Ubuntu – Recover Lost data/partition

data lossdata-recoverypartitioningsystem-installation

This is what happened:

I was running 12.04.1 and wanted to install 12.10. upgrade, but a fresh install.

When setting up my computer I anticipated for this by dividing my 640GB HD in following partitions:
1. 60 GB for Ubuntu, boot
2. 576 GB for data, mountpoint /home
3. swap, 4GB

The idea was to manually select the correct partition in the installer but I got distracted for a moment and selected the wrong option.

Result: The installer started repartitioning the entire HD.

When I noticed this I interrupted the installer, but upon reboot it was clear that I was too late, no OS to boot to.

I booted from a Gparted Live CD to see if I could recover the data on my previous /home-partition, but it's gone.

Is there any way to recover the lost data? I searched around and read alot about Testdisk, but in all the tutorials I've seen, the set-up has been much easier than what I'm facing.

I've not only lost my partition table, it's been replaced.

Thanks in advance for any ideas that might help!

If extra info is needed, please specify and I will do my best to provide.

Best Answer

If the disk has been only repartitioned you'll be able to recover the original partition layout using a tool called Testdisk If the disk format has already begun when you interrupted the installer, then probably you lost some data.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to recover a deleted NTFS partition with data

Well. Testdisk really works. I have documented in the past my previous 500 GB Data loss which was up to 80% recovered via Testdisk.

Take a look at this video in Youtube: Recover deleted partitions using Testdisk in Ubuntu #11.

I couldn't fully recover my data because of I was trying to recover using different tools, (including MS Based tools which I don't recommend because of it resulted in the damage of the data itself. So I strongly suggest you to first run the steps mentioned in the video in order to bring back the partition, after which you will be able to undelete/recover any data loss that could happen during data recovery.

I am following your question closely even if downvoted just in order to provide help. I know this is not a forum and have read the rules but I have experienced this in the past and I know how it feels. Just for information: It took me 2+ weeks to fully recover my data. So please be patient. I am sure we'll find a way to bring your data back.

Good luck!

Ubuntu – How to recover data from the lost+found folder

Linux has a lost and found directory by default, that may not have what you are looking for.

"Linux should always go through a proper shutdown. Sometimes your system might crash or a power failure might take the machine down.

Either way, at the next boot, a lengthy filesystem check (the speed of this check is dependent on the type of filesystem that you actually use. ie. ext3 is faster than ext2 because it is a journalled filesystem) using fsck will be done.

Fsck will go through the system and try to recover any corrupt files that it finds. The result of this recovery operation will be placed in this directory. The files recovered are not likely to be complete or make much sense but there always is a chance that something worthwhile is recovered.

Each partition has its own lost+found directory. If you find files in there, try to move them back to their original location. If you find something like a broken symbolic link to 'file', you have to reinstall the file/s from the corresponding RPM, since your file system got damaged so badly that the files were mutilated beyond recognition. Below is an example of a /lost+found directory.

As you can see, the vast majority of files contained here are in actual fact sockets. As for the rest of the other files they were found to be damaged system files and personal files. These files were not able to be recovered.

  total 368
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110891 Oct 5 14:14 #388200
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 215 Oct 5 14:14 #388201
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110303 Oct 6 23:09 #388813
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 141 Oct 6 23:09 #388814
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110604 Oct 6 23:09 #388815a
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 194 Oct 6 23:09 #388816
  srwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Oct 6 13:00 #51430
  srwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Oct 6 00:23 #51433
  -rw------- 1 root root 63 Oct 6 00:23 #51434
  srwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Oct 6 13:00 #51436
  srwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Oct 6 00:23 #51437
  srwx------ 1 root root 0 Oct 6 00:23 #51438
  -rw------- 1 root root 63 Oct 6 13:00 #51439
  srwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Oct 6 13:00 #51440
  srwx------ 1 root root 0 Oct 6 13:00 #51442
  -rw------- 1 root root 63 Oct 6 23:09 #51443
  srwx------ 1 root root 0 Oct 6 10:40 #51445
  srwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Oct 6 23:09 #51446
  srwx------ 1 root root 0 Oct 6 23:09 #51448

"

More info here

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