Please help, I'm an idiot. windows gone, ubuntu gone

[daverobzippy]

Really don't know where to start explaining what I've done but let's get this out of the way first, I am an IDIOT.
I fancied the idea of a dual boot laptop with windows 7 which it was already running and ubuntu.
Downloaded ubuntu and placed on usb memory stick with installer package.
restarted laptop and instructed it to boot from usb, installed ubuntu. restarted for the machine to boot straight to ubuntu,
restarted again for it to boot to nothing, just a command prompt.
I can run ubuntu from usb, enabling me to access the internet. when I look at the hdd from disk utility it is showing it as empty.
I realise I have jumped into water that is way too deep for me and have been an idiot in doing so. I have no recovery discs for windows 7. The os isn't as much a problem as the files <i should of backed up before meddling.

Any help in this would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[Quackers]

Welcome to UF.
It is dangerous to be installing/partitioning without the means to recover your system. Not to mention time consuming!
You don't say which version of Ubuntu you have installed. If it's 10.04 you may be better off than with 10.10, but we'll see.
Please boot from the Ubuntu Live cd/usb and select "try ubuntu" then when the desktop is loaded make sure you have an internet connection and go to the site below and download the boot script to your DESKTOP and then open up a terminal (Applications > Accessories > terminal) and run


sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

This will produce a results.txt file on your desktop. Please copy the contents of that file and paste them in your next post between CODE tags. For CODE tags click on New Reply (not quick reply)and then click on the # symbol in the toolbar.
This will give a full overview of your current system.
Thanks.

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[daverobzippy]

Thanks for the quick reply. below is the info you requested. thanks again



Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for (,msdos1)/boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system:
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 439,554,465 488,392,064 48,837,600 83 Linux


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb 14E7-144B vfat PENDRIVE

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sdb /cdrom vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437, iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)

=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader on sda1

00000000 a4 f8 9b 58 fe db d3 ac ee 92 ea 1f b5 c4 be 7e |...X...........~|
00000010 e0 ac a0 79 83 05 81 0c 49 2d 93 c0 e7 d7 9d f0 |...y....I-......|
00000020 e5 81 d6 bc 45 63 6d 74 e5 9e ee e4 35 c3 b1 e5 |....Ecmt....5...|
00000030 b2 72 df 8e 33 48 a8 c6 db 9b d7 ff 00 0e 2f d3 |.r..3H......../.|
00000040 e1 dd ae b7 0d bc b3 de 5d 4c cd b4 29 02 38 82 |........]L..).8.|
00000050 8c 72 78 24 ee dd 81 ce 00 f5 af 2c 0b b8 e3 38 |.rx$.......,...8|
00000060 f7 af a7 3e 24 7c 55 be f0 67 82 ae f4 ad 26 fa |...>$|U..g....&.|
00000070 e6 c5 b5 35 6b 61 04 6e 55 0c 64 61 db 68 38 fb |...5ka.nU.da.h8.|
00000080 b8 00 f5 19 1e 95 f3 44 63 62 97 3d b9 ff 00 0f |.......Dcb.=....|
00000090 d7 f9 1a 9d cb 63 ad 6f ae b4 f6 1e 54 ed 13 0e |.....c.o....T...|
000000a0 a1 4f 19 f4 c5 6e 59 f8 da e2 2c 2d cc 4b 30 fe |.O...nY...,-.K0.|
000000b0 f2 7c a7 fc 2b 9c 3c 9c f7 a5 8d 37 b0 18 cf f5 |.|..+.<....7....|
000000c0 a0 2e 75 f7 be 24 d3 75 2b 54 8a 47 9a 34 77 02 |..u..$.u+T.G.4w.|
000000d0 40 a9 f3 05 cf cc 47 6c e3 de bd 07 c4 ff 00 11 |@.....Gl........|
000000e0 74 67 f0 6c 96 da 25 d2 99 64 55 b6 48 95 4a b4 |tg.l..%..dU.H.J.|
000000f0 49 8e 4e 0f a2 82 01 f5 22 bc 39 91 50 ed 53 c0 |I.N.....".9.P.S.|
00000100 e3 39 ce 6a dc 20 41 6e 5c f5 6a 56 0b 9d d7 87 |.9.j. An\.jV....|
00000110 40 5d 26 1c 0c 0e 78 1d b9 ad 20 71 5c 36 95 e2 |@]&...x... q\6..|
00000120 c9 2c 21 48 65 85 65 89 7a 10 70 d5 d1 59 f8 a2 |.,!He.e.z.p..Y..|
00000130 c2 ef 03 cd f2 5f fb b2 8c 7e bd 29 15 73 63 38 |....._...~.).sc8|
00000140 f7 aa f7 3a 7d b5 e1 06 68 15 d8 74 7c 61 87 d0 |...:}...h..t|a..|
00000150 f5 a9 55 d6 41 b9 48 65 3d 08 34 ec d0 33 27 50 |..U.A.He=.4..3'P|
00000160 d2 f6 5b 92 67 13 42 a3 3e 55 da 09 94 7d 09 e4 |..[.g.B.>U...}..|
00000170 7e 75 e9 7f b3 e6 99 71 e1 cd 1b 54 d7 a1 85 ad |~u.....q...T....|
00000180 5b 58 5f b2 5b dc 46 86 30 21 49 55 9f 61 ef 99 |[X_.[.F.0!IU.a..|
00000190 23 50 4e 7f 80 8e f5 e7 5a d2 4b 73 6e 96 96 e3 |#PN.....Z.Ksn...|
000001a0 75 c5 cb ac 31 af ab 31 c0 fd 4d 7d a5 f0 cb c1 |u...1..1..M}....|
000001b0 9a d5 b7 82 2d 6c fc 23 ac 45 a8 69 76 88 20 7d |....-l.#.E.iv. }|
000001c0 27 56 8d 39 20 02 48 46 2c b8 24 93 9c ae 4e 69 |'V.9 .HF,.$...Ni|
000001d0 01 f2 76 bd e1 7d 67 58 d7 ae a1 b8 b3 b9 8e 4d |..v..}gX.......M|
000001e0 46 e9 cb dc 7f ac 18 91 c9 67 2e 09 e7 04 9e 79 |F........g.....y|
000001f0 cd 5b f8 e3 ab 45 a6 68 fa 6e 81 6a 04 71 e0 31 |.[...E.h.n.j.q.1|
00000200

