Recovering accidentally deleted files












75















I accidentally deleted a file from my laptop. I'm using Fedora. Is it possible to recover the file?










share|improve this question




















  • 9





    whats your filesystem?

    – echox
    Oct 3 '10 at 19:56
















75















I accidentally deleted a file from my laptop. I'm using Fedora. Is it possible to recover the file?










share|improve this question




















  • 9





    whats your filesystem?

    – echox
    Oct 3 '10 at 19:56














75












75








75


37






I accidentally deleted a file from my laptop. I'm using Fedora. Is it possible to recover the file?










share|improve this question
















I accidentally deleted a file from my laptop. I'm using Fedora. Is it possible to recover the file?







backup rm data-recovery






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Nov 4 '13 at 7:04









jasonwryan

50.1k14134189




50.1k14134189










asked Oct 3 '10 at 19:46









crskhrcrskhr

83521221




83521221








  • 9





    whats your filesystem?

    – echox
    Oct 3 '10 at 19:56














  • 9





    whats your filesystem?

    – echox
    Oct 3 '10 at 19:56








9




9





whats your filesystem?

– echox
Oct 3 '10 at 19:56





whats your filesystem?

– echox
Oct 3 '10 at 19:56










9 Answers
9






active

oldest

votes


















91














I would advise against immediately installing some utility. Basically your biggest enemy here are disk writes. You want to avoid them at all costs right now.



Your best bet is an auto-backup created by your editor--if it exists. If not, I would try the following trick using grep if you remember some unique string in your .tex file:



$sudo grep -i -a -B100 -A100 'string' /dev/sda1 > file.txt


Replace /dev/sda1 with the device that the file was on and replace 'string' with the unique string in your file. This could take some time. But basically, what this does is it searches for the string on the device and then returns 100 lines before and after that line and puts it in file.txt. If you need more lines returned just adjust the -B and -A options as appropriate. You might get a bunch of extra garbage returned, but you should be able to get your text back.



Good luck.






share|improve this answer





















  • 8





    Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

    – Michael Mrozek
    Oct 3 '10 at 21:03






  • 17





    By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

    – rozcietrzewiacz
    Aug 13 '11 at 23:16













  • Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

    – ntc2
    Dec 29 '13 at 7:41






  • 1





    That is really a great trick!

    – Matthias
    Apr 5 '14 at 14:22











  • Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

    – a CVn
    Nov 6 '14 at 10:27



















21














It is possible, it's just going to be a hassle.



UPDATE: before you try this method, please have a look at Steven's answer.



You're going to need the testdisk package, a lot of disk space and a lot of time.



PhotoRec, a part of TestDisk, can recover files from almost any disc. PhotoRec does support finding .tex files.





First, install testdisk by running



yum install testdisk


note: You're going to need a lot of free space on another drive, where you can save recovered files.



Recover all the deleted files on your disc by running photorec on the free space of the disc.



sudo photorec


and follow the instructions... ( remember not to save the files to the same disc you are recovering from )



After the process has completed, all the recovered files should be in one directory, where you should run:



find -name '*.tex' > filelist


This will output a list of files that might be the one you lost. You will have to check all of them, as the filenames will be lost.






share|improve this answer





















  • 11





    photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

    – Steven D
    Oct 3 '10 at 20:13






  • 1





    Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

    – Stefan
    Oct 3 '10 at 20:21






  • 2





    to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

    – Steve Burdine
    Oct 3 '10 at 20:39



















13














Many text editors keep backup files. If you are really lucky, there might be something like yourfile.tex~ including a previous version of your file.






share|improve this answer































    9














    There are other data recovery tools and the most effective are foremost, photorec, scalpel and magic rescue. (I'm assuming that the 'grep' trick told here is not enough) Here you can find some tutorials about how to use them:



    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/



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






    share|improve this answer

































      4














      In any case I'd stop working on the device being used as soon as possible to avoid any disk writes, and boot into a dedicated recovery OS, like SystemRescueCd, which is a Live-CD so you can mount your disk read-only in order to prevent further data loss.



      Those distros include a lot of recovery tools mentioned by others, and you can install most missing.



