i hope i am posting to get help, because i need it in the worst way! i will try to be brief and explain my problem(s), and hopefully, get ubuntu installed. first i would like to ask a simple question....should i be installing the server edition if i have basic internet service? first, i installed just ubuntu hardy heron. then i wanted to upgrade with the server edition but i do not have a server. my computer crashed and i have not been able to re-install ubuntu at all to my hard drive. i have been using the live cd. i have an exterior drive and my goal was to use my interior hard drive to set up my server and my exterior drive to hold all my personal files on. now, i formated my new interior drive and have repartitioned it a million different ways. i tried unsuccessfully to to recover my files i had before it crashed. is it possible? if not do i have to reformat my hard drive to install live cd. please help so i can turn of my computer and my programs and files be there the next day. now my goal is to divide my files so they can be safe when i set up my internet and server. please help!
thanks

Wow, you sound like you're in a mess.

1 - If you're not using your machine as a server, you didn't ought to set it up as one; it'll be geared all wrong for you

2 - Can you boot into a live cd? If you can, try mounting your hard drive- are the files still there? Saying that, if you've re-arranged your partitions since then, you'll have formatted the thing.

3 - If you have formatted it, you can get your files back, but its a bit of a ballache; computer forensics aren't something to just pick up. Take a dump of the drive and save it elsewhere, perhaps on your other drive. Maybe look into tools such as foremost, but be aware, the output may make you give up on recovery

4 - BACKUPS

5 - You may want to check your disk isn't dead, y'know: google 'mhdd'; its a good low level tool.

i have used test disk, and other programs to try to recover my files. the problem is the live cd does not allow me to use my hard drive(memory) to recover them. i cannot use my exterior drive to recover them because i need my interior drive. i am ready to just forget the recovery. i am pretty suave on the computer and working with ubuntu i am just just at a complete loss about how to recover my files and install ubuntu again. i have not reformated my drive just repartitioned it. so my files are probably there still.