I screwed up... bad...

[M0E-lnx]

I was doing some maintenance on a box @ home which serves as a file/print server. Just did a brand new install, so I wanted to clear up a bunch of junk I had left over and just save the data contained in one partition which is the one that holds the files served, the important data I want to keep goes in this partition, everything else that I can do without goes elsewhere.

So, I'm cleaning out the drives with gparted, and next thing I know, I have completely wiped out all partitions in my /dev/sdc. The important stuff was in /dev/sdc3

my /dev/sdc is a 250GB Sata drive, and after the dissaster, now holds a single ext4 partition. I'm not even sure what fs I used to have in /dev/sdc3 before the wipe, but I get the feeling it would be ext3, since I need to access this data from pre and post ext4 support linuxes.

So now, the question is... What are the chances of getting this data back?
is it at all possible?

I now face another problem... in case it is possible.
This is my biggest drive in the box. Other than this, I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb both of which are 40GB each and my OS is running off /dev/sda1 on 20GB
meaning, I have a combined free space of about 60GB outside of /dev/sdc.

Help!

[nightflier]

I once used testdisk to recover an entire drive that had gotten corrupted. I'd say make that your first stop:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

You would want to have a place to copy any recovered files to. If 60G is not enough, I see a shopping trip in your future.

[M0E-lnx]

You would want to have a place to copy any recovered files to. If 60G is not enough, I see a shopping trip in your future.

I was a fraid of this... Luckily, there is a frys right next door to where I work. Now, this is not the newest board around, would a sata3 drive work with old sata/sata2 connections? this sata thing is new to me.. lol

[Joe1962]

I have also succesfully used testdisk to recover removed partitions. It simply reestablished them and everything was back.

[M0E-lnx]

I have also succesfully used testdisk to recover removed partitions. It simply reestablished them and everything was back.

Did you have to store it to a separate drive too?

in my case, I have not only deleted the entire partition (all of them) but re-created a new ext4 partition covering the whole drive

[Joe1962]

I have also succesfully used testdisk to recover removed partitions. It simply reestablished them and everything was back.

Did you have to store it to a separate drive too?

No.

in my case, I have not only deleted the entire partition (all of them) but re-created a new ext4 partition covering the whole drive

Try it and see if it finds the previous partitions.

[M0E-lnx]

It doesn't see the preivous partitions. it only sees the new 250gb partition

[Joe1962]

Dang! I seem to recall a similar situation to yours and it worked. Maybe I didn't actually get to create a new partition? I can't remember 100%. Maybe you should try removing that partition and trying again? AFAICT, it can't make matters worse, can it?   

[M0E-lnx]

I read somewhere that every time you try the restore technique, you decrease your chances of getting the data back

[retired1af]

Don't know why it would be that way as all you're doing is restoring the pointers contained in the file tables.

[M0E-lnx]

Just got back from lunch, and stopped by the local frys. Found a 500GB Sata drive for $44.00 and bought it just in case I need to do store the data somewhere else. By now, I've lost my remote connection to the box, so I wont be able to do anything to it until this evening.

[MikeCindi]

Testdisk should allow a "deeper" search for partitions. In that search I believe (have to check the website) it actually searches the full disk vs. just the MFT. I don't know that you can do that remotely. I would expect it to find the data but if not photorec (by the same people) will find files that you've deleted long ago. I have used it on a few occasions and recovered data that I really didn't need to recover but it found the files anyway. What I would recommend most though is that you do not do any write operations to the disk until you are satisfied the partition is recoverable or you "give up" on it.

[M0E-lnx]

So, with MikeCindi's last comment, I guess I should leave the single partition I got there untouched, until the data is recovered or I decide to call it quits

[retired1af]

Oh definitely! The more you fiddle with things and write information to the drive, the less likely it will be you are able to restore the drive to its former glory.

[M0E-lnx]

Ok.. Thanks guys for the suggestions... I think I got enough information to put a plan together and go for it.

Will post back with results after the operation is done.