Re: lost files

[David T-G]

Rajesh --

...and then R.RAJESH said...
% 
% hello,
% i am rajesh.i had a problem in removing directory.
% we r using PINE.
% i have created a directory and while removing that directory it said that 
% that was not a directory.so i used the command 'rm -r *'

Oops!


% due to this the mail  directory was removed.i saved some mails in that 
% folder.they have been lost.after seeing the help of rm,it said that it is 
% possible to recover the lost files.and gave ur mail id.but we dont know 
% the process of getting back the files.can i restore them?if yes please 
% mail me the process of restoring the removed files.

The short and practical answer is "you can't".  The longer answer is that
you probably can't because the disk blocks that are suddenly free are
quite likely to be overwritten with other data, and that's when you truly
cannot get anything back.

In order to recover a removed file (whose data has not at that point been
wiped, but whose data space is simply available for whoever comes along
next to need it), your best bet is to frantically run for the machine and
shut down the power.  When you bring it back up in single-user mode, or
better yet transfer the disk to some other host where you could mount it
in read-only mode, you could then use some disk utilities to scan the
free areas for your old content and rebuild your files.  It's a long shot
at best, but it can be done -- and usually only for very expensive, very
important, or very sensitive data.

You might look into the MIT-Athena delete package; it provides a tool
that safely deletes files and directories and then lets you actually
clear the disk space later -- perhaps based on some parameters such as
how long ago the files were deleted, and such.  It's a lot easier than
restoring a tape, and it's saved me at least three times in my career :-)


% thank u
% bye


HTH & HAND

:-D
-- 
David T-G                      * There is too much animal courage in 
(play) address@hidden * society and not sufficient moral courage.
(work) address@hidden  -- Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health"
http://justpickone.org/davidtg/      Shpx gur Pbzzhavpngvbaf Qrprapl Npg!

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