[SOLVED] OMG, I sent /home/user folder to /Trash...

[LinuxNubian]

I tried to move a /home/user folder from an external harddrive to my internal /home folder running Xubuntu 12.04. I received an error indicating an .iso could not be copied, so I cancelled the operation and attempted to send the newly copied partial folder to /Trash in order to try, again; but I sent my internal /home/user folder, instead. To add to the tragedy, I panicked and cancelled the move to /Trash. Now, all that I can find in /home is the partial /home/user that I attempted to move from the external harddrive. I fear that I have lost the folder for good and that is very bad.

I, hereby, nominate myself for stupid user of the millenium.

I have found info on recovering lost partitions, but nothing that addresses my idiotic mistake (nothing is in lost+found). Is there a way to recover a lost folder that did not make it to /Trash or am I just plain out of luck?

I wish to extend my humble gratitude to all who may consider this most regrettable dilemna.

[jamesisin]

Can you just restore anything that happens to be in the trash?

[alan9800]

you might try to run the following command

restore-trash *

in a Terminal window; see http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/...e-trash.1.html.

[LinuxNubian]

Thank you, both, for responding. I forgot to mention that "user" (actually it was "luke") was root and the only user w/sudo privies, so I had to use chroot to get root w/:
root@r2d2$ adduser help sudo

Unfortunately, nothing is found in /Trash & restore-trash * seemed to only look for files in the current directory so I made a /home/luke directory, but no love:

help@r2d2:~$ restore-trash *
No files trashed from current dir ('/home/help')
help@r2d2:~$ cd /home/luke
bash: cd: /home/luke: No such file or directory
help@r2d2:~$ mkdir /home/luke
mkdir: cannot create directory `/home/luke': Permission denied
help@r2d2:~$ sudo mkdir /home/luke
help@r2d2:~$ cd /home/luke
help@r2d2:/home/luke$ restore-trash *
No files trashed from current dir ('/home/luke')
help@r2d2:/home/luke$ restore-trash luke
No files trashed from current dir ('/home/luke')

Btw, the /home/luke folder was 100GB.

I am looking into scalpel, now that I am able to execute commands as root, but it's gonna take some time to get familiar with it; the scalpel.conf is a challenge. I hope there is a simpler way to recover lost folders.

Thank you, again, for responding...I lost a bunch of my sister's files & she's gonna kill me, if she finds out!

[Azdour]

Hi,

Have you checked in roots trash for your files - /root/.local/share/Trash/files?

[oldos2er]

I tried to move a /home/user folder from an external harddrive to my internal /home folder running Xubuntu 12.04.

Did you move files in the terminal, or graphically? If you use the terminal, history should show the exact command you used, and if you post it here it should be easy to create a "reverse" command to undo the damage.

I don't understand when you refer to /Trash, did you create a folder named Trash in the root folder / ? Your user's trash folder by default is located in /home/user/.local/share/Trash/

[LinuxNubian]

Hi,

Have you checked in roots trash for your files - /root/.local/share/Trash/files?

BINGO! Thank you! That's exactly where it went. For the record, I had to check Files=>Show Hidden Files to find it with nautilus, which is what I used to delete the folder.

I copied the misplaced file back into /home & I can't login to the 'luke' profile, but I can live with the new user profile...really just wanted the files back.

Thank you, again, for the help everyone. I was really worried that interupting the Send To Trash process might have been fatal to it's contents.

[VMC]

LOL. I have to admit that your first post made my day. Not at you expense, but I was laughing because I have all been there many times. I have done even more unbelievable stunts.

Regarding 'luke'. You can use either root or sudo to change luke's password, unless or course your not 'luke'. Here's a link that may help luke

[alphaamanitin]

LOL. I have to admit that your first post made my day. Not at you expense, but I was laughing because I have all been there many times. I have done even more unbelievable stunts.

Regarding 'luke'. You can use either root or sudo to change luke's password, unless or course your not 'luke'. Here's a link that may help luke

I once went to delete a lib/ of a program. Meant to do

rm -rvf lib/

I accidentally put in

rm -rvf /lib/

It was pretty dishearting watching everything fly through the command line on its way to extinction.

~AlphaA

[alan9800]

just a tip, that might seem silly but it isn't: remember to always use

rm -i <what you wish to delete>

so you're able to see what is going to be deleted before it's removed from your HD.