File recovery on ext3 using LVM

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Jonathan Berry wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Okay, I know this is a long shot, but I might as well ask and see if
> there is anything else to try.  I recently lost some pictures because
> when importing into F-Spot, I accidentally selected not to copy the
> pictures to the hard drive.  Now the F-Spot database references the
> files on the flash card, which has been erased and the files
> overwritten (I tried recovering from the flash card, no luck).  I've
> noticed that when doing an import in F-Spot, it copies the files over
> to the hard disk during the import.  If you hit cancel or change the
> copy option, it deletes the files.  So, for a short time, the files
> *were* on my hard disk (or, at least in the buffer cache).  Of course,
> I've been using my system for a couple days now (including a couple of
> reboots), so the data may be gone.  But I don't want to give up unless
> there is just no hope.
> 
> I am using LVM at the base and then ext3 as my filesystem on Fedora 9
> x86_64.  Does anyone know of anyway where the data from these pictures
> might still be around somewhere on the disk?  I tried debugfs using a
> System Rescue CD live CD (I'm not sure where my Fedora DVD is). and
> saw the directory the files were in using ls -d.  However the inode
> listed now belongs to another file, so it looks like there is no easy
> way to get to the directory information to possibly find the files in
> the directory.  Is there maybe something in LVM that might still have
> blocks (extents?) from the files hanging around?
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks,
> Jonathan
> 
Depending on what format the images are in, there are recovery 
programs that grab the images even if the directory entries are 
missing. I have used jpegrescue to recover images from a memory card 
that had been erased and new a few new pictures saved to the card. I 
couldn't recover all the pictures, but I did recover all the ones 
that had not been overwritten.

Now, if only I could remember where I got it from...

Mikkel
-- 

   Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/attachments/20080726/e2684208/attachment-0001.sig>