BIG screw up. I "chmod 777 -r /" thinking I would give permissions to all my files

[CharlesA]

Boot off a livecd, open a terminal and just copy the files with sudo:

sudo rsync -ai /home/ /path/to/external/directory/

[kroeze]

Thank you so much! I had to run:

sudo rsync -ai /media/myharddrive/home/ /path/to/external/directory/

but it's all currently being copied over right now. I'll reinstall Ubuntu and never play with something I don't know about for a little while at least. haha

[CharlesA]

You had your home folder on a separate hard drive?

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm an idiot.

Hopefully the copy goes smoothly.

[iponeverything]

Thank you so much! I had to run:

sudo rsync -ai /media/myharddrive/home/ /path/to/external/directory/

but it's all currently being copied over right now. I'll reinstall Ubuntu and never play with something I don't know about for a little while at least. haha

It might sound strange.. but

Generally, messing things up on your system is a good way to learn.

I have rendered my system unbootable many times in the beginning and it stills happens every now and again.