Ninja Ubuntu Laptop Vanish: How Can I Remotely Undelete?
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should I use Net Cat to undelete my lost laptop files and have them recovered onto my desktop tower computer via ethernet wire?
If so, how do I find Net Cat? Which version works best for Ubuntu 10.04? Where do I download it from? Are there different Net Cat programs? Which one should I use exactly?
Hold on a minute.... Do you even know what netcat is, and what it is used for? Read here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat
I'm sorry, but you seem to be under-educated when it comes to linux. Do you even know what you are doing? I am not being mean.... I just want to know if you really know or not what you are doing.
Joey I would probably have done the same thing and turned off the computer if it froze up. When that happens, normally during booting it would do a fsck (file system check) and then it would be fine. I don't know why your computer was trashed by you doing that, I don't think it should have happened like that.
You'll see that it has big buttons marked "Show me how" and options you can choose for the kind of computer you want to use for making the bootable CD or USB stick. If you can, use a rewritable DVD or USB stick, because that way you won't end up with a stack of "coasters" if something goes wrong. But this isn't very important, blank DVDs and CDs are cheap.
I don't really know if it will be possible to recover your lost files. I think your best chance is to boot off a USB stick or DVD or CD, then try to access your disk and see what is on there. If you can see the files, you can probably use scp or something to copy the files over the network to your desktop.
Obviously this is a painful experience for you, and hopefully now you see that you absolutely must make backups of your important files. Certainly your home directory must be backed up regularly. All the files you create can be destroyed at any time if you don't have backups. Linux operating system files don't really need to be backed up, because you can easily reinstall them if necessary. Even machine configuration files such as in /etc aren't super important to backup, because you can re-create them if needed.
What I would suggest you do is:
* download a Ubuntu live CD image
* make a bootable DVD, CD, or USB stick from that image
* boot your computer off it, and select that you want to try it without installing
* try to find your files on the laptop disk, if you can, then we can figure out a way to copy the files to your desktop.
I don't know the difference between Knoppix and Helix.
That is something you could have searched this forum or the 'net for.
Here's in short how you run 'dd' over your network:
- Make both machines connect over ethernet cable using static IP addresses in your router.
- Boot your laptop using a Live CD as I suggested before. Run 'fdisk -l' to see which disks are available (usually one: let's assert for the example it's /dev/sda).
- If you don't know the size of /dev/sda run 'hdparm -I /dev/sda|grep size;'.
- On your desktop, locate a partition that is as big as, but preferably larger than, your laptops /dev/sda. Mount it as root and ensure it's got enough free space. Let's assert for this example the partition is mounted at "/mnt/salvage".
- On your desktop as root run 'netcat -l -p 1234|dd of=/mnt/salvage/sda.dd'.
- On your laptop as root run 'dd if=/dev/sda|netcat ipaddressofdesktop 1234;', where you substitute "ipaddressofdesktop" with the actual static IP address of your desktop.
* As running 'dd' is destructive you best ask questions and post your proposed list of commands to run before you commence.
You can always get it yourself by going to the Ubuntu website and downloading the ISO file, and burn it to a CD/DVD.
Good answer. http://www.ubuntu.com/. They use to mail people CDs for free. Now it cost like a dollar. I found some of my CDs but I don't know if they are specifically the live CDs or not. Does it matter if it says live on it or not? I have this CD that does not say live on it but it does say Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop Edition. I have used it before It can install Ubuntu 10.04 onto most computers. There is also the option of trying it out before installing it. Meaning that you can boot onto the CD. So, is that the same as a live CD then? If so, then I should be able to get onto this live Ubuntu 10.04 CD then. But I can't get online from a live CD yet because my wireless internet device stops working during a live Ubuntu CD session. That is why I want a plan before going live.
