USB Startup Disk Creator - an accident waiting to happen!

[datelus]

Please tell me there is a way to get all that data back.
Ive done the same thing, by pressing the button, and all it showed was the copy from dvd progress window.
All my life was in that disc, so i hope there is a way to get some data back. Thanks.

[Cyr1dian]

Originally Posted by Tirek Hi everyone. I regret that my first post has to be about such an issue, but this is a major problem, I think. Like the original poster, I wanted to install Ubuntu Karmic using an external hard drive - two NTFS partitions, one 50 gig, the other just shy of 950 gig, with 500 gb worth of backups which I sincerely hope I'll be able to recover (currently running a utility called "GetDataBack for NTFS". As you can imagine, I didn't bother to research all that much - so if anyone has recommendations, I'll be grateful) I didn't know whether it will work or not (UNetBootin refuses to install to USB hard drives, at least for me), but when I saw that it correctly detected and identified both partitions IN ADDITION to the whole device entry, and that they were individually selectable, I was rather sure that the simplest explanation (that is, you can choose which partition to format and use for install) was the correct one. I'm pretty certain that most people would find this conclusion reasonable, especially those who are supposed to be the target audience for this fairly popular Linux distro, which is focused on usability, simplicity and intuitiveness. Anyway, I pressed the "format" button and I don't remember even having ANY warning pop up (there was an error, but frankly, I didn't remember to write it down). Then the USB creator window darkened and the hard drive started chugging away. It wasn't until I found a single 1000 GB partition listed in the "Places" menu that the realization hit me. Which it utterly fails to communicate to the user. It looks simple enough that you don't bother to read help; it sets up expectations about it's behaviour which turn out to be tragically wrong and it fails to inform the user about what will happen. But yes, it may not, strictly speaking, be a bug. Also, I know of no technical reason why a partition on an external hard drive could not function as a live USB (if there is, I'd like to know it). I may have come across as harsh, but to be honest, I'm holding myself back, as this has really strained my nerves... Still, I want to end this on a more positive note - Karmic has been a delight to use, otherwise.

I had almost the exact same problem! I am now desperately trying to recover a tonne of lost data. The thing is called "USB Startup DISK created" ffs, not Thumbdrive startup creator or something. Deleting all partitions of a drive UNPROMPTED is most definitely a HUGE design flaw! I'm a dev myself and this is just not acceptable.