is there software which allows to recover files.
I have a newly installed ubuntuLT 10.4 and can see from the disk usage utility that there are a few thousand files on the same disk that however do not show under /home etc ??

it showed 6 GB usage yet 39 GB occupied with ext3/4

Searching for Desktop it found 3425 files !!!!
many of type link(broken)

but interestingly 3 under disk#/usr/share/application
of 390,334/ 294 bytes that were all modified at 4:11:04 AM
Jan 28 2011
EDT!!!!!!! when I had the crash but where I most certainly was not at my pc! Virus suspicion???

I opened the 3 suspect files; results:

#3 openjdk-6-archive.applications

openoffice.org3
command=openoffice.org3
name=OpenOffice.org 3.2
can_open_multiple_files=true
expects_uris=true
uses_gnomevfs=true
requires_terminal=false
mime_types=application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text-template,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text-web,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text-master,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics-template,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation-template,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet-template,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula,application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.database,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/rtf,application/msword,application/vnd.ms-powerpoint,application/vnd.stardivision.calc,application/vnd.stardivision.chart,application/vnd.stardivision.draw,application/vnd.stardivision.impress,application/vnd.stardivision.mail,application/vnd.stardivision.math,application/vnd.stardivision.writer,application/vnd.sun.xml.calc,application/vnd.sun.xml.calc.template,application/vnd.sun.xml.draw,application/vnd.sun.xml.draw.template,application/vnd.sun.xml.impress,application/vnd.sun.xml.impress.template,application/vnd.sun.xml.math,application/vnd.sun.xml.writer,application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.global,application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.template,application/vnd.sun.xml.base,image/x-emf,image/x-pcx,image/x-photo-cd,image/x-pict;application/vnd.wordperfect;application/vnd.openofficeorg.extension;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document;application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template;application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet;application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template;application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation;application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template;application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroenabled.12;application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroenabled.12;

#2openjdk-6-web-start.applications
java-web-start
command="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws"
name=java-web-start
can_open_multiple_files=false
requires_terminal=false
mime_types=application/x-java-jnlp-file

#1
openjdk-6-archive.applications
java-archive
command=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/java -jar
name=java-archive
can_open_multiple_files=false
requires_terminal=false
mime_types=application/java-archive,application/x-java-archive,application/x-jar