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02-02-2010, 05:20 AM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 86
Rep:
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Undo a mke2fs command.
So i was just starting a fresh Gentoo install and prepairing my disks when i accidentally changed my 1TB NTFS partition to a ext3. This partition had about 16,000 songs, hours worth of video and almost 4 years worth of photos on it. I am completely desistated as i'll never see most of these pictures again and some of the music contained recorded music from and old band i was in that i had the only copys of.
I hope there is someone who can help me recoved these files and if possable convert it back to NTFS. So far i have tried nothing for fear of damaging it further. Please help.
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02-02-2010, 05:41 AM
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#2
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LQ Veteran
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809
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Most---if not all---of the files will be recoverable.
First, don't do anything that would write to that disk. If the data is really valuable, consider cloning it before attempting recovery. Regardless, when you do start recovery, you want the physical drive installed somewhere such that it is not being used for the operating system--only for data.
The standard tools (at least the ones most often recommended here) are "testdisk" and "photorec" (both from the same author/website).
If you buy an external USB drive to make the clone, then that will also be useful for future backups.
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02-02-2010, 05:57 AM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 86
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks for the quick reply. I'm going to give testdisk a go. I was looking at mkdosfs as a way of working backwards but it doesn't seem to support NTFS.
I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you again.
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02-02-2010, 06:06 AM
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#4
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LQ Veteran
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809
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Do NOT attempt to recover by using tools to make a new filesystem!!
What you have done so far is to write new filesystem info over your existing data. This changes the infrastructure of the disk, and breaks all the links to the files, but it does not delete (most) of the actual data. Trying to install yet another filesystem will only delete more data.
You do not want to do ANYTHING that will write to the disk.
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02-02-2010, 06:25 AM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 86
Original Poster
Rep:
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Testdisk says it's still an NTFS partition. Thats a good start i guess. I'd apreciate it if you could give me a leg up on how to procede from here.
Edit: To save you some time.
I'm guessing: Analise, backup, change type, NTFS?
Last edited by phoenixfire; 02-02-2010 at 06:34 AM.
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02-02-2010, 06:35 AM
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#6
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LQ Veteran
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809
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There are some different terms here......the partition type does not tell you what filesystem is installed. For example a "Linux" partition (type 83) can have all manner of different filesystem.
I've already told you more than I know about filesystem recovery!! If you are unsure about what you are doing, then get the drive to a recovery specialist.
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02-02-2010, 06:40 AM
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#7
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Member
Registered: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 86
Original Poster
Rep:
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Oh sorry, missed a bit there. Partition is NTFS but filesystem is still ext2.
Thank you so much for your help. I'd be in the dark still if you hadn't posted. I really appreciate it.
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