Arch Linux

osigen

Member

From: cynic tub

Registered: 2005-06-18

Posts: 36

Website

One idiot's story! RM command

Hi guys,

This is really a bad time! After a lot of fun with Arch for several months, I run from my .Trash directory rm -r -f /* instead of the right rm -r -f ./*

The results are obvious...
THE DARK SIDE :-( /etc and /bin directories was gone to hell and may some other directories have fellowed them. I pressed Ctrl-z and
THE LIGHT SIDE :-) is that my home directory and all of my stuff there is still alive!

I got a new kernel from ARCH setup CD and after restarting (without setup cd) I got the messages:
Init: No inittab file found
Sulogin: cannot open password database
Enter runlevel :
Here is the end point of my system.

I don't care about a fresh installation. I only care about my /home data.
They are still there, which way can I get them or better protect them via a backup or from a fresh installation?
Any detailed instruction would be appreciated!

I unplug my PC and waiting your responce!

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"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence" L. Wittgenstein

dtw

Forum Fellow

From: UK

Registered: 2004-08-03

Posts: 4,439

Website

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

ummm - i would never use rm -rf with / ever! certainly not with ./ !  That's just crazy!

osigen

Member

From: cynic tub

Registered: 2005-06-18

Posts: 36

Website

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

I learned my lesson! I will never use rm -r -f / again!
What about current situation. I have a broken system what about ... the life-boat?

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"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence" L. Wittgenstein

smoon

Member

Registered: 2005-08-22

Posts: 468

Website

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

I learned my lesson! I will never use rm -r -f / again!
What about current situation. I have a broken system what about ... the life-boat?

If you've got your /home on its own partition (or even hdd) you can just reinstall without formatting it. But I would suggest you backup all important data before doing so. You can use almost any Live-CD (even the Arch install CD should do fine) to get a minimal system running for copying your /home data to another harddrive or DVD or something similar.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

You know, you could have just done 'rm -rf *'...

(And why the heck did you clean your trash as root? :? )

T-Dawg

Forum Fellow

From: Charlotte, NC

Registered: 2005-01-29

Posts: 2,736

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

boot into a live cd such as archie and mount your root partition. Decide with media to backup your /home (DVD maybe?) and tar to preserve pemissions and keep links is the easiest way than worrying about the right switches with cp. cd into the backup directory and do

 tar -czvf backup.tar.gz /mnt/wherever/home

you can untar in the same maner but using x in place of c after a fresh install.

osigen

Member

From: cynic tub

Registered: 2005-06-18

Posts: 36

Website

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

Thank you.
I moving towards a fresh Arch 0.7.1 pre installation, and I will delete RM command from my vocabilary!

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"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence" L. Wittgenstein

Moo-Crumpus

Member

From: Hessen / Germany

Registered: 2003-12-01

Posts: 1,488

Re: One idiot's story! RM command

To be prepared for the future: consider to use a seperate partiton for /home. You can then reinstall at will.

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Frumpus ♥ addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]