Help! I somehow deleted Windows files that I need

[Ed_P]

Could it be you defeated yourself by using Dr. Copy and Mr. Paste?

My favorite couple. And they have been together for many years.

Why is there a whitespace at the end of grep -i .. ".sh " ?

Because I didn't want some names with ".shot" in them being selected. But in reviewing the log file the file names are at the end of the lines so ".sh" may be ok.

And what is the ".." meant to be?

Since the "-" in "-2023" required "--" I suspected the "." in ".sh" needed ".." to work.

you have to escape the "." to make grep search for a literal ".".

I'll look up how to escape a character.

What do you mean by "use multiple selections when reading the log file"

With one pass of the log file I would like to select multiple file names. All 2023 names ending in sh, png, jpg, cmd, txt, cfg, ini, ... And I want to exclude log entries that look like files in my save.dat or .xzm modules. Like this one:

Code: Select all

   31696 -r--r--r--     0     0        50 19-Mar-2022 10:42 porteus5.0/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/tmp/wifi/mnt/live/memory/changes/upperdir/mnt/isoloop

and these:

Code: Select all

   77971 -r--r--r--     0     0      4206 23-Nov-2022 13:52 share/blueman/ui/rename-device.ui
   77972 -r--r--r--     0     0      5210 23-Nov-2022 13:52 share/blueman/ui/send-dialog.ui
   77973 -r--r--r--     0     0     19266 23-Nov-2022 13:52 share/blueman/ui/services-network.ui
   77974 -r--r--r--     0     0      4749 23-Nov-2022 13:52 share/blueman/ui/services-transfer.ui
   77975 -r--r--r--     0     0      9619  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/fullscale/de.xml
   77976 -r--r--r--     0     0     10286  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/fullscale/us.xml
   77977 -r--r--r--     0     0      2208  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/scan/us.xml
   77978 -r--r--r--     0     0      9604  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/tablet/de.xml
   77979 -r--r--r--     0     0      9923  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/tablet/us.xml
   77980 -r--r--r--     0     0      4375  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/ara.xml
   77981 -r--r--r--     0     0      7294  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/cs.xml
   77982 -r--r--r--     0     0      7500  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/de.xml
   77983 -r--r--r--     0     0      7432  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/fr.xml
   77984 -r--r--r--     0     0     11317  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/hu.xml
   77985 -r--r--r--     0     0      4323  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/il.xml
   77986 -r--r--r--     0     0      6388  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/ru.xml
   77987 -r--r--r--     0     0      8394  6-Jun-2023 11:04 share/caribou/layouts/touch/us.xml
   78516 -r--r--r--     0     0      1256  7-Jun-2023 13:13 share/cinnamon-background-properties/slackware.xml
   78517 -r--r--r--     0     0       102 30-Jun-2023 06:28 share/cinnamon-control-center/panels/cinnamon-color-panel.desktop
   78518 -r--r--r--     0     0       106 30-Jun-2023 06:28 share/cinnamon-control-center/panels/cinnamon-display-panel.desktop

I had no "share/" folder on my harddrive.

[Rava]

Could it be you defeated yourself by using Dr. Copy and Mr. Paste?

My favorite couple. And they have been together for many years.

You got that I referred to your "favourite couple" as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, yes? Because you will at times copy errors.
They are powerful, but they can also be dangerous.

Because I didn't want some names with ".shot" in them being selected. But in reviewing the log file the file names are at the end of the lines so ".sh" may be ok.

you know how the special character $ works in grep? It stands for the end of a line.
So sh$ means any line that ends with sh

Since the "-" in "-2023" required "--" I suspected the "." in ".sh" needed ".." to work.

Watson, you suspected in error. The "--" is a special command that works for all kind of programs, e.g. when you want to use yt-dlp but with only the code for the youtube-video (not the full URL), and that code starts with an "-" then you also use -- like so:

Code: Select all

yt-dlp -- -WhAtEvr # when -WhAtEvr is a valid youtube video descriptor.

The "--" mechanism has nothing to do with grep, it works in most of the console / terminal programs.

I'll look up how to escape a character.

Here snippet of how I escape the "." of filename extentions in my make-ffplay-script :

Code: Select all

grep -E "\.avi$|\.flv$|\.mp[34g]$|\.mkv$|\.ogv$|\.[tT][sS]$|\.webm$|\.divx$|\.[vV][oO][bB]$|\.ogg$|\.aac$"

To do it like so, you have to use both " and \ like in my code above.

