• Registered: 2009-12-11
  • Posts: 220

Topic: files in /home partition disappeared. :(

Hi, guys.

I've just moved from 9.04 to 10.2 (alpha); unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the files in my /home partition have disappeared.

I'm 99.9% certain that I didn't format it.

Is there a way to retrieve them?

I've downloaded PhotoRec and TestDisk:

PhotoRec is software to recover individual files; it worked as advertised but it doesn't differentiate between the good stuff and the bad and it renames everything with a number, regardless of what it is. What I mean is, I've now got a folder containing 15gb worth of files, some of it is my stuff but a lot of it is all the silly things that get put onto your PC as you surf the net. (For those who aren't aware, your PC basically keeps a record of everything on any webpage you visit. For example, ^^ the little google symbol next to the search bar.) As you can imagine, going through this stuff by hand is going to be a nightmare. I realise I can use the 'find' command to make my search slightly easier but what I'm hoping is that I can restore my documents intact...

Which leads me on to TestDisk. I really have no idea what I'm doing with it. I've run it and it's returned a load of numbers; what these numbers mean are beyond me. I've read the instructions and I'm still confused.

Can anyone recommend some software that will restore the partition (or table or whatever it is the PC needs to see my files) or help me with the software I've got or...well, whatever.

Note: normally I'm pretty good in backing things up but I've been busy recently and not got round to doing it. It didn't occur to me to do it before I made the switch to CB10. This is the first time I've ever lost anything...Sod's Law in play?

Cheers, Neill

EDIT: for accuracy.

Last edited by zengrapefruit (2010-08-03 18:30:25)

  • ali
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-05-31
  • Posts: 1,034

Re: files in /home partition disappeared. :(

it probably isn't mounted
check if its still there 

gksu gparted
openbox-logout exit on escape
  • Registered: 2009-12-11
  • Posts: 220

Re: files in /home partition disappeared. :(

Hi, Alexander. If only it were that simple.

Unfortunately, it is mounted, I can see it and access it but it's empty.

Thanks.

EDIT: Having re-read my post, I can see that what I wrote isn't accurate. As stated above, I can see the partition and access it but all my files/folders have gone.

Last edited by zengrapefruit (2010-08-03 16:07:47)

  • ali
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-05-31
  • Posts: 1,034

Re: files in /home partition disappeared. :(

it happened to me when i first did my linux install
i moved data from one partition to another as i made them all ext3 partitions and when everything was done i set it to install ubuntu i had 5 partitions
one mounted at /
another at /home/music
another at /home/documents
another at /home/downloads
another at /home/stuff
and when the installation was done i realized my downloads partition was gone
i didn't find anything in it
and that's how i lost over 100 gb of PRECIOUS data
just like you i tried about 10 recovery tools including testdisk and no results

Last edited by ali (2010-08-03 16:28:31)

openbox-logout exit on escape
  • From: Hamburg
  • Registered: 2008-12-20
  • Posts: 103

Re: files in /home partition disappeared. :(

First of all: Only boot from LiveCD/USB. Otherwise you will write data to  /home each time you login. And the lost files will be overwritten. Don't mount it, or try to acess it before you made a complete dd from the partition.


Maybe this can help: http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlo17/howto/undelete_ext3.html


I never got any ext3 files back. Hope you are more luky then me.