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I am having trouble with my linux server. Yesterday I created a lot of directories and files that i no longer want/need. Is there a way to restore my system back to how it was a couple of days ago? Thanks in advance.

pa4080
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Fred
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    Not generally. Have you got any backup from that time? – Melebius Nov 22 '18 at 08:48
  • No. I think i have learnt my lesson with this one. I didn't think i needed it as i have just started and experimenting with Ubuntu server. But i went to far to just reinstall the OS. Going to make automatic backups from now on. – Fred Nov 22 '18 at 12:43
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    If what you created (directories and files) were not in a system directory; you could always find -delete them (where you use a -mtime possibly to limit the results to the last 24 (48, 72) hours. Use the find firstly to verify the results, then add the -delete to actually delete what it found. This is a rough idea (the find could also match some system files, logs etc that were modified in that time period, why I mentioned the non-system-directory at the start; though this too could possibly be worked around). – guiverc Nov 22 '18 at 12:48
  • Thank you for the suggestion. I am going to give that a try. I take it that you can select from the list which ones you can delete. – Fred Nov 22 '18 at 12:51

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I'm afraid it is not possible, if there isn't setup any preliminary backup solution.

For example if you are using LVM you can create snapshots of your file-system before taking steps that you would like to cancel later on. In case it is not possible to setup LVM you can use some other backup solution. Here are presented few examples: Simple Backup Solution. Also here are presented the solutions that I'm using on my Ubuntu systems: https://github.com/pa4080/simple-backup-solutions

pa4080
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  • Thanks for that. Unfortunately i don't have any back ups atm. As i have just started on the server edition. Ill follow these steps in the future. – Fred Nov 22 '18 at 08:57