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Crappy first experience with Ubuntu, and I think all my old files are gone. So I just downloaded Ubuntu yesterday and have been trying to install it. Errors every single step of the way. I won't mention them all but here are the pertinent ones:

I followed Ubuntu's directions to create a bootable USB, and when I restarted my computer through Ubuntu, I clicked the Install icon, clicked through the settings, etc and then clicked "Install now." All it showed was a "loading" cursor. Though it was installing and maybe it's just gonna take a while, went to sleep, woke up this morning and it was still showing the same screen. Apparently their own Installation routine is screwed.

So I googled and followed an example of how to install with more manually selected options, in case the default ones were incorrect. I selected the option called "Something else" as the installation type. I created a boot, ext4 by partitioning free space in memory. I did NOT select "delete everything" or overwrite Windows. After clicking "Install now" it hung on "Detecting file systems." It clearly was not moving, and it didn't give me an option to cancel. The tiny box supposedly for displaying output could barely be read, and cropped off a few letters on the left side -- couldn't read the errors, and I couldn't copy them either. Wanted to terminate the process screen because I was so frustrated at the poor design of Ubuntu, so I found a utility called xkill, went to use it, but the stupid installer window had disappeared behind the other windows, so I couldn't click the window.. figured I could go and click its icon on the left, then BAM the whole system terminates!! and I am asked to log in, even though I haven't made a username!

So I had to restart my computer. Doesn't get anywhere past the very first default loading screen--after that it just shows a black screen with a blinking underscore. ctrl+alt+del to restart again and choose F12 to see what options I have. Running from HDD is fu**ed. Can only choose Ubuntu, and when I get back in, the "OS" icon I once saw is gone--I can't see any of my old files. Many years of files GONE IN AN INSTANT. What kind of crap is this, Ubuntu? Jesus Christ.

Is there any way I can restore my old memory???? PLEASE. THANKS.

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First off, find out what's actually on the disk. I don't have an Ubuntu install handy to give you exact steps, but I'll try to guide you through it. Start Ubuntu from the USB stick, but don't select Install, just boot into Ubuntu ("Try Ubuntu without installing"). Once there, open a Terminal and type "sudo fdisk -p /dev/sda". Hopefully, you should see one partition there with "7" under "ID" and "HPFS/NTFS" under "System". If so, then your Windows files may well still be there and OK. Do a Google search for "Windows 7 (or 8) restore mbr" and you should find instructions on how to boot from your install media and write the Windows MBR over the GRUB MBR. Once that's done, reboot again, and hopefully you should boot back into your Windows installation.

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  • Thanks for the quick response. I ran sudo fdisk -p /dev/sda in the terminal, but it said -p is not recognized, so I tried just sudo fdisk /dev/sda and then typed p as a command, which is to "print the partition table". I only see /dev/sda1 ... 82 Linux swap / Solaris and /dev/sda2 ... 83 Linux. GPart tells me there is a load of unallocated space (~300GB, and I think this is my old files), but I don't think anything should be writing to it, since I didn't allocate this space for Ubuntu, right? I only have 1.1 GB remaining in my home directory, so hopefully Ubuntu isn't using it
    – sim
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 3:29
  • Sorry, I meant to go back and edit that answer; it should have been fdisk -l, not -p, but yeah, it was just going to print the partition table. If those are the only two partitions you see, then the Windows partition is gone. Does /dev/sda1 start at a very low block number? If so (and I suspect it does), then there's a good chance it's overwritten your old Windows files. If it's larger (like 1/3 of the total blocks), then there's a chance your data is still there, but you'd need some data recovery tools; it's not an easy job.
    – DarkMoon
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 4:11
  • The block number for /dev/sda1 is 7811072. and for /dev/sda2 it's 9765888. I'm not sure if this is big or small, because I don't know the total block size. The thing is, I ran testdisk and I saw OS and RECOVERY (some partitions I had when my computer was running fine on Windows), with something like "HPFS/NTFS" like you were saying earlier. I will try to recreate this. Maybe I can still salvage it!
    – sim
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 5:25
  • Here we go: s27.postimg.org/56l7029w1/…
    – sim
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 5:29
  • When you're booted into Ubuntu from the USB stick (choosing Try Without Installing), if you open the file manager (third icon from the top on the left, looks like a file cabinet), is there anything like Recovery and OS on the left, in the folder list?
    – DarkMoon
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 6:58

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