). Is there any possibility of finding this file assuming I know the name and it is unique, and that it is still being hosted?

How would I go about doing this if it is actually possible?

A quick google of the name shows nothing, but could it be cached anywhere?

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**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunting-for-an-old-file-online/604020/2 "2011-11-25T04:42:30Z")

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Try the Wayback Machine:

[http://www.archive.org/web/web.php](http://www.archive.org/web/web.php)

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**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunting-for-an-old-file-online/604020/3 "2011-11-25T13:35:23Z")

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It’s highly unlikely a .wmv is going to be “cached”. I can d/l webpages for view later on my computer offline, but the videos don’t d/l as well.