[Ed_P]

Yes, I am making progress. I had added a "\" before the "." and it worked. Thank you for the $, it will help also.
From my last test:

Code: Select all

  69192 -r--r--r--     0     0      7668 21-Jan-2023 01:35 /porteus5.0/Guest/porteus-usb/porteus-usb-update.sh
   23037 -r--r--r--     0     0      6228 21-Aug-2023 01:02 /porteus5.0/Guest/porteus-usb/porteus-usb.sh
   71386 -r--r--r--     0     0      1351 28-Mar-2023 17:19 /porteus5.0/Guest/savedat/livesavedat.sh
   35323 -r--r--r--     0     0      2718 22-Aug-2023 01:39 /porteus5.0/Guest/savedat/removewhfiles.sh
   71388 -r--r--r--     0     0      2768 28-Mar-2023 00:36 /porteus5.0/Guest/savedat/spaceck.sh
   69567 -r--r--r--     0     0       907 26-Jan-2023 19:25 /porteus5.0/Guest/suspend.sh
   69039 -r--r--r--     0     0      1222 10-Apr-2023 01:30 /porteus5.0/Guest/syslog.sh
   70996 -r--r--r--     0     0      1381 21-Feb-2023 17:43 /porteus5.0/Guest/test.sh
   22130 -r--r--r--     0     0       131 22-Feb-2023 13:30 /porteus5.0/Guest/xedfix.sh
   68789 -r--r--r--     0     0      4512 15-Sep-2023 00:09 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50 (copy).sh
   72072 -r--r--r--     0     0      4512 15-Sep-2023 00:09 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50.sh.ntfs-3g-0000000001
   74066 -r--r--r--     0     0      4182  6-Aug-2023 00:37 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50.sh.ntfs-3g-0000000001
   69146 -r--r--r--     0     0      4641 18-Sep-2023 10:42 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50.sh.ntfs-3g-0000000002
   69147 -r--r--r--     0     0      4717 18-Sep-2023 11:15 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50.sh.ntfs-3g-0000000003
   71246 -r--r--r--     0     0      4715 18-Sep-2023 11:21 /porteus5.0/ISOModules/ISOupdate50.sh.ntfs-3g-0000000004

But I swear testdisk was reading compressed files. (ISO? .xzm? .dat?) I never had these files on my harddrive.

Code: Select all

  75001 -r--r--r--     0     0  14838676  7-Aug-2023 11:54 goog-phish-proto.vlpset
   71501 -r--r--r--     0     0        67 16-Sep-2023 01:22 google4/goog-phish-proto.metadata
   72176 -r--r--r--     0     0  14696084 16-Sep-2023 01:22 google4/goog-phish-proto.vlpset
   75192 -r--r--r--     0     0     18752  2-Jul-2023 19:47 lib64/audacious/Effect/bitcrusher.so
   76579 -r--r--r--     0     0     16732  6-Jun-2023 11:04 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pexpect/__pycache__/pxssh.cpython-39.pyc
   76750 -r--r--r--     0     0       235 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Africa/Kinshasa
   76755 -r--r--r--     0     0       149 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Africa/Lubumbashi
   76763 -r--r--r--     0     0       265 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Africa/Mogadishu
   76793 -r--r--r--     0     0      1062 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/America/Argentina/Ushuaia
   76826 -r--r--r--     0     0       698 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/America/Danmarkshavn
   76968 -r--r--r--     0     0       605 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Ashgabat
   76969 -r--r--r--     0     0       605 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Ashkhabad
   76977 -r--r--r--     0     0       969 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Bishkek
   76991 -r--r--r--     0     0       577 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Dushanbe
   77009 -r--r--r--     0     0       151 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Kashgar
   77045 -r--r--r--     0     0       577 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Asia/Tashkent
   22244 -r--r--r--     0     0       457  8-Aug-2023 16:39 porteus5.0/Guest/Backups/FireFox/ffbkups.sh                       <-- this one I had.
   77620 -r--r--r--     0     0      2639 13-Apr-2023 14:07 sbin/pipewire-disable.sh
   77621 -r--r--r--     0     0      2156 13-Apr-2023 14:07 sbin/pipewire-enable.sh
   71638 -r--r--r--     0     0       231  8-Mar-2023 00:17 unpkrepk.xz.sh

[Rava]

But I swear testdisk was reading compressed files. (ISO? .xzm? .dat?) I never had these files on my harddrive.

When there is a Windoze system on that harddrive, you will have compressed files when you enable Windoze updates, because it downloads and stores these files as compressed files.

testdisk can only presume what a file is based on a similar technique of how the linux command

Code: Select all

file

determines what a file is.

[Ed_P]

Well, my -2023 log file is now more manageable then the original log file.

grep -- '-2023 ' testdisk.log > testdisk2023.log

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/mnt/sda6$ ls -onh *.log
-rwxrwxrwx 1 1000  16M Oct  9 01:43 testdisk.log*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 1000 1.8M Oct 16 15:15 testdisk2023.log*
guest@porteus:/mnt/sda6$ 

When there is a Windoze system on that harddrive, you will have compressed files when you enable Windoze updates, because it downloads and stores these files as compressed files.

True but those are on the C: drive with the Windows/ folders and I doubt Windows has one of these:

Code: Select all

   76755 -r--r--r--     0     0       149 29-Mar-2023 00:23 lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pytz/zoneinfo/Africa/Lubumbashi

The drive my files are on is the D: drive which is where I store/install all my apps and systems so Window restores don't loose them.

Added in 45 minutes 7 seconds:
The question is Why is testdisk logging/writing files in 2 places? Did it copy the ISO file and then all the files in the ISO also? The save.dat AND the files in the save.dat? Is it something with the 2023 version of testdisk? Is it an option? Is it going to be a problem when I start restoring the recovered files?

