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Thread: Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

  1. #1
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    Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Came home tonight to do do some stuff on the laptop and the whole thing was mad. There was no way I could get Ubuntu 12.4 to work at all- not even in restore mode. No use trying to copy it all because there was so much which seemed to be numbered 1-44 and it was at 44 it stopped.....I have no idea if that means anything to anyone.

    In despair I reinstalled and lost everything-very annoying in terms of downloads and redoing libre office but I tend to email myself important files.

    But why would it suddenly get the hump and go mad like that?

    Various things I need help with so will do a thread for each.

    J
    Still deciding what to say.....

  2. #2
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Too late for your old data, but something to keep in mind for future problems:

    besides a system (mounted as "/") partition and a swap partition, set up a separate partition and select it to mount as "/home". If you lose Ubuntu you can reinstall and all your data will remain that you kept in your home folder - including downloads, etc.. You might still need to reinstall packages, but at least your data would be preserved.

    Then there's the old proverbial "you do backups, right?". Don't feel bad there - a lot of us sort of skip that along the way - and as one user has in their signature for the forum: if you don't back up your important data then it isn't important data.
    Last edited by anewguy; September 13th, 2012 at 12:16 AM.

  3. #3
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by anewguy View Post
    Too late for your old data, but something to keep in mind for future problems:

    besides a system (mounted as "/") partition and a swap partition, set up a separate partition and select it to mount as "/home". If you lose Ubuntu you can reinstall and all your data will remain that you kept in your home folder - including downloads, etc.. You might still need to reinstall packages, but at least your data would be preserved.

    Then there's the old proverbial "you do backups, right?". Don't feel bad there - a lot of us sort of skip that along the way - and as one user has in their signature for the forum: if you don't back up your important data then it isn't important data.
    Thanks - because the stupid network manager played up I couldn't get here to get that info earlier...but my emails to myself with the files are a back up so it is not as bad as when my ex husband met me in a bookstore and told me he had managed to (in trying to put something right, delete my entire thesis........(not why we divorced lol), I don't remember how I got that back -but that way in the days of the imac.

    I will copy and paste and email myself your info just in case!

    J
    Still deciding what to say.....

  4. #4
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by anewguy View Post
    Too late for your old data, but something to keep in mind for future problems:

    besides a system (mounted as "/") partition and a swap partition, set up a separate partition and select it to mount as "/home". If you lose Ubuntu you can reinstall and all your data will remain that you kept in your home folder - including downloads, etc.. You might still need to reinstall packages, but at least your data would be preserved.

    Then there's the old proverbial "you do backups, right?". Don't feel bad there - a lot of us sort of skip that along the way - and as one user has in their signature for the forum: if you don't back up your important data then it isn't important data.
    Even if your /home isn't on a separate partition, when your system becomes unbootable, it's usually possible to boot from a LiveCD, mount your / partition, and browse to your home folder.
    Jane, stop this crazy thing!

  5. #5
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by newb85 View Post
    Even if your /home isn't on a separate partition, when your system becomes unbootable, it's usually possible to boot from a LiveCD, mount your / partition, and browse to your home folder.
    Very true. I'm just thinking about the reinstalling issue, or for that matter, installing a new release and having problems. Your data is still safe - it's just the OS itself you'd be messing with.

    Dave

  6. #6
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalyn View Post
    Thanks - because the stupid network manager played up I couldn't get here to get that info earlier...but my emails to myself with the files are a back up so it is not as bad as when my ex husband met me in a bookstore and told me he had managed to (in trying to put something right, delete my entire thesis........(not why we divorced lol), I don't remember how I got that back -but that way in the days of the imac.

    I will copy and paste and email myself your info just in case!

    J
    oooooooooo, so if the wasn't why you got divorced, it must have been bad!

  7. #7
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    If you do get something running again, try using something like this:

    sudo apt-get install scalpel

    if you'd like to scan that disk for recoverable items. that data is not necessarily lost.

    Re: https://www.google.ca/search?q=resto...hrome&ie=UTF-8

  8. #8
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
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    Wink Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by opensshd View Post
    If you do get something running again, try using something like this:

    sudo apt-get install scalpel

    if you'd like to scan that disk for recoverable items. that data is not necessarily lost.

    Re: https://www.google.ca/search?q=resto...hrome&ie=UTF-8
    I'll remember that myself!

    Thanks!
    Dave

  9. #9
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Quote Originally Posted by opensshd View Post
    If you do get something running again, try using something like this:

    sudo apt-get install scalpel

    if you'd like to scan that disk for recoverable items. that data is not necessarily lost.

    Re: https://www.google.ca/search?q=resto...hrome&ie=UTF-8
    Thanks for the scalpel tip. It says it's filesystem-independent, but does it also scan through a borked Windows system? That could have come in handy when my brother's Windows partition became unbootable.

    By the way, did you really mean to link to a Google search page?
    Jane, stop this crazy thing!

  10. #10
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    Re: AAAAAAAUGH! Had to reinstall the whole caboodle and stuck

    Yah I did, I noticed my search turned up several good looking results, so I figured I'd post it.

    I've only used recovery programs like that a few times, and quite some time ago. I do remember I was rather surprised and impressed with the results though.

    I suppose anything you can retrieve from an accidental data loss is good news eh?

    Interesting, I'm not exactly sure if it will scan a windows filesystem, worth a shot for sure.
    Last edited by opensshd; September 13th, 2012 at 10:57 AM.

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