Unknown BootLoader on sdb

00000000 eb 58 90 53 59 53 4c 49 4e 55 58 00 02 10 20 00 |.X.SYSLINUX... .|
00000010 02 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00 3f 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00 |........?.......|
00000020 ff b1 dd 01 a8 3b 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 |.....;..........|
00000030 01 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 80 00 29 4b 14 e7 14 4e 4f 20 4e 41 4d 45 20 20 |..)K...NO NAME |
00000050 20 20 46 41 54 33 32 20 20 20 fa fc 31 c9 8e d1 | FAT32 ..1...|
00000060 bc 76 7b 52 06 57 8e c1 b1 26 bf 78 7b f3 a5 8e |.v{R.W...&.x{...|
00000070 d9 bb 78 00 0f b4 37 0f a0 56 20 d2 78 1b 31 c0 |..x...7..V .x.1.|
00000080 b1 06 89 3f 89 47 02 f3 64 a5 8a 0e 18 7c 88 4d |...?.G..d....|.M|
00000090 bc 50 50 50 50 cd 13 eb 4b f6 45 b4 7f 75 25 38 |.PPPP...K.E..u%8|
000000a0 4d b8 74 20 66 3d 21 47 50 54 75 10 80 7d b8 ed |M.t f=!GPTu..}..|
000000b0 75 0a 66 ff 75 ec 66 ff 75 e8 eb 0f 51 51 66 ff |u.f.u.f.u...QQf.|
000000c0 75 bc eb 07 51 51 66 ff 36 1c 7c b4 08 cd 13 72 |u...QQf.6.|....r|
000000d0 13 20 e4 75 0f c1 ea 08 42 89 16 1a 7c 83 e1 3f |. .u....B...|..?|
000000e0 89 0e 18 7c fb bb aa 55 b4 41 8a 16 74 7b cd 13 |...|...U.A..t{..|
000000f0 72 10 81 fb 55 aa 75 0a f6 c1 01 74 05 c6 06 32 |r...U.u....t...2|
00000100 7d 00 66 b8 80 77 00 00 66 ba 00 00 00 00 bb 00 |}.f..w..f.......|
00000110 7e e8 10 00 66 81 3e 24 7e 34 be f5 72 75 76 ea |~...f.>$~4..ruv.|
00000120 38 7e 00 00 66 03 06 64 7b 66 13 16 68 7b b9 10 |8~..f..d{f..h{..|
00000130 00 eb 2b 66 52 66 50 06 53 6a 01 6a 10 89 e6 66 |..+fRfP.Sj.j...f|
00000140 60 b4 42 e8 7f 00 66 61 8d 64 10 72 01 c3 66 60 |`.B...fa.d.r..f`|
00000150 31 c0 e8 70 00 66 61 e2 da c6 06 32 7d 2b 66 60 |1..p.fa....2}+f`|
00000160 66 0f b7 36 18 7c 66 0f b7 3e 1a 7c 66 f7 f6 31 |f..6.|f..>.|f..1|
00000170 c9 87 ca 66 f7 f7 66 3d ff 03 00 00 77 17 c0 e4 |...f..f=....w...|
00000180 06 41 08 e1 88 c5 88 d6 b8 01 02 e8 37 00 66 61 |.A..........7.fa|
00000190 72 01 c3 e2 c9 31 f6 8e d6 bc 6c 7b 8e de 66 8f |r....1....l{..f.|
000001a0 06 78 00 be cc 7d e8 09 00 31 c0 cd 16 cd 19 f4 |.x...}...1......|
000001b0 eb fd 66 60 ac 20 c0 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 |..f`. .t........|
000001c0 eb f2 66 61 c3 8a 16 74 7b cd 13 c3 42 6f 6f 74 |..fa...t{...Boot|
000001d0 20 65 72 72 6f 72 0d 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | error..........|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

