Data deleted with SHIFT + DELETE

Support
1

Hello, I’m coming to you because I’d like to know if it’s possible to recover a folder that’s been deleted using SHIFT + DELETE in Manjaro?
It’s a folder that contains a lot of stuff that I’d like to get back. I transferred it but the device gave me the wrong message.

2

Not normally, no. Del without Shift commonly puts the object in the Trash folder, but Shift+Del generally means a full deletion.

Your best protection against such mishaps is to make frequent backups. :man_shrugging:

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3

You can try testdisk /photorec
p.s. Preferably from a live usb, and then recover the files to another partition. It only recovers some file types and finds false positives, but is your best bet.

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4

Here’s a relevant quote from Arch’s file recovery page:

This page is mostly intended to be used for educational purposes. If you have accidentally deleted or otherwise damaged your valuable and irreplaceable data and have no previous experience with data recovery, turn off your computer immediately (Just press and hold the off button or pull the plug; do not use the system shutdown function) and seek professional help.

Warning: It is quite possible and even probable that, if you follow any of the steps described below without fully understanding them, you will worsen your situation.

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5

When you have deleted the ‘stuff’ the filesystem references to where the ‘stuff’ can be found is gone from all filesystem tables.

You only option is to boot a live system - and use photorec to attempt to recover deleted files.

However - it is likely - the result a lot of sequentially named files as there is no references to the original filenames.

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6

If possible, clone the filesystem first and work on a copy of the clone. Then you can use your system, and work on recovering your data without risking further damage.

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7

I can recommend testdisk. It recovered ±120GB of stuff for me once.

8

but did you manage to find your files? Since it recovers with random file names

9

Testdisk doesn’t do that. Well, not as far as I know, anyway. Install it and run it with:

testdisk

Select Create:

Use arrow keys to select, then press Enter key:
>[ Create ] Create a new log file
[ Append ] Append information to log file
[ No Log ] Don't record anything

Press Enter and then select the disk:

Select a media and choose 'Proceed' using arrow keys:
>Disk /dev/sda - 4000 GB / 3726 GiB - ST4000DM000-1F21
Disk /dev/sdb - 5000 GB / 4657 GiB - ST5000VX0011-1T3
Disk /dev/nvme0n1 - 250 GB / 232 GiB - Samsung SSD 960 EVO 250GB

After that I can’t remember, but follow the instructions in the link I sent to the letter.

10

There are lots of apps that can recover deleted files: testdisk/photorec, scalpel, foremost, R-Studio (Data Recovery and File Undelete freeware for Linux files)… boot from a live image, use one if these to scan the drive with the erased files and don’t save the recovered files in the same drive you are scanning.

What do you mean with “the device gave me the wrong message”?

If the files are very very important, UFS is a superb recovery application (paid software). There is a demo to see what can recover and 99% posilibilities to recover the files with their real names:

Also there is a bootable ISO with all versions of this recovery software to explore your disk:

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11

Learn to make regulary backups!

I use backintime that makes a manjaro backup every night so i allways have backups to recover from … back until october 2023.

I learned it the hard way that it is very important to have a backup on extra device!

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