      I always tend to have a CD with a recent version of SystemRescueCd in my external USB reader, just in case.






      share|improve this answer































        3














        NOTE: I added this answer regarding some other question about deleted database files (MySQL server) which was closed and pointed to this one. I believe it can be useful in some other similar situations too (as far as some process still holds the file descriptors open).



        If your process is still runnig then you can find your files in /proc/<pid>fd/ and just copy them. Send SIGSTOP first to the process group. Copy the files. Build new instance on side and keep this one stopped or kill -9 it and put the files back on their places. InnoDB will recover by its own when run but if there was some MyISAM than you'll have to do this manually.






        share|improve this answer

































          2














          I had accidentally deleted my sqlite db file.



          What I did to find out the file was,



          Opened the location /proc/ in a file browser and searched for the deleted sqlite db file over there.



          I found out that file in a search result. Copied that file from there to my old place.






          share|improve this answer































            0














            I had the same problem two years ago and I tried a lot of programs, like debugfs, photorec, ext3grep and extundelete. ext3grep was the best program to recover files. The syntax is very easy:



            ext3grep image.img --restore-all


            or:



            ext3grep /dev/sda3 --restore-all --after date -d '2015-01-01 00:00:00' '+%s' --before `date -d ‘2015-01-02 00:00:00’ ‘+%s’


            This video is a mini tutorial that can help you.






            share|improve this answer































              0














              If you have no backup a 3rd party Disk Recovery Tool might recover some or all of the data but you must stop using the machine now.
              The trashed files are now available for your system to overwrite them. Once they are overwritten it's prohibitively expensive to recover the data.
              I've had success using uflysoft data recovery(there are other Mac OS data recover applications)- you must have a "recovery drive" (not your main drive or drive you a scavenging from) on which to save the recovered data. You boot from the Data Recovery disk (system)






              share|improve this answer























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                9 Answers
                9






                active

                oldest

                votes








                9 Answers
                9






                active

                oldest

                votes









                active

                oldest

                votes






                active

                oldest

                votes









                91














                I would advise against immediately installing some utility. Basically your biggest enemy here are disk writes. You want to avoid them at all costs right now.



                Your best bet is an auto-backup created by your editor--if it exists. If not, I would try the following trick using grep if you remember some unique string in your .tex file:



                $sudo grep -i -a -B100 -A100 'string' /dev/sda1 > file.txt


                Replace /dev/sda1 with the device that the file was on and replace 'string' with the unique string in your file. This could take some time. But basically, what this does is it searches for the string on the device and then returns 100 lines before and after that line and puts it in file.txt. If you need more lines returned just adjust the -B and -A options as appropriate. You might get a bunch of extra garbage returned, but you should be able to get your text back.



                Good luck.






                share|improve this answer





















                • 8





                  Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                  – Michael Mrozek
                  Oct 3 '10 at 21:03






                • 17





                  By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                  – rozcietrzewiacz
                  Aug 13 '11 at 23:16













                • Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                  – ntc2
                  Dec 29 '13 at 7:41






                • 1





                  That is really a great trick!

                  – Matthias
                  Apr 5 '14 at 14:22











                • Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                  – a CVn
                  Nov 6 '14 at 10:27
















                91














                I would advise against immediately installing some utility. Basically your biggest enemy here are disk writes. You want to avoid them at all costs right now.



                Your best bet is an auto-backup created by your editor--if it exists. If not, I would try the following trick using grep if you remember some unique string in your .tex file:



                $sudo grep -i -a -B100 -A100 'string' /dev/sda1 > file.txt


                Replace /dev/sda1 with the device that the file was on and replace 'string' with the unique string in your file. This could take some time. But basically, what this does is it searches for the string on the device and then returns 100 lines before and after that line and puts it in file.txt. If you need more lines returned just adjust the -B and -A options as appropriate. You might get a bunch of extra garbage returned, but you should be able to get your text back.



                Good luck.






                share|improve this answer





















                • 8





                  Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                  – Michael Mrozek
                  Oct 3 '10 at 21:03






                • 17





                  By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                  – rozcietrzewiacz
                  Aug 13 '11 at 23:16













                • Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                  – ntc2
                  Dec 29 '13 at 7:41






                • 1





                  That is really a great trick!