Good answer. http://www.ubuntu.com/. They use to mail people CDs for free. Now it cost like a dollar. I found some of my CDs but I don't know if they are specifically the live CDs or not. Does it matter if it says live on it or not? I have this CD that does not say live on it but it does say Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop Edition. I have used it before It can install Ubuntu 10.04 onto most computers. There is also the option of trying it out before installing it. Meaning that you can boot onto the CD. So, is that the same as a live CD then? If so, then I should be able to get onto this live Ubuntu 10.04 CD then. But I can't get online from a live CD yet because my wireless internet device stops working during a live Ubuntu CD session. That is why I want a plan before going live.
One CD says G Parted Ed 0.4.6. Can this CD help with anything?
Good answer. http://www.ubuntu.com/. They use to mail people CDs for free. Now it cost like a dollar. I found some of my CDs but I don't know if they are specifically the live CDs or not. Does it matter if it says live on it or not? I have this CD that does not say live on it but it does say Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop Edition. I have used it before It can install Ubuntu 10.04 onto most computers. There is also the option of trying it out before installing it. Meaning that you can boot onto the CD. So, is that the same as a live CD then? If so, then I should be able to get onto this live Ubuntu 10.04 CD then. But I can't get online from a live CD yet because my wireless internet device stops working during a live Ubuntu CD session. That is why I want a plan before going live.
Yes boot off that CD, and select that you want to try it without installing. Try connecting your computer with an ethernet cable (you know the blue cables?). Then you don't need to worry about getting wireless working.
If you can boot to a live Ubuntu CD it would be useful if you use the command
Code:
sudo fdisk -l
and report the output back here. That will tell us what partitions are on your hard disk.
I find it hard to believe that a hard reset would erase all your files and operating system, though it can occasionally make it impossible to boot the machine. However, I presume your comments about partition sizes means you have already looked with a live system of some sort.
More information please about exactly what happened and what you have already done to find out what you've said here.
Do I have to boot from a live Ubuntu CD in order to type in that code in the terminal (Sudo Fdisk -L) in order to get the most accurate results or output or answers?
Like I already said, I lost all of my data and my operating system reverted from Ubuntu 11.10 to 10.04. But since I can still boot up, I typed in sudo fdisk -l in the terminal and got the following output:
Laptop Input:
On my Ubuntu 10.04 broken Lost-Data Laptop, I typed in:
Code:
sudo fdisk -l
Laptop Output:
Code:
o@o-HP-Compaq-6910p-GH715AW-ABA:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for o:
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ca236
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 14411 115755008 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14412 14594 1463297 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 14412 14594 1463296 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Yes boot off that CD, and select that you want to try it without installing. Try connecting your computer with an ethernet cable (you know the blue cables?). Then you don't need to worry about getting wireless working.
My internet is coming from my neighbors via wifi wireless.
Ok. Scrolling down. Ok. I see. I have read this before. I have seen other special CDs at the Free Geek (http://FreeGeek.org) place. These CDs specifically say something like Ubuntu Live Desktop Edition. But I understand the CDs I have are similar.
Yes boot off that CD, and select that you want to try it without installing. Try connecting your computer with an ethernet cable (you know the blue cables?). Then you don't need to worry about getting wireless working.
I don't pay for internet. I can only get it via wifi. I can only get wireless internet via my wireless device, which picks up internet from my neighbors.
My desktop can only get it via ethernet attached to my laptop. I might be able to connect my wireless device directly to my laptop. But that is another story. Because that may not help with undeleting my laptop files.
Last edited by JoeyArnold; 09-29-2011 at 12:29 AM.
I don't pay for internet. I can only get it via wifi. I can only get wireless internet via my wireless device, which picks up internet from my neighbors.
My desktop can only get it via ethernet attached to my laptop. I might be able to connect my wireless device directly to my laptop. But that is another story. Because that may not help with undeleting my laptop files.
So are you using the broken laptop now to access the internet? I think you should try to boot off one of those CDs you have, tell it to "try without installing", to see if it works. It should work.
Also please say what kind of wireless card you have, we might be able to set it up so that you can get the wireless working off the live CD.
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Is this Ubuntu CD the same as a live Ubuntu CD?
