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I got a Ubuntu 12.04 key. It corrupted after a sudden power cut and I was not able to open my desktop session. I then tried using an Ubuntu live CD but it was not able to mount my drive.

I tried some commands which were suggested by my friends like fsck etc.
There was a bad super block on my drive but it was all in vain. I suddenly deleted my partition by mistake. I did not understand partitioning.

I gave it to a professional for repair and thanks to that Windows 8 Pro is installed on my device by making new partitions. Can I still retrieve my data?

Mochan
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Abhinav Vashisht
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  • If you deleted your partition, there is absolutely no way you will get that data back unless you backed it up. In the future, I suggest not partitioning your drive unless you understand what it is and know how to do it properly, and to back up your data in the future. – Mochan Jan 04 '13 at 11:30
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    If you need to recover data you believe may be lost, it's imperative that you immediately shut down the newly installed system and not use it. You can run from a live CD provided that swap is disabled. See the guidelines here. @Mochan It's not true there's "absolutely no way." It is true that the likelihood of success is rather low. (Actually, it's writing data into the new partition that makes it a hard problem--reversing a partition removal is itself almost always quite easy.) – Eliah Kagan Jan 05 '13 at 21:08
  • @EliahKagan I see. I suppose I have always been told it was impossible. I suppose it goes with the whole "nothing is ever deleted off a computer". I stand corrected :) – Mochan Jan 06 '13 at 02:33
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    @Mochan Depending on the application, the attitude that it's impossible is sometimes quite healthy. When it's important to keep data, we should assume it will be easily destroyed forever. When it's important to erase data, we should assume it may be inadvertently retained forever. Data can be permanently destroyed...it's just that, except when overwriting it properly, whether or not it's destroyed is typically not something we control. – Eliah Kagan Jan 06 '13 at 02:37
  • Here's a link that could help: How to recover deleted files? – rusty Dec 13 '13 at 10:33

4 Answers4

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You could give TestDisk and PhotoRec a try. It's an open source software package that is able to recover lost partitions and also deleted files.

EDIT: The installation on an ubuntu system can be done via package system

sudo apt-get install testdisk

To recover lost partitions just start testdisk in a terminal go ahead the menu.

sudo testdisk

To recover deleted files just start photorec in a terminal and you can also use the menu to recover files 

sudo photorec

When you see the menu, it is self-explanatory.

Willi
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    Could you explain how to install and use the program to solve the problem? It makes the answer much more useful to the OP and for future reference. Thanks :) – Mochan Jan 06 '13 at 02:34
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Welcome to askubuntu!

Since you partitioned your drive and installed Windows 8, it probably overwritten some or all of your files. But there's still a chance.

First thing, don't do anything on Windows 8. Stop everything, even internet browsing.

Second, download recuva, the free version. You will need another drive to save your files, like another Hard Disk or external Hard Disk.

Maybe you can save some of your files. I wish you luck and be more careful next time, when dealing with disks and partitions.

ThiagoPonte
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  • For recovering data that originated in a Windows system, this makes sense. But when the data originated in an Ubuntu system, Ubuntu-based methods like this will be more likely to succeed (unless the data were stored in an NTFS partition). – Eliah Kagan Jan 06 '13 at 03:21
  • You're right, i didn't realize that. – ThiagoPonte Jan 06 '13 at 21:46
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The files from deleted partition can be recovered , you can recover them with a data recovery software.

this software run on windows platform, after scanning your partition, it is fine to save files to a different partition.

ChoochLevis
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I think probably the data is overwritten since a whole new OS is installed.However you can try some professional data recovery online tools like recuva. Thanks

user145017
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