                  – Matthias
                  Apr 5 '14 at 14:22











                • Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                  – a CVn
                  Nov 6 '14 at 10:27














                91












                91








                91







                I would advise against immediately installing some utility. Basically your biggest enemy here are disk writes. You want to avoid them at all costs right now.



                Your best bet is an auto-backup created by your editor--if it exists. If not, I would try the following trick using grep if you remember some unique string in your .tex file:



                $sudo grep -i -a -B100 -A100 'string' /dev/sda1 > file.txt


                Replace /dev/sda1 with the device that the file was on and replace 'string' with the unique string in your file. This could take some time. But basically, what this does is it searches for the string on the device and then returns 100 lines before and after that line and puts it in file.txt. If you need more lines returned just adjust the -B and -A options as appropriate. You might get a bunch of extra garbage returned, but you should be able to get your text back.



                Good luck.






                share|improve this answer















                I would advise against immediately installing some utility. Basically your biggest enemy here are disk writes. You want to avoid them at all costs right now.



                Your best bet is an auto-backup created by your editor--if it exists. If not, I would try the following trick using grep if you remember some unique string in your .tex file:



                $sudo grep -i -a -B100 -A100 'string' /dev/sda1 > file.txt


                Replace /dev/sda1 with the device that the file was on and replace 'string' with the unique string in your file. This could take some time. But basically, what this does is it searches for the string on the device and then returns 100 lines before and after that line and puts it in file.txt. If you need more lines returned just adjust the -B and -A options as appropriate. You might get a bunch of extra garbage returned, but you should be able to get your text back.



                Good luck.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Apr 5 '14 at 10:50









                Raphael Ahrens

                7,03152846




                7,03152846










                answered Oct 3 '10 at 20:09









                Steven DSteven D

                32.5k898108




                32.5k898108








                • 8





                  Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                  – Michael Mrozek
                  Oct 3 '10 at 21:03






                • 17





                  By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                  – rozcietrzewiacz
                  Aug 13 '11 at 23:16













                • Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                  – ntc2
                  Dec 29 '13 at 7:41






                • 1





                  That is really a great trick!

                  – Matthias
                  Apr 5 '14 at 14:22











                • Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                  – a CVn
                  Nov 6 '14 at 10:27














                • 8





                  Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                  – Michael Mrozek
                  Oct 3 '10 at 21:03






                • 17





                  By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                  – rozcietrzewiacz
                  Aug 13 '11 at 23:16













                • Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                  – ntc2
                  Dec 29 '13 at 7:41






                • 1





                  That is really a great trick!

                  – Matthias
                  Apr 5 '14 at 14:22











                • Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                  – a CVn
                  Nov 6 '14 at 10:27








                8




                8





                Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                – Michael Mrozek
                Oct 3 '10 at 21:03





                Somebody showed me this a couple weeks after I switched to Linux, when I killed a text document I really needed -- it pretty much blew my mind

                – Michael Mrozek
                Oct 3 '10 at 21:03




                17




                17





                By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                – rozcietrzewiacz
                Aug 13 '11 at 23:16







                By the way, -B100 -A100 can be replaced by equivalent -C100 (C for "context"). And I would definitely not use -i if it were possible, but have -F in its place.

                – rozcietrzewiacz
                Aug 13 '11 at 23:16















                Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                – ntc2
                Dec 29 '13 at 7:41





                Probably unsurprisingly -- I assume the same disk blocks have been reused -- this method did not work for a file which I accidentally overwrote, not accidentally deleted.

                – ntc2
                Dec 29 '13 at 7:41




                1




                1





                That is really a great trick!

                – Matthias
                Apr 5 '14 at 14:22





                That is really a great trick!

                – Matthias
                Apr 5 '14 at 14:22













                Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                – a CVn
                Nov 6 '14 at 10:27





                Yes, on most file systems, the same blocks are reused when a file is merely overwritten. Note that some applications "work around this" in a sense by writing a temporary file first (which makes it a separate write), then renaming that file on top of the old file (which replaces the data from the user's point of view). This is done for a number of different reasons. Storage systems (including file systems) which do this all the time are termed copy on write.

                – a CVn
                Nov 6 '14 at 10:27













                21














                It is possible, it's just going to be a hassle.



                UPDATE: before you try this method, please have a look at Steven's answer.



