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#1 2017-09-19 12:44:26

Adderall
Member
From: New York City
Registered: 2017-06-18
Posts: 30

I think I destroyed my data

Hello. I have a 1tb external HDD, on which all my data was backed up. It was in excess of 250GB of data. The drive was plugged into a USB port when I decided to insert a flash drive into another port, in order to to use the dd command to make a live usb stick of a distro I wanted to try out. I accidently neglected to run sudo fdisk -l, and launched the dd program with /dev/sdc as the target. This was actually the drive where all my backup was stored; not the flash drive. I managed to pull the drive out within a second or two, but now when I plug the external HDD back in, my data is gone.

I am completely inexperienced in regards to data recovery, especially on Linux. I am wondering if there is a way to salvage/recover my data. Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.


"Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn."

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#2 2017-09-19 12:57:27

Lone_Wolf
Member
From: Netherlands, Europe
Registered: 2005-10-04
Posts: 11,868

Re: I think I destroyed my data

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_recovery

Read the first paragraph several times before doing anything.


Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.


(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

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#3 2017-09-19 13:07:18

Adderall
Member
From: New York City
Registered: 2017-06-18
Posts: 30

Re: I think I destroyed my data

Lone_Wolf wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_recovery

Read the first paragraph several times before doing anything.

Thanks. I feel like a complete asshole as it is for such a careless mistake; I won't even attempt to fix this on my own.


"Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn."

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#4 2017-09-19 13:10:07

drcouzelis
Member
From: Connecticut, USA
Registered: 2009-11-09
Posts: 4,092
Website

Re: I think I destroyed my data

Yikes! I'm sorry. sad

VERY IMPORTANT: Do not mount the drive!!! When you do eventually start working on the drive, do it READ-ONLY. Then, go from there! (reading the instructions on the Arch Wiki)

When I had an external hard drive that failed (for some reason), I was able to recover all of the photos, videos, and documents by using "photorec". Good luck!

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#5 2017-09-19 13:55:22

Slithery
Administrator
From: Norfolk, UK
Registered: 2013-12-01
Posts: 5,776

Re: I think I destroyed my data

If the external hard drive was your backup then surely you still have the original data on your system...


No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

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#6 2017-09-19 14:04:59

drcouzelis
Member
From: Connecticut, USA
Registered: 2009-11-09
Posts: 4,092
Website

Re: I think I destroyed my data

slithery wrote:

If the external hard drive was your backup then surely you still have the original data on your system...

I think the original poster was using the term "backed up" colloquially, which would have the same meaning as "saved to".

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#7 2017-09-19 21:20:48

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: I think I destroyed my data

drcouzelis wrote:
slithery wrote:

If the external hard drive was your backup then surely you still have the original data on your system...

I think the original poster was using the term "backed up" colloquially, which would have the same meaning as "saved to".

With modern portable systems having about a quarter of the storage we used to take for granted (due to HDD/SSD differing costs) this would not be a surprise.


Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

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