[Rava]

The question is Why is testdisk logging/writing files in 2 places? Did it copy the ISO file and then all the files in the ISO also? The save.dat AND the files in the save.dat? Is it something with the 2023 version of testdisk? Is it an option?

I think it is how such restoring works. It looks up the raw data as stored on a lost partition. Therefore it will find and ISO, but also files in that ISO.

[Ed_P]

Can you imagine the mess it would make if someone restored all of them?

[Rava]

Can you imagine the mess it would make if someone restored all of them?

Data recovery is best done with a functioning brain.
But then again, almost any human task is better done with a functioning brain.

[Ed_P]

Data recovery is best done with a functioning brain.

And a functioning tool.

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ ls -ski *.cfg
32002 4 SBgrub.cfg*
33126 8 grub.cfg*  
33127 4 grub1.cfg*  
33128 4 grub2.cfg*
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub1.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub2.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ 

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ grep -i  'grub' ../testdisk2023.log | awk '{print $6,$7,$8,$9}'
19-Mar-2023 18:54 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Grub2tests.cfg 
18-Jul-2023 14:58 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/ISOmenus.cfg 
9-Sep-2023 09:52 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/PorteuX.cfg 
15-Sep-2023 00:15 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg 
6-Aug-2023 00:41 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg.ntfs-3g-0000000003 
16-Jun-2023 14:41 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/usersection.cfg 
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat  /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg
cat: /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg: No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat Porteus5.0.cfg
cat: Porteus5.0.cfg: No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ ls -ski /grub2
/bin/ls: cannot access '/grub2': No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ ls -ski /grub2/
/bin/ls: cannot access '/grub2/': No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ 

Total Total TOTAL waste of time.

[Rava]

And a functioning tool.

Feel free to find another one that is
free to use
free software
and does a better job than testdisk.

I was not able to recover all of my files back in 2020, but could recover most. And I am thankful for having a free )as in beer and freedom) tool where the maintainer personally gives you hints when you struggle.

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ ls -ski *.cfg
32002 4 SBgrub.cfg*
33126 8 grub.cfg*  
33127 4 grub1.cfg*  
33128 4 grub2.cfg*
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub1.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat grub2.cfg
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ 

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ grep -i  'grub' ../testdisk2023.log | awk '{print $6,$7,$8,$9}'
19-Mar-2023 18:54 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Grub2tests.cfg 
18-Jul-2023 14:58 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/ISOmenus.cfg 
9-Sep-2023 09:52 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/PorteuX.cfg 
15-Sep-2023 00:15 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg 
6-Aug-2023 00:41 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg.ntfs-3g-0000000003 
16-Jun-2023 14:41 /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/usersection.cfg 
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ cat  /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg
cat: /grub2/userfiles/Eds.configs/Porteus5.0.cfg: No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ ls -ski /grub2
/bin/ls: cannot access '/grub2': No such file or directory
guest@porteus:/mnt/sdb6/Recovery$ 

Lookie here:

The forum about everything testdisk is here:
@all who are planing on using testdisk to recover data.
Visit the support forum https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/ (Forums are in English, German and French)

For the English only stuff go here: https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2
and read what info is to be found about your issue even when testdisk seems to initially do all you want it to do.

Also made a screenshot of the forum for you (made 21 Sep 2023 - so you see the forum is quite active):

https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2 is the best place for you when you have such specialized questions and issues.

[Ed_P]

I'm happy to hear it worked for you on your linux formatted drive. For me a total waste of time. I've restored the drive from a Windows backup on a separate harddrive that I made in January. So 9 months worth of data and customizations lost. And my interest in linux too. It's like playing with a gun.

[Rava]

I'm happy to hear it worked for you on your linux formatted drive.

It was a Windows NTFS drive, Windoze C: partition, to me more precise.

So 9 months worth of data and customizations lost. And my interest in linux too. It's like playing with a gun.

9 months worth of data and customizations and not a single backup?

Added in 43 seconds:
Sounds like you should sign up for https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2 ...

[Ed_P]

It was a Windows NTFS drive, Windoze C: partition, to me more precise.

You were lucky to be able to recovery your files. All I ended up with was a log listing all the files I lost.

9 months worth of data and customizations and not a single backup?

Actually there was one a week or so before on a separate partition on the harddrive. The problem script deleted everything on that partition also. Plus a folder on the C: drive. How, why I will probably never know since the script was deleted also.

I believe in backups, and know that to be run they have to be convenient and to be safe they have to be on a removeable drive, as such I do both types. The convenient one is to a separate partition on the hard drive. I usually backup to that one whenever there is going to be a Windows update or the install of a new release of an app I use. I try to do backups to the removable drive every 3 months but it's inconvenient to do and gets put off.

[Rava]

^
Still, you seem to refuse to go over to https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2

[beny]

hi, i know is too late, but we have also ddrescue as software in slackware and ddrecueview is a gui to know how the software work with the rescue, ddrecueview have the slackbuild to make the package.