                You're going to need the testdisk package, a lot of disk space and a lot of time.



                PhotoRec, a part of TestDisk, can recover files from almost any disc. PhotoRec does support finding .tex files.





                First, install testdisk by running



                yum install testdisk


                note: You're going to need a lot of free space on another drive, where you can save recovered files.



                Recover all the deleted files on your disc by running photorec on the free space of the disc.



                sudo photorec


                and follow the instructions... ( remember not to save the files to the same disc you are recovering from )



                After the process has completed, all the recovered files should be in one directory, where you should run:



                find -name '*.tex' > filelist


                This will output a list of files that might be the one you lost. You will have to check all of them, as the filenames will be lost.






                share|improve this answer





















                • 11





                  photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                  – Steven D
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:13






                • 1





                  Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                  – Stefan
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:21






                • 2





                  to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                  – Steve Burdine
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:39
















                21














                It is possible, it's just going to be a hassle.



                UPDATE: before you try this method, please have a look at Steven's answer.



                You're going to need the testdisk package, a lot of disk space and a lot of time.



                PhotoRec, a part of TestDisk, can recover files from almost any disc. PhotoRec does support finding .tex files.





                First, install testdisk by running



                yum install testdisk


                note: You're going to need a lot of free space on another drive, where you can save recovered files.



                Recover all the deleted files on your disc by running photorec on the free space of the disc.



                sudo photorec


                and follow the instructions... ( remember not to save the files to the same disc you are recovering from )



                After the process has completed, all the recovered files should be in one directory, where you should run:



                find -name '*.tex' > filelist


                This will output a list of files that might be the one you lost. You will have to check all of them, as the filenames will be lost.






                share|improve this answer





















                • 11





                  photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                  – Steven D
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:13






                • 1





                  Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                  – Stefan
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:21






                • 2





                  to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                  – Steve Burdine
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:39














                21












                21








                21







                It is possible, it's just going to be a hassle.



                UPDATE: before you try this method, please have a look at Steven's answer.



                You're going to need the testdisk package, a lot of disk space and a lot of time.



                PhotoRec, a part of TestDisk, can recover files from almost any disc. PhotoRec does support finding .tex files.





                First, install testdisk by running



                yum install testdisk


                note: You're going to need a lot of free space on another drive, where you can save recovered files.



                Recover all the deleted files on your disc by running photorec on the free space of the disc.



                sudo photorec


                and follow the instructions... ( remember not to save the files to the same disc you are recovering from )



                After the process has completed, all the recovered files should be in one directory, where you should run:



                find -name '*.tex' > filelist


                This will output a list of files that might be the one you lost. You will have to check all of them, as the filenames will be lost.






                share|improve this answer















                It is possible, it's just going to be a hassle.



                UPDATE: before you try this method, please have a look at Steven's answer.



                You're going to need the testdisk package, a lot of disk space and a lot of time.



                PhotoRec, a part of TestDisk, can recover files from almost any disc. PhotoRec does support finding .tex files.





                First, install testdisk by running



                yum install testdisk


                note: You're going to need a lot of free space on another drive, where you can save recovered files.



                Recover all the deleted files on your disc by running photorec on the free space of the disc.



                sudo photorec


                and follow the instructions... ( remember not to save the files to the same disc you are recovering from )



                After the process has completed, all the recovered files should be in one directory, where you should run:



                find -name '*.tex' > filelist


                This will output a list of files that might be the one you lost. You will have to check all of them, as the filenames will be lost.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited May 24 '18 at 1:47









                Pang

                12315




                12315










                answered Oct 3 '10 at 19:56









                StefanStefan

                11.6k3283123




                11.6k3283123








                • 11





                  photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                  – Steven D
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:13






                • 1





                  Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                  – Stefan
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:21






                • 2





                  to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                  – Steve Burdine
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:39














                • 11





                  photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                  – Steven D
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:13






                • 1





                  Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                  – Stefan
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:21






                • 2





                  to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                  – Steve Burdine
                  Oct 3 '10 at 20:39








                11




                11





                photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                – Steven D
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:13





                photorec is a good util, I would just be worried about the disk writes that are going to happen during install. Is there anyway to get this as a standalone executable that can run from external media?

