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So, for no apparent reason all files from Documents, Music, Pictures and Video just disappeared. The answers I have seen for similar questions verge on advanced programming and even then don't seem to provide a concrete solution. I was really hoping for a simple solution. More disturbing is that it seems to be an accepted event with Ubuntu. Seriously, I am I to trust an OS that routinely just loses data on mass? If anyone can tell me; one, why this happens and two, how to recover I would be extremely relieved. I walked away from Windows10 because I didn't trust it. Have I made a mistake putting my trust in Ubuntu?

Mark D
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    Just curious: "More disturbing is that it seems to be an accepted event with Ubuntu." What makes you say that? – Jacob Vlijm Jun 28 '16 at 18:17
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    Please post and edit into your question your command line history. Oh and trust me when I say that a -user- did this. And as a good human you made of course backups (otherwise you'd better not start complaining about an OS loosing files since they do not seem too important to you... backups ... you make them for a reason). – Rinzwind Jun 28 '16 at 18:19
  • "am I to trust an OS that routinely just loses data on mass?" and what makes you say that? – grooveplex Jun 28 '16 at 18:19
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    Please proof you did not do an "rm -rf /home/$USER/" or something similar. – Rinzwind Jun 28 '16 at 18:22
  • OK. Thanks all for the input, I understand where this is going. Rinzwind: Thank you for your suggestions. Incidentally, I certainly haven't typed in any commands such as 'rm -rf....'. – Mark D Jun 30 '16 at 07:32
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    Have you considered a possibility that someone else gaine access to your system and deleted those files ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Jun 30 '16 at 08:02

2 Answers2

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More disturbing is that it seems to be an accepted event with Ubuntu.

Sorry? If that would happen to me (and it was the OS that did this and not me) I would switch to another operating system in a heartbeat.

Seriously, I am I to trust an OS that routinely just loses data on mass?

How did you come to this conclusion?

Please investigate what happened. Add to your question the results of history. Check log files.

And you can also add aliases to rm to use a trashcan if you want extra security.

If anyone can tell me; why this happens

Unless proven otherwise you did this yourself.

how to recover I would be extremely relieved. I

testdisk.

The answers I have seen for similar questions verge on advanced programming and even then don't seem to provide a concrete solution.

testdisk is rather advanced and requires a specific approach: it can restore deleted files if that part of the disk is not touched after the deleting.

The best answer would be though to restore a backup. We all make them don't we? If only that computers can break. If you do not you do not value your data and there is only ONE person to blame if something gets deleted.

Rinzwind
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0.Provide the community with as much detail about the fault as possible. Were these files deleted? Are there other users on your system? have you run the command rm -rf recently?

  1. immediately stop using the hard-drive where you lost your files.

  2. get a boot disk, and boot from it. Hopefully its an Ubuntu Boot disk.

  3. Run the disks utility, and verify the integrity of the disk, by checking the SMART data status.

  4. Install ddrescue and testdisk to your boot disk, with the command sudo apt-get install gddrescue testdisk

  5. clone the partition or hard drive to something else, before attempting to do data-recovery. Clone using the command 'sudo ddrescue /dev/sdDatalossHD Backup.iso`

  6. run testdisk against the hard drive with data loss.

  7. get yur files back.

  8. send me a pizza.

j0h
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    Thanks j0n. Before I start working on your advice, I have a few things to learn. See question answer below. – Mark D Jun 30 '16 at 07:34
  • I'll elaborate as needed, per request, and pending additional info, as it becomes available. (when I have time) – j0h Jun 30 '16 at 15:26