Data Loss = Bad start to the Day

[Bullion]

I had two identical Samsung 320GB SATA drives (NTFS) - one spare and one with 5 years worth of records...

Confused the labelling, and installed Ubuntu 10.10 over the backup HDD in a new system build.

I am assuming it did a quick format with EXT4?

Can I 'forensic'-ally retrieve anything off of the drive to get some files back and save my own ass?

 

[treefrog07]

You MAY be able to retrieve the un-overwritten files and MBR using TestDisk. I did that by taking the HDD from the affected computer, installing it to another computer, and running TestDisk on it. Read an follow the instructions on the wiki, especially the Recovery Examples. It was faster than other programs I tried, and it is not "crippled," requiring you to buy the package (as were several other programs I found and tried)

 

[dEAne]

treefrog was right - tried that one, confused at first but I read the instruction and solve my problem. You need a HDD much bigger than 320Gb and lot of spare time.

 

[Bullion]

Best answer selected by Bullion.