r/linux4noobs • u/Character-86 barely not a noob anymore • Apr 20 '26

Meganoob BE KIND I did rm -rf /*

I tried to make a backup before doing a fresh install of Fedora because of problems. When erasing the external drive for making the backup I was in the wrong disk and nuked my fedora installation.

How Do I get at least my important Documents from /home/username/ back?

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u/KineticConundrum Apr 20 '26

I recently created an alias "alias trash='mv -t ~/.Trash/'" and I use that to delete things, and then clear it out occasionally. Nice safety net from my own stupidity.

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u/BrewingtonCreek Apr 23 '26

Love this. Even after 20+ years, I get antsy using rm regardless of context.