Today I installed Lubuntu 12.10 to my girlfriends old laptop (which had Windows XP) to use it for web browsing and some pdf viewing and so. My plan was to have both OS's alongside each other, and I had read through documentation which clearly showed that there should be such option, as in this page:
http://launchintolinux.wordpress.com...-dual-booting/
I started install, and there was NO option "Install Lubuntu alongside Windos XP". First option was to overwrite Windows completely, and had appropriate warnings about losing all data. Second option gave some information about new partitions or so, and third was manual partition.
So, I thought maybe the second option is good because it does its thing automatically, and there was no warning that it will erase everything.
Installation started, there was never any questions about partitioning or anything, no warning about deleting current information and after installation finished, I noticed that Windows and all the data it contained is totally gone! Wheeewww, was my girlfriend happy!!!
Basicly, I want to criticize this installation procedure. As far as I (retrospectively) understand, all three options would have lead to losing all data (except maybe third one in capable hands), and yet only first had appropriate warning.
Secondly, there should be easy option to install alongside Windows, as I believe is in normal Ubuntu.
Thirdly, if installation is about to delete all information, there should be STRONG warning about that before anything is deleted. And this applies whether the person or installer software has decided to delete files.
All these issues are basic usability and user friendliness, which every programmer should be aware off!
Ok, the data is lost, and Lubuntu occupied the hard drive. Now comes the hard part:
is there any way to get data back? Can some program read the whole disc physically through, and try to identify files from there, and maybe save them to my (Windows) external USB hard drive?
Can this be done while Lubuntu itself is running, or should I run the recovery software from boot CD, and is there something suitable in this package: http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/
I am grateful of every piece of information, and if there is some software with easy-to-use GUI, I would be happy with it, because I am very new to Linux, especially using command line. Thus the software should be very user friendly.
Thank you!
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