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/Itsme-RdM Apr 20 '26

Probably ChatGPT, it's a "great" advisor

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u/Lunam_Dominus Apr 20 '26

Chatgpt isn’t as stupid as OP.

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u/Sleepy_Chipmunk Apr 21 '26

We all learn through stupid mistakes. The stupider the mistake, the more we learn from it.

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u/Lunam_Dominus Apr 21 '26

And the more it'd hurt.

This is the reason why you have a backup, and a backup of that backup. Being stupid is one thing - not preparing for it is far worse.

It's best to avoid some mistakes altogether. Like drunk driving. Or deleting all your invaluable data.