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I've used all my web search skills to make sure this question wasn't already asked. So here is my unique situation.

My 320GB hard drive had 5 partitions - let's call them A, B, C, D and E
­٠A: Windows 7
­٠B: Ubuntu 10.10
­٠C: Linux Swap
­٠D: Ubuntu 12.10
­٠E: Linux Swap

After formatting all Linux partitions and installing Ubuntu 12.04, the state of my hard drive is:
­٠A: Windows 7
­٠B: Ubuntu 12.04
­٠C: Linux Swap
(The purpose was to simplify the hard drive and remove unnecessary OSs.)

I had used Tomboy notes on Ubuntu 12.10 (Partition D). Before all the formatting, I thoroughly checked all folders and backed up the necessary ones on external hard drive. Since the tomboy notes folder is hidden, I forgot to back it up.

Now I have some very very important entries in Tomboy notes. I need them badly. I'm willing to pay a decent sum to anyone who recovers those notes. That's how desperate I am. I'm unable to concentrate on my studies because of this.

My question:
1. Is the recovery of my Tomboy notes even possible?
2. If yes, what is the best way to go about it?

N.B. I have decided not to use Tomboy notes again.

Edit:
1. When I used the "deep search" option in testdisk, it did detect all the old partitions - A to E. How can I exploit this?
2. I have stopped using my computer to avoid overwriting the existing data.

karel
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pazhalsta kakoi
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1 Answers1

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First stop using your system because you might overwrite recoverable data! The most likely situation is that your data is gone because with the new install you will have probably already overwritten the files. There is however a small chance you will be able to recover the data.

Read this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery .

Create an Ubuntu live usb with persistence: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick .

Boot from the live usb and install testdisk (sudo) apt-get install testdisk on it. Use the photorec package wich is part of testdisk to try to recover your files (sudo) photorec. Photorec will ask you after selecting proceed and pushing enter on wich partition to run. Choose your Ubuntu 12.04 partition. Make sure you have an external hdd to put the recovered files on. This is your best chance but it is a small chance.

Use testdisk partition recovery only on an image or clone of your disk. If you use it on the original it will mess up your current partitions. So you need an external hdd as big as or bigger then your current 320Gb hdd. Ideally you create the image and make two copy's of it to have the possibility to try out different recovery methods and be able to mess them up without losing date because you will have another image to work on. Before you really use testdisk read man testdisk (type in terminal: man testdisk) and this information: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step . On askubuntu there are a lot of questions about testdisk, search for them, they might be helpful e.g. this one: How do we find out if the partition table recovered with testdisk is OK? .

Community
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jeroen
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  • Thank you for taking time to answer. When I used the "deep search" option in testdisk, it did detect all the old partitions - A to E. How can I exploit this ? – pazhalsta kakoi Jul 13 '13 at 04:02
  • I need to continue using my system. So can I take a backup of my linux partitions onto an external hard drive and later search that backup to recover my files ? How can I do this ? A small pointer would help. Thank you. – pazhalsta kakoi Jul 13 '13 at 04:13
  • Hi look at the third answer of this question: http://askubuntu.com/questions/94421/is-there-a-way-to-recover-files-from-a-storage-device-partially-overwritten-with/94429#94429 . I do recommend doing it as fast as possible since you have to keep using your system. You could run photorec during the night though, photorec recovers many filetypes see man photorec. Use clonezilla live if you are going to clone or image your disk. You can get it here: http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php – jeroen Jul 13 '13 at 22:35