Messed up my home partition - Gparted: "Unknown" filesystem - Can I recover files?

[NicoleCtrl]

I was resizing my home partition in Gparted (something I had no idea would take over an hour) and my netbook overheated, which it tends to do, and turned off mid-operation. When I turned it back on later the partition was not accessible and Gparted lists it as "Unknown" filesystem. I know it is an ext4 filesystem but I am not able to access my files or fix the problem. If I could just save the files to a USB flash drive I wouldn't mind formatting the whole disk and starting over. Is there a way to do this? I have Parted Magic on a USB drive and was looking around for a tool to help me but so far I'm unsure of what to try next.

Any help greatly appreciated!

[ibjsb4]

You can try TestDisk

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

[Irihapeti]

+1

TestDisk is already installed in Parted Magic.

[NicoleCtrl]

Hmm, thank you. I'm having trouble figuring out how to use TestDisk to fix this. There is a way to set the filesystem type for partitions but I don't see "ext4" anywhere in the list, and even if the option exists somewhere I'm unsure if it would be wise to try it without having a reasonable expectation in advance that it wouldn't further damage things. Does anyone know what I should try specifically and if it has a reasonable chance of working?

[NicoleCtrl]

^ Bump. Anyone, please?

[NicoleCtrl]

^ Bump

[ibjsb4]

My own experience with testdisk was quite painless. The few (3 times) I use it, it was just a matter of booting it up. And testdisk then spit out what it seen and what it could save, all automatic for me. I know of manual restore methods with testdisk only because I have seen them discussed in the forum, but someone else will have to inform you about this.

I am just relaying my experience to you, in hope it can help you with a more informed decision. Good luck