                – Steven D
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:13




                1




                1





                Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                – Stefan
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:21





                Yes, you are very right. I don't know about a standalone executable, but one could try using some live-cd?

                – Stefan
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:21




                2




                2





                to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                – Steve Burdine
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:39





                to cut down on the files recovered with Photorec, the third screen in will give a [File Opt] select this. You can from a list select what file types you want to or do not want to be recovered.

                – Steve Burdine
                Oct 3 '10 at 20:39











                13














                Many text editors keep backup files. If you are really lucky, there might be something like yourfile.tex~ including a previous version of your file.






                share|improve this answer




























                  13














                  Many text editors keep backup files. If you are really lucky, there might be something like yourfile.tex~ including a previous version of your file.






                  share|improve this answer


























                    13












                    13








                    13







                    Many text editors keep backup files. If you are really lucky, there might be something like yourfile.tex~ including a previous version of your file.






                    share|improve this answer













                    Many text editors keep backup files. If you are really lucky, there might be something like yourfile.tex~ including a previous version of your file.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered Oct 3 '10 at 20:06









                    fschmittfschmitt

                    7,6313043




                    7,6313043























                        9














                        There are other data recovery tools and the most effective are foremost, photorec, scalpel and magic rescue. (I'm assuming that the 'grep' trick told here is not enough) Here you can find some tutorials about how to use them:



                        http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/



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






                        share|improve this answer






























                          9














                          There are other data recovery tools and the most effective are foremost, photorec, scalpel and magic rescue. (I'm assuming that the 'grep' trick told here is not enough) Here you can find some tutorials about how to use them:



                          http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/



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






                          share|improve this answer




























                            9












                            9








                            9







                            There are other data recovery tools and the most effective are foremost, photorec, scalpel and magic rescue. (I'm assuming that the 'grep' trick told here is not enough) Here you can find some tutorials about how to use them:



                            http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/



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






                            share|improve this answer















                            There are other data recovery tools and the most effective are foremost, photorec, scalpel and magic rescue. (I'm assuming that the 'grep' trick told here is not enough) Here you can find some tutorials about how to use them:



                            http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/



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







                            share|improve this answer














                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer








                            edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37









                            Community

                            1




                            1










                            answered Feb 3 '12 at 3:19









                            AttilioAttilio

                            22122




                            22122























                                4














                                In any case I'd stop working on the device being used as soon as possible to avoid any disk writes, and boot into a dedicated recovery OS, like SystemRescueCd, which is a Live-CD so you can mount your disk read-only in order to prevent further data loss.



                                Those distros include a lot of recovery tools mentioned by others, and you can install most missing.



                                I always tend to have a CD with a recent version of SystemRescueCd in my external USB reader, just in case.






                                share|improve this answer




























                                  4














                                  In any case I'd stop working on the device being used as soon as possible to avoid any disk writes, and boot into a dedicated recovery OS, like SystemRescueCd, which is a Live-CD so you can mount your disk read-only in order to prevent further data loss.



                                  Those distros include a lot of recovery tools mentioned by others, and you can install most missing.



                                  I always tend to have a CD with a recent version of SystemRescueCd in my external USB reader, just in case.






                                  share|improve this answer


























                                    4












                                    4








                                    4







                                    In any case I'd stop working on the device being used as soon as possible to avoid any disk writes, and boot into a dedicated recovery OS, like SystemRescueCd, which is a Live-CD so you can mount your disk read-only in order to prevent further data loss.



                                    Those distros include a lot of recovery tools mentioned by others, and you can install most missing.



                                    I always tend to have a CD with a recent version of SystemRescueCd in my external USB reader, just in case.






                                    share|improve this answer













                                    In any case I'd stop working on the device being used as soon as possible to avoid any disk writes, and boot into a dedicated recovery OS, like SystemRescueCd, which is a Live-CD so you can mount your disk read-only in order to prevent further data loss.



                                    Those distros include a lot of recovery tools mentioned by others, and you can install most missing.



                                    I always tend to have a CD with a recent version of SystemRescueCd in my external USB reader, just in case.







                                    share|improve this answer












                                    share|improve this answer



                                    share|improve this answer










                                    answered Dec 18 '14 at 10:19









                                    Martin C.Martin C.

