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InfosecDM
February 23rd, 2010, 06:49 PM
I have searched and didnt find a situation like mine so i thought id ask. i have a dual boot setup on my hp pavillion windows vista /dev/sda1 and backtrack linux 3,while trying to install backtrack 4 (which is ubuntu based) i deleted the former partitons for bt3. im not quite sure what i clicked but using the ubiquity installer it deleted my partition table so now my entire drive is listed as unallocated space. i have some very important files on my windows partition other wise i would just format and start over. how can i restore the partition table and boot to windows to atleast grab the important stuff. the drive hasnt been formatted so the info is still there i just cant get to it anyone have any ideas?
darkod
February 23rd, 2010, 06:57 PM
TestDisk can do this but I haven't used it and can't give you more precise instructions. They have documentation on the website and also google might help find instructions.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
InfosecDM
February 23rd, 2010, 07:03 PM
the only problem with that is there isnt a bootable partition on the drive and i dont see a testdisc live cd any other ideas
elmosim2
February 23rd, 2010, 07:09 PM
There are utilities that are meant for grabbing deleted files. I think if you used one of these you could find what you need.

From this article
http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/storage/8257-how-to-recover-lost-files-after-you-accidentally-wipe-your-hard-drive
He seems to have recovered his files using
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

Good luck!
darkod
February 23rd, 2010, 07:22 PM
the only problem with that is there isnt a bootable partition on the drive and i dont see a testdisc live cd any other ideas

As far as I know it's in the repositories for ubuntu. Boot with the ubuntu cd into the live desktop and you can install it with:

sudo apt-get install testdisk

Of course, it will be there only until reboot. It's lost on reboot. But that's enough to finish the job.
oldfred
February 24th, 2010, 01:19 AM
I fortunately have not needed testdisk. More info on it. It is on most recovery type CDs.

enable the "universe" repository to download testdisk
System>Administration>Software Sources>Ubuntu Software.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
repairs including testdisk info & links
http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p21.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery#Lost%20Partition