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Okay guys, I was installing a program (I do not remember the name). When I did sudo apt-get update I was given missing dependencies. It told me to sudo apt-get install -f which deleted just about every dependency needed for Ubuntu, now I cannot log in or anything, now in GRUB it actually says Debian instead of Ubuntu. I have tons of important data in that partition. Can I some how use the live cd to fix this problem??? I mean like re-install without losing data.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

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  • /var/log/apt/history.log file contains the apt activity history. Check if you can find something useful there. Maybe and indicator to what might have went wrong. Also check /var/log/dpkg.log
    – saji89
    May 22, 2012 at 11:40
  • Well, that's the problem, I cannot get into Ubuntu, the last time it started it didn't have the Unity bar, the terminal (ctrl+alt+t), or anything. I rebooted and then the GRUB said Debian, if you click it, then nothing happens, just black screen.
    – jredkai
    May 22, 2012 at 11:43
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    Boot from the live CD - using nautