Arch Linux

Perkin

Member

From: Mendoza, Argentina

Registered: 2007-10-16

Posts: 14

Website

filesystem changed by accident

Hi!..

I write here because i've spoiled it.

When i was installing arch accidentally i changed the filesystem of a partition from ntfs to ext3 ... it just took a few seconds so i think it wasn't a complete formating, but a quick one.

I'd like to know if i can restore the ntfs partition without losing data.

Thanks!

Proofrific

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 215

Re: filesystem changed by accident

Did you write the changes to disk? If not, you can cancel.

If you did write the changes to disk, then I don't know.  At least this will bump your post.

Vermillion

Member

From: Switzerland

Registered: 2010-08-13

Posts: 43

Re: filesystem changed by accident

If it was just a quick format the data on your hard drive is ready to be overwritten by new data. So don't do anything on this machine just boot from a cd and use a dedicated tool (like ontrack or something else think knoppix live cd does also have some good tools but i am not sure) and try to restore. If you have luck you will get most of your data back...

cubeist

Member

Registered: 2010-08-01

Posts: 36

Re: filesystem changed by accident

In one sense you have lightly erased the data, meaning you can't just switch it back to ntfs and have the data reappear* (* unless you didn't write the changes to disk like Proofrific mentioned)

On the other hand, the good news, is you probably haven't actually physically erased the data (ie, written zeros over top of the old data).  This means you may be able to recover some, or all of your data. I have limited first-hand experience with data recovery, so hopefully others will post with better tips, but to start, there are a few linux live cds that may help, like this one:

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

edit -- wow, looks like Vermillion and I were writing almost the same thing at the same time!

Last edited by cubeist (2010-08-17 06:02:28)

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: filesystem changed by accident

If you started formatting stuff, use testdisk on a livecd.

If you haven't, go into a livecd and use cfdisk to change the partition type back to NTFS/HPFS.