Deleted Ubuntu folder and emptied the trash

Micke

3/19/24, 10:54 AM

Well, that was stupid. I put in an old USB and wanted to delete all the files on it. I believed it was an old Ubuntu install USB, so without further thought I clicked on something that said Ubuntu on the left side of the File Manager, deleted all the files there and promptly emptied the trash. What could ever go wrong, right? Well, the music immediately stopped playing, alerting me to what I'd done.

I've been searching around for a guide - someone else out there must have been this exact kind of stupid before - but I can't seem to find the specific phrase that captures this tragedy. Could anyone help me out? There's a lot of music on that drive I'd love to keep.

1 + 1

delete

trash

data-recovery

undelete

user535733

3/19/24, 11:26 AM

An "*old Ubuntu install USB*," if properly made, is read-only. Files cannot be removed using that method anyway.

Score:1

Ubuntu

user535733

3/19/24, 11:32 AM

It seems likely that you have clicked on "Other Locations", and then selected your system partition, labelled "Ubuntu".

If that is what you did, then you have deleted your OS.

If you wish to recover your data, then boot a LiveUSB, enter the "Try Ubuntu" environment, and install Testdisk or Photorec into that Live environment to begin the process of data recovery. Data recovery can be slow and tedious. Do a bit of research on "data recovery" using those applications before starting. The entire system cannot be recovered this way.

After you have recovered your valuable data to some other media, use the LiveUSB to reinstall Ubuntu.

+ 1

Micke

3/19/24, 11:43 AM

Thank you, that's very helpful, will do that! I can restart the computer fine, it just won't find folders like Music. Hoping that working from a LiveUSB might reduce the risk of old files getting overwritten. Will read up on Testdisk and Photorec. Thanks again, that's exactly the starter I needed.

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EN: Deleted Ubuntu folder and emptied the trash

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