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View Full Version : WARNING! Windows overwrote ubuntu !?!?!



anaconda
April 6th, 2010, 11:56 AM
I installed Microsoft security essentials to my XP installation (the free windows antivirus program)

And my ubuntu partition was destroyed! Or should I say the dangerous Ubuntu-virus was efficiently removed...

#&"&#/¤¤/#

Yes. I really didn't modify any partitions or anything. just installed microsoft security essentials and let it seach for viruses.

OK. Have to say that there was something wrong with my windowsXP ubuntu dualboot even before this happened.

For some strange reason my ubuntu partition was mapped as a D: drive in windows (in reality it was ~80% full ext3 partition, but windows thought it was an empty ntfs partition) And security essentials repaired? the partition and wrote some 140MB to the "empty" partition, and wiped my ubuntu in the process. Damn.

F#CK is it possible to rescue files from the overwritten ubuntu partition?

MichealH
April 6th, 2010, 11:59 AM
Only if you have sectors which aren't overwritten. (Highly Unlikely in other words!)

tica vun
April 6th, 2010, 12:06 PM
Oh wow, I sure am glad I got rid of my windows partitions right about now...

NightwishFan
April 6th, 2010, 12:12 PM
Bad luck! I would have to say, no you probably will not recover the partition though you may find some files. (Not sure how that works). If you are asking for a better place is the help forums above. A mod will probably move this one though.

dragos240
April 6th, 2010, 12:16 PM
Try testdisk, it's your only saving grace now, your last bastion of hope.

anaconda
April 6th, 2010, 12:38 PM
Try testdisk, it's your only saving grace now, your last bastion of hope.

I will try that, when I get back home.

Damn, I should have removed the D: drive from windows when I noticed it.

I do hope my files can still be found from the partition.. after all it was a 60GB partition, and windows only wrote 140MB on it....

.

anaconda
April 6th, 2010, 12:42 PM
Bad luck! I would have to say, no you probably will not recover the partition though you may find some files. (Not sure how that works). If you are asking for a better place is the help forums above. A mod will probably move this one though.

No, Mostly I just wanted to warn other users of the danger, so I think cafe is the right place.

Never had windows destroy my ubuntu before. Well, actually windows has overwritten grub before, but I guess that is "normal".

NightwishFan
April 6th, 2010, 12:49 PM
Thanks for the warning. I will keep this in mind for a few of my dual-booting friends.

ve4cib
April 6th, 2010, 02:12 PM
Out of curiosity did you have any Windows Ext-2/3/4 drivers installed? At home I have an XP/9.10 dual-boot with Ext-3 Windows drivers installed and the Ubuntu partition mapped to E:/ and I've never run into this problem.

If you didn't have the Ext drivers installed then there's a chance that was the root cause of the problem; Windows detected a mapped partition using a filesystem it didn't understand. It made the best guess available to it (an empty, damaged NTFS partition), and did its best to repair the problem.

CharlesA
April 6th, 2010, 02:14 PM
Out of curiosity did you have any Windows Ext-2/3/4 drivers installed? At home I have an XP/9.10 dual-boot with Ext-3 Windows drivers installed and the Ubuntu partition mapped to E:/ and I've never run into this problem.

If you didn't have the Ext drivers installed then there's a chance that was the root cause of the problem; Windows detected a mapped partition using a filesystem it didn't understand. It made the best guess available to it (an empty, damaged NTFS partition), and did its best to repair the problem.

This sounds like the most plausible explanation.

fatality_uk
April 6th, 2010, 03:16 PM
Did it ask to "Auto Repair"? I have had Windows try and clear a partition before, but lucikly I did select ask before applying changes. Is that an option on "Microsoft security essentials"?

Uncle Spellbinder
April 6th, 2010, 03:38 PM
I installed Microsoft security essentials to my XP installation (the free windows antivirus program)

And my ubuntu partition was destroyed! Or should I say the dangerous Ubuntu-virus was efficiently removed...

#&"&#/¤¤/#

Yes. I really didn't modify any partitions or anything. just installed microsoft security essentials and let it seach for viruses.

OK. Have to say that there was something wrong with my windowsXP ubuntu dualboot even before this happened.

For some strange reason my ubuntu partition was mapped as a D: drive in windows (in reality it was ~80% full ext3 partition, but windows thought it was an empty ntfs partition) And security essentials repaired? the partition and wrote some 140MB to the "empty" partition, and wiped my ubuntu in the process. Damn.

F#CK is it possible to rescue files from the overwritten ubuntu partition?
I've got to admit, I've never heard of such a thing. I've used MSE since the alpha days on 3 machines, each dual booting and one triple booting. Never had any such issues. Very strange indeed, sorry for the loss of your files and such. There use to be a bug reporting feature in MSE. Don't think it's there anymore though. Not sure if there is a way to report bug for MSE any longer.

Psumi
April 6th, 2010, 04:46 PM
Wait... what?

Antivirus shouldn't detect partitions it can't map. Meaning it can't overwrite them.

As long as I've known Windows, Windows has never been able to physically see any linux partition, which means no application would be able to modify it.

Drivers or not, the app can't go into the partition without negotiating with the driver, unless that's all done universally now.

whiskeylover
April 6th, 2010, 05:02 PM
Wait... what?

Antivirus shouldn't detect partitions it can't map. Meaning it can't overwrite them.

As long as I've known Windows, Windows has never been able to physically see any linux partition, which means no application would be able to modify it.

Drivers or not, the app can't go into the partition without negotiating with the driver, unless that's all done universally now.


Windows can see all partitions. It just cannot map your linux partitions to a drive Letter. The Disk Manager reports them as 100% free partitions of unknown type.

kmsalex
April 6th, 2010, 05:14 PM
you could also try this program from inside windows.
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
the lesson here, always back up you files, gpart tough me that.

befana
April 6th, 2010, 06:18 PM
How could this happened? I'm dual-booting Ubuntu and Win7 with MSE and have any problem. Even I usually make hibernate both Ubuntu and Windows and rarely shut down.

PC_load_letter
April 6th, 2010, 07:02 PM
...

F#CK is it possible to rescue files from the overwritten ubuntu partition?

running from an Ubuntu live cd try to see if foremost or scalpel can salvage any files from that partition. I'd run
sudo gparted first to see what's going on, then
sudo apt-get install foremost scalpel if they are not installed by default.

EDIT: In the mean time do NOT use the computer, the more you use it the greater the chance more files will be overwritten and will be harder to recover.

CharlesA
April 28th, 2010, 01:28 AM
Start a new thread.

Rasa1111
April 28th, 2010, 01:34 AM
this almost feels like a 'joke' by ms.
boo.

sorry to hear your loss man.

houshdaran
April 28th, 2010, 03:33 AM
To me, Charles?
What thread?