i recently started looking into ubuntu and wanted to install it on my laptop (lenovo T430s). When i was using the installer it asked me if i wanted to make a "swap partition" or something like that. I misunderstood the meaning of this and selected my main windows partition. I thought this only meant they would trade a few physical addresses when needed to optimize memory usage, but instead it deleted all that was on the partition and converted it to "linux-swap". For obvious reasons i cannot start my windows anymore so im just wondering, is there a way to restore the lost windows installation or do i need to reinstall everything from scratch?
Asked
Active
Viewed 54 times
1
-
possible duplicate of How do I recover my accidentally lost Windows partitions after installing Ubuntu? – Eric Carvalho Jan 20 '15 at 19:32
-
If you had important data on the partition that was not backed up, you might try recovering files using photorec. It can recognize and recover a variety of file types. However the process can be quite tedious. – Curtis Gedak Jan 21 '15 at 18:11
1 Answers
0
Ouch.
Sorry, with the possible exception of the make-believe computer tricks on CSI, when a partition is deleted or changed (to a different type,) the data that was there is gone. You will have to do a fresh install of Windows.
FYI, to streamline things a bit, I would use a live Linux disk and do a full wipe of the HDD using "gparted" ("disks"), and then set the HDD up as 2 partitions. Then, install windows FIRST on one of them, then install Ubuntu on the second one. Ubuntu setup should be able to divvy up the second partition automatically between swap, home, etc.
Installing Windows after Ubuntu can work, but it is potentially painful to get it to dual-boot that way. Far less problems to install ubuntu after windows.
snurfle
- 121