How to recover deleted files?

SentralOrigin · 01-24-2007, 12:28 PM

I have Debian on a FeiserFS file system.

I downloaded some documents via FireFox but I accidentally deleted them and emptied the trash bin. Is there a way I can recover these files? There were about 40 different files.

Cogar · 01-24-2007, 12:36 PM

In UNIX or Linux, once it is deleted, it is gone. KDE and GNOME have "trash bins," which act as a storage area for "deleted" files until you confirm that you really want to delete them. Once they are deleted from there (or when any file is deleted using the command line), that is the end.

SentralOrigin · 01-24-2007, 01:07 PM

Oh no...Aw man! Maybe FireFox has like some backup file where stuff that is downloaded is made copies of? Or maybe these files have backups in some hidden system file of Debian?

ssarasin · 01-24-2007, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SentralOrigin

Oh no...Aw man! Maybe FireFox has like some backup file where stuff that is downloaded is made copies of? Or maybe these files have backups in some hidden system file of Debian?

Unfortunately, as stated above, deleting a file in Linux is not the same as in Windows. When the file is deleted, it really is gone... I'm not sure if the cache in Firefox would help or not. I think that is just for storing temp files and information from web pages that you have visited... Not for actual downloaded files...

pixellany · 01-24-2007, 03:02 PM

In the GUI, the behavior is similar to Windows---you have the trash can (which you said you emptied).

At the command line, there is no trash can, etc. But, with a command like rm, it will still prompt you--unless you use the -f flag.

If you do not write to the disk, files a re still potentially recoverabe with low-level utilities. In this case, however, just downoading again is surely be best approach.

cybertaz · 01-24-2007, 03:42 PM

You can pull up the download manager(TOOLS-->DOWNLOADS) in firefox and see if they are still there. There will be a link to redo or something similar next to the entry in the download manager.

If you clean your history each time firefox closes, your outta luck AFAIK.

Micro420 · 01-24-2007, 04:32 PM

I remember there was a unix command, but I cannot recall what it was. I don't think it's as reliable and simple as "undelete" in MS-DOS

anomie · 01-24-2007, 04:59 PM

If you're feeling ambitious, have a look at The Coroner's Toolkit. Your distro may even have a binary for it.

Good luck.

Daws · 01-24-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote:

I remember there was a unix command, but I cannot recall what it was. I don't think it's as reliable and simple as "undelete" in MS-DOS

Theres a program called foremost, its pretty reliable at finding files of a certain type by looking for their headers. Things like jpg,avi,doc etc. It might be worth a look.

SentralOrigin · 01-25-2007, 12:20 PM

Someone suggested Foremost to me before. I don't know how to use it though. Is there any guide I can follow to recover these files? The extensions on all of them are "Plain Text Documents" (I use Kwrite).

pixellany · 01-25-2007, 02:27 PM

Well, there is a man page on the Foremost site......

If you hope to recover anything, be sure not to write to that disk. If the data is really critical, also consider cloning the drive (or partition) before proceeding)

Micro420 · 01-25-2007, 06:31 PM

If I were you, I hope you are accessing and posting on another computer. I wouldn't want to be working on the computer that I am trying to recover files from. Might accidentally make it harder to recover. Oh yes, and don't shut off the affected computer, either! GOod luck and let us know if you retrieve the file or not.