Tell me more ×
Ask Ubuntu is a question and answer site for Ubuntu users and developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

How can I find the files that were stored on my flash drive before I installed Ubuntu to it?

Edit: No, I didn't format it, my files are still on the flash drive root. I just need to know how to access them there.

share|improve this question
3  
installing an OS on a USB drive typically wipes the drive. unless you are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on professional file recovery, its likely not possible – jmartin2279 Oct 19 '12 at 23:08

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

If the files are still present in your USB drive, then just plug in the usb when you are in windows or in linux, and a file-manager window showing the existing files will appear... (ie, pretty normally)

If you want to see the files of the USB while running from the Live USB then, you will need to:

  • find out what is your USB drive dev directory (ex: /dev/sda1). Try looking with df -h (I'm not sure if the usb drive will appear there while running from a live image...try it)

  • create a mount-directory: cd && mkdir my_usb

  • mount the usb device into the mount-directory: sudo mount /dev/sda1 my_usb (replace /dev/sda1 with your usb-dev-directory)

  • see the usb-drive files by looking inside the directory my_usb

From this moment untill you turnoff the pc, you can access (read and write) the files of your USB which will appear inside the my_usb directory

Tell if you got it working - cheers

share|improve this answer
It worked! Thank you so much! – Walker Oct 20 '12 at 20:56
@Walker, everyone once started learning from asking others for help, and that will be the way to grow forever inside a horizontal community :) Glad you liked your first help-pill, someday you may like giving help-pills yourself to others :) I try to and like it :) – zipizap Jan 3 at 0:14

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.