[Quackers]

Basically the boot script says it can't read your hard drive. This is not good at all. Were you installing 10.10? Did you choose the "install alongside" option?
How many primary partitions was Windows 7 using before you tried to install Ubuntu, and what partitions did you create to install Ubuntu into, if any?

[daverobzippy]

Yes installing 10.10 no not the install alongside , the other one with advanced in brackets.
created 1 partition to install ubuntu into of size 25gb.
Really lost now.
thanks again

[oldfred]

If you have some data to recover testdisk & photorec may help. Even if testdisk can recover partitions, the install overwrote something so it would not be bootable, but may show files. If testdisk does not recover partition, photorec will recover files, but requires another drive to copy data to. I lost two folders and it recovered 100's of files, one text file I had saved many times was recovered many times as it found each old copy I had saved.


enable the "universe" repository to download testdisk
System>Administration>Software Sources>Ubuntu Software.
Maverick the software sources is System, Administration, Update Manager, settings button on lower left.
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 (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eherman546/p21.html)
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery#Lost%20Partition
Testdisk & photorec
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/recoverdeletedfiles/
How to recover lost files after you accidentally wipe your hard drive
http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/56588
use flac tags to rename files
http://lglinux.blogspot.com/2008/10/use-flac-tags-to-rename-files.html

[Quackers]

If Win 7 was pre-installed it may have been using all 4 primary partitions. Creating another partition may have caused serious problems. Even if that is the case, the boot script would have been able to show the details. The fact that it doesn't is more concerning.
Do you have a Windows 7 repair disc? Is there a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive - there usually is? Consult your manual for details on how to activate that partition - it is usually by tapping a key during boot (like F11 or del)

Also see oldfred's post above, re testdisk/photorec

[daverobzippy]

All that went over my head my friend. I can find the sites where the software is available to download fine, getting it to run is another matter. absolute beginner in these matters.
do I junk the laptop now??

[daverobzippy]

Quackers, no I don't have a recovery disc. the gentleman above you just added more confusion. all I can see at the moment is a scrap laptop and it's hard for me to see a way out. any help will have to be given very basically, I appreciate any time you guys can give me on this greatly

[Quackers]

What laptop?
How old is it?
Do you have a manual for it?
It is definitely not scrap - but your data could be gone. That is why oldfred posted about testdisk/photorec, which may be able to recover it all, or some of the files.

