Some people just shouldn't be allowed near partition managers...

[enginemusic]

Blast, I screwed up partitions again.

Was prepping to install Kubuntu on an existing partition on my netbook (parallel to my Lubuntu), though I wanted to move it over and rid the system of some extraneous partitions. I was using one of the partition managers that came stock on the LiveCD; can't remember whether it was Partition Manager or KDE Partition Manager. I had just hit the Apply button when I realised I may as well do a couple more actions as I was going away from the computer for a few hours (nothing showing on progress bar) so I hit the Cancel button. The PM promptly crashed, and when I restarted it, the partition holding my Lubuntu (which I wanted to keep) showed as empty, and a reboot gave an "OS not found" error.

Now I haven't really lost anything of great value other than an OS set up exactly the way I want it and a couple of files I'd like back. Is there any way to recreate the partition table with a rescue USB?

[oshunluvr]

Short answer is yes, but it ain't easy.

If you're lucky a program called "gpart" can guess at what your table should be and restore it. If the move and resize operation had already started you might be SOL.

File recovery can be done with other tools if you can't get your table back.

p.s. You can back up a partition table rather easily but only if you do it before you wipe it out!

[SecretCode]

TestDisk has helped me with this kind of thing in the past. It's only likely to help if the start of each partition is still intact, though.

Photorec, from the same developer, can help recover individual files (not just photos) from the trashed space, if they have recognisable file signatures.

Or you can treat this as a valuable learning experience.

[enginemusic]

I spent some time with photorec and testdisk and recovered a few thousand files, unfortunately nothing I was looking for. I gave up and just reinstalled. Good tools to have in the arsenal though. Thanks for the tip SecretCode

[GreyGeek]

Been there, done that!

Experience: what you gain through time and effort that allows you to immediately recognize a mistake when you make it again!

[SecretCode]

[tek_heretik]

Been there, done that!

Experience: what you gain through time and effort that allows you to immediately recognize a mistake when you make it again!

What he ^^^^^^^ said, lol.