Recovering Deleted files
 

I did the upgrade from Mandriva Linux Limited Edition 2005 special club to 2006 RC2. when I got done I found that it NUKED my Documents Directory.

I was wondering if there is a utility to recover deleted files.

the box is a dual boot box with Win XP and Mandriva on it. I have it booted on XP now to prevent the partition from being written to. I have tried a couple of windoze based tools that scan Linux partitions to recover deleted files but have had no luck. one of the tools I tried was Stellar Phoenix Linux.

Any help would be apreciated as i have lost over 8k photos, my second hobby is photography.

Are you certain you chose the 'upgrade' route? Did you by any chance create a new user? Is there any chance your files are just elsewhere on the disk?

(As an aside, this is why backups are so important, especially before upgrades)

If you want to try to use linux tools with almost no chance of writing to the disk, try using a livecd.

Use a knoppix disk and do a live analysis, some info on how here:
http://www.sleuthkit.org/autopsy/desc.php

yes, it was an upgrade and I did an extensive search of all partitions.

As for your "aside note" I have a pack of DVDr disks just for that, had been saying for months that I need to backup my photos )-: it is my own fault even though the upgrade nuked the documents dir. I have been using Mandrake since 6.2 and have done upgrades and new installs and have never had a problem with it nuking any personal info until now. Oh well big lesson learned.

THANKS MAN!! This looks promising. Is this tool on the knoppix CD? I will start researching this ASAP. Hopefully I will find a boot disk that has this on it.

This will be a great Xmas present from you if I even get a percentage of my photo's back.

I have not used Knoppix in about a year, but at that time these programs were on the Knoppix disk, so assume they still will be included.

Hope this is not too late, was going through my cd's and found the one you would want. It is not Knoppix, it is Helix. A forensics disk that was based on Knoppix.
http://www.e-fense.com/helix/contents.php

Do post back if you try to use it to let us know your success......or not. Did work for me, a while back.