[daverobzippy]

It's an acer aspire 5738, 18 months old.
The programs to which you refer I was unable to make do anything, the whole process of getting them to run, which version to download, how to run it. all confuse me. feel really gutted to have been tripped up like this

[Quackers]

If your recovery partition is intact, it seems the way to activate it is by holding down the Alt + F10 keys during boot up.
If this works and you continue with the recovery, it will re-install the OEM version of Windows that the laptop came with - no updates, no user, no data. Like it's a brand new laptop again!.
Trying testdisk and/or photorec may be a better option for you to recover partitions or files. Details here
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
These are the only options that I am aware of for your predicament, short of buying Windows again, and re-installing Ubuntu.

Please note, whatever course of action you choose, please make recovery dvd's and a repair disc when Windows is running again. It saves a lot of heartache.
Installations and hard drive partitioning can go wrong - as you have seen.

[daverobzippy]

I will try the alt f10. ike you say no files but it's only a month since i last
backed up photos to mothers pc.
I can download the test disk programme but don't understand how to make it run in ubuntu

[daverobzippy]

tried alt f10 and got the following message

HDD recovery validation failed
press any key to continue
error : unknown file system
grub rescue >_

Would be helpful to be able to run the software you mentioned above.
thanks again

[daverobzippy]

on another note when I was using windows it aqquired a virus which caused search results to be hijacked.
this is exactly the same when using firefox in ubuntu off the usb.

[Quackers]

It would seem that the recovery partition is damaged too.
All the details for running testdisk are in oldfred's post number 6 in this thread. Good luck to you :-)

[coffeecat]

@daverobzippy, I know that Quackers won't mind me chipping in here. As an Acer laptop owner (but not your particular model) I have a few observations.

First, your data. Your only hope is with photorec/testdisk. Testdisk is for recovering lost partitions; photorec for lost data. The problem is that the (faulty) installation of Ubuntu will have overwritten some of your harddrive. Even if you were able to reconstruct the lost partitions with testdisk, the filesystems may be badly damaged. And with photorec, many of your original personal files will be overwritten. Also, the trouble with photorec is that it will recover any files it can find indiscriminately - which means thousands of files from Windows and the lost recovery partition.

With regard to retrieving Windows 7, your recovery partition is lost. However, did you remember to create a set of recovery DVDs when you first bought the machine as instructed in the Acer manual? If not, contact Acer. They will probably be prepared to sell you a set. I emphasise sell. They will not give them away. Of course, this will only restore Windows 7 to its default factory settings - i.e., none of your installed apps or data. Also, the Acer DVDs - at least with my model laptop - only restore the Windows C: partition. They don't re-create the restore partition.

[Quackers]

Welcome coffeecat :-) I think you've used testdisk before :-) Your help will be invaluable! I'm going snookering soon, but will be back later.

[daverobzippy]

the problem I am having is getting testdisk or photorec to run in ubuntu. today is the first time I have seen this os.
I am trying a few windows programmes running them in wine if that makes any sense.
If someone would be able to break down how to run test disk and photorec into small chunks that would be great. when I try to run them in the terminal using the commands listed in the instructions all i get is errors.

I appreciate windows 7 is gone but there are some photos and videos i would like back.

Somewhere I have the original recovery discs which are for vista which is what this laptop came installed with, windows 7 was a free upgrade but i have no idea if i still have those installation discs

thanks again guys

[smurphy_it]

The likelihood of getting your system back with Windows 7 is grim. You can try some of the application pointed out to you. I believe another one is Active@ Partition Recovery. However, looking at their website doesn't offer much assistance if you wiped the "system partition".

Looks like you are down to 1 partition now, so you can't boot into another partition to do any kind of restore.

You might have to go purchase a Windows O/S and install on your laptop.


I wish you the best of luck.

[daverobzippy]

Got test disk and photorec to run , using windows versions run with wine?
They show two disks one 12gb and one 82 gb, god knows where the rest of the 250 hdd is at.
when i ran photorec it generated a list of windows files and folders but I don't know what to do next.
remember I am a novice to computers and shouldn't of messed in the first place but if there is a chance the information is still recovorable i will keep going.

any more advice would be welcome

[Mark Phelps]

You keep talking about running things in Wine -- which is confusing.

You would run testdisk or Photorec in Ubuntu -- and point them to the partition you want to analyze and recover.

IF this is the same partition in which you current have Ubuntu installed, that won't work.