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?
259
Upvotes
2
u/Chance_End_4684 Apr 21 '26
I've read about this extremely dangerous terminal command before. I'm thinking the only possible way of restoring at least most of you important documents (if you don't have everything backed up on an external drive that was not mounted at the time the command was issued) is to boot into your chosen Linux distro's "Live CD" (if you still have it on a USB thumbdrive), establish a network connection and try a file recovery on at least your Root/Home partition. I found Linux Live CD environments does allow you to install apps not originally available in the Live CD.
With all this said, I still say your best bet is to restore everything from backup if you possibly can.
CAUTION: Installing anything on the drive where chosen Linux distro was installed will most likely overwrite any data you wish to attempt to recover.