Did I really lose everything?

Michael Cooley

10/29/22, 5:55 AM

UPDATE: I tried copying everything from the old user partition to the new but ran out of space. I'm reluctant to "mv" the files. Is there a way to permanently switch the partitions? I used to do all of this "by hand" in the 90s, but I've become feeble-minded in my old age, I guess. My old files are on /dev/nvme0n1p2 -- but I suppose that would also include the old system. I'm a bit confused as to how to proceed.

Here's the original post followed by my "answer" after the light bulb went off....

I had Ubuntu 18.04 and decided to upgrade to 20.? In the middle of it the system crapped. It wouldn't reboot but I was able to get a terminal prompt back. Everything was there. I proceeded slowly. Used by crappy system to create an install disk. I hemmed and hawed. Backed up the most critical files. (I don't have a single removable disk large enough.) I "tried Ubuntu" several times. Started the install two or three times and backed out to check things out. The last time to check which of the partitions was 75% full -- my data. I then started again and confirmed that it was going to install on that partition. I backed out to be sure that I was installing "along with" the old install.

All is gone. Where is that "alongside" (or whatever) installation? How did this happen? (There should be an option during installation to isolate and secure a user directly.)

I did back up all my current projects (I think). Now I'm remembering all the things I didn't back up, like that 20 year old disk img with thousands of emails on it.

Am I really a goner? Are all my system config files really gone? My passwords? (Shit I didn't copy that text file of passwords!) Careful for so many years, and now this. :(

2 + 2

upgrade

guiverc

10/29/22, 6:03 AM

You haven't said if a desktop install or server (the use different installers), but there are certain points where it's best not to back out of (ie. the moment disk changes have been made, going backwards is not advisable if you're doing a `ubiquity` install). If an upgrade *dies* you can usually resurrect it; if power died I'd `fsck` before I attempted to boot it; if desktop I'd limit myself to terminal, check the sources (`sudo apt update`), then from what I'd see there likely have it continue the upgrade (`sudo apt full-upgrade`).. Re-install can work - but your question is unclear.

Michael Cooley

10/29/22, 6:28 AM

I ended up doing the install alongside the earlier version. When I wrote the above, it looked like all was gone. *But* I found all my data in /dev/nvme0n1p2 . My question now is how do I get it into the active partition. Copying the files didn't work due to a lack of space.

Score:0

Ubuntu

Michael Cooley

10/29/22, 6:01 AM

I found it! I went to /dev and saw the old partition and mounted it. I guess all I needed was to express myself, purge the vile humors, and let the answer wash over me. (But I might be back!)

0 + 1

HuHa

10/29/22, 8:03 AM

Whatever you do, always make sure you have a _backup_ of everything that you put work into. Get an external USB drive for that, copy your files there and put it to a safe place. Remember to update the backup every once in a while. Better yet, get two of three of those external USB disks and rotate them while doing backups so you have a spare when you need to restore something, and you discover that the backup disk developed a problem. Many tears have been shed for not having a backup and recognizing that too late. ;-)

Score:0

Ubuntu

Brian Bogdan

10/29/22, 9:08 PM

I agree about backups. I learned the hard way, now I have secondary backups as well. I use Lucky backup which backs up system and has image backup (like a snap shot). I also use grsync to clone my home folder. These are spread out on multiple removable hard disks. (storage is cheap, really...) Very unlikely I will have a failure in all 3 disks at once.

sudo apt install grsync

0 + 0