                                    20615




                                    20615























                                        3














                                        NOTE: I added this answer regarding some other question about deleted database files (MySQL server) which was closed and pointed to this one. I believe it can be useful in some other similar situations too (as far as some process still holds the file descriptors open).



                                        If your process is still runnig then you can find your files in /proc/<pid>fd/ and just copy them. Send SIGSTOP first to the process group. Copy the files. Build new instance on side and keep this one stopped or kill -9 it and put the files back on their places. InnoDB will recover by its own when run but if there was some MyISAM than you'll have to do this manually.






                                        share|improve this answer






























                                          3














                                          NOTE: I added this answer regarding some other question about deleted database files (MySQL server) which was closed and pointed to this one. I believe it can be useful in some other similar situations too (as far as some process still holds the file descriptors open).



                                          If your process is still runnig then you can find your files in /proc/<pid>fd/ and just copy them. Send SIGSTOP first to the process group. Copy the files. Build new instance on side and keep this one stopped or kill -9 it and put the files back on their places. InnoDB will recover by its own when run but if there was some MyISAM than you'll have to do this manually.






                                          share|improve this answer




























                                            3












                                            3








                                            3







                                            NOTE: I added this answer regarding some other question about deleted database files (MySQL server) which was closed and pointed to this one. I believe it can be useful in some other similar situations too (as far as some process still holds the file descriptors open).



                                            If your process is still runnig then you can find your files in /proc/<pid>fd/ and just copy them. Send SIGSTOP first to the process group. Copy the files. Build new instance on side and keep this one stopped or kill -9 it and put the files back on their places. InnoDB will recover by its own when run but if there was some MyISAM than you'll have to do this manually.






                                            share|improve this answer















                                            NOTE: I added this answer regarding some other question about deleted database files (MySQL server) which was closed and pointed to this one. I believe it can be useful in some other similar situations too (as far as some process still holds the file descriptors open).



                                            If your process is still runnig then you can find your files in /proc/<pid>fd/ and just copy them. Send SIGSTOP first to the process group. Copy the files. Build new instance on side and keep this one stopped or kill -9 it and put the files back on their places. InnoDB will recover by its own when run but if there was some MyISAM than you'll have to do this manually.







                                            share|improve this answer














                                            share|improve this answer



                                            share|improve this answer








                                            edited Apr 5 '14 at 17:35

























                                            answered Apr 5 '14 at 13:23









                                            pawel7318pawel7318

                                            8352914




                                            8352914























                                                2














                                                I had accidentally deleted my sqlite db file.



                                                What I did to find out the file was,



                                                Opened the location /proc/ in a file browser and searched for the deleted sqlite db file over there.



                                                I found out that file in a search result. Copied that file from there to my old place.






                                                share|improve this answer




























                                                  2














                                                  I had accidentally deleted my sqlite db file.



                                                  What I did to find out the file was,



                                                  Opened the location /proc/ in a file browser and searched for the deleted sqlite db file over there.



                                                  I found out that file in a search result. Copied that file from there to my old place.






                                                  share|improve this answer


























                                                    2












                                                    2








                                                    2







                                                    I had accidentally deleted my sqlite db file.



                                                    What I did to find out the file was,



                                                    Opened the location /proc/ in a file browser and searched for the deleted sqlite db file over there.



                                                    I found out that file in a search result. Copied that file from there to my old place.






                                                    share|improve this answer













                                                    I had accidentally deleted my sqlite db file.



                                                    What I did to find out the file was,



                                                    Opened the location /proc/ in a file browser and searched for the deleted sqlite db file over there.



                                                    I found out that file in a search result. Copied that file from there to my old place.







                                                    share|improve this answer












                                                    share|improve this answer



                                                    share|improve this answer










                                                    answered Nov 18 '14 at 13:18









                                                    Thaha kpThaha kp

                                                    1212




                                                    1212























                                                        0














                                                        I had the same problem two years ago and I tried a lot of programs, like debugfs, photorec, ext3grep and extundelete. ext3grep was the best program to recover files. The syntax is very easy:



                                                        ext3grep image.img --restore-all


                                                        or:



                                                        ext3grep /dev/sda3 --restore-all --after date -d '2015-01-01 00:00:00' '+%s' --before `date -d ‘2015-01-02 00:00:00’ ‘+%s’


                                                        This video is a mini tutorial that can help you.






                                                        share|improve this answer




























                                                          0














                                                          I had the same problem two years ago and I tried a lot of programs, like debugfs, photorec, ext3grep and extundelete. ext3grep was the best program to recover files. The syntax is very easy:



                                                          ext3grep image.img --restore-all


                                                          or:



                                                          ext3grep /dev/sda3 --restore-all --after date -d '2015-01-01 00:00:00' '+%s' --before `date -d ‘2015-01-02 00:00:00’ ‘+%s’


                                                          This video is a mini tutorial that can help you.






                                                          share|improve this answer


























                                                            0












                                                            0








                                                            0







                                                            I had the same problem two years ago and I tried a lot of programs, like debugfs, photorec, ext3grep and extundelete. ext3grep was the best program to recover files. The syntax is very easy:



                                                            ext3grep image.img --restore-all


                                                            or:



                                                            ext3grep /dev/sda3 --restore-all --after date -d '2015-01-01 00:00:00' '+%s' --before `date -d ‘2015-01-02 00:00:00’ ‘+%s’


                                                            This video is a mini tutorial that can help you.






                                                            share|improve this answer













                                                            I had the same problem two years ago and I tried a lot of programs, like debugfs, photorec, ext3grep and extundelete. ext3grep was the best program to recover files. The syntax is very easy:



                                                            ext3grep image.img --restore-all


                                                            or:



                                                            ext3grep /dev/sda3 --restore-all --after date -d '2015-01-01 00:00:00' '+%s' --before `date -d ‘2015-01-02 00:00:00’ ‘+%s’


                                                            This video is a mini tutorial that can help you.







                                                            share|improve this answer












                                                            share|improve this answer



                                                            share|improve this answer










                                                            answered Oct 4 '17 at 17:42









                                                            JuanJuan

                                                            6111




                                                            6111























                                                                0














                                                                If you have no backup a 3rd party Disk Recovery Tool might recover some or all of the data but you must stop using the machine now.
                                                                The trashed files are now available for your system to overwrite them. Once they are overwritten it's prohibitively expensive to recover the data.
                                                                I've had success using uflysoft data recovery(there are other Mac OS data recover applications)- you must have a "recovery drive" (not your main drive or drive you a scavenging from) on which to save the recovered data. You boot from the Data Recovery disk (system)






                                                                share|improve this answer




























                                                                  0














                                                                  If you have no backup a 3rd party Disk Recovery Tool might recover some or all of the data but you must stop using the machine now.
                                                                  The trashed files are now available for your system to overwrite them. Once they are overwritten it's prohibitively expensive to recover the data.
                                                                  I've had success using uflysoft data recovery(there are other Mac OS data recover applications)- you must have a "recovery drive" (not your main drive or drive you a scavenging from) on which to save the recovered data. You boot from the Data Recovery disk (system)






                                                                  share|improve this answer


























                                                                    0












                                                                    0








                                                                    0







                                                                    If you have no backup a 3rd party Disk Recovery Tool might recover some or all of the data but you must stop using the machine now.
                                                                    The trashed files are now available for your system to overwrite them. Once they are overwritten it's prohibitively expensive to recover the data.
                                                                    I've had success using uflysoft data recovery(there are other Mac OS data recover applications)- you must have a "recovery drive" (not your main drive or drive you a scavenging from) on which to save the recovered data. You boot from the Data Recovery disk (system)






                                                                    share|improve this answer













                                                                    If you have no backup a 3rd party Disk Recovery Tool might recover some or all of the data but you must stop using the machine now.
                                                                    The trashed files are now available for your system to overwrite them. Once they are overwritten it's prohibitively expensive to recover the data.
                                                                    I've had success using uflysoft data recovery(there are other Mac OS data recover applications)- you must have a "recovery drive" (not your main drive or drive you a scavenging from) on which to save the recovered data. You boot from the Data Recovery disk (system)







                                                                    share|improve this answer












                                                                    share|improve this answer



                                                                    share|improve this answer










                                                                    answered Jul 16 '18 at 17:46









                                                                    Gallup NoelGallup Noel

                                                                    1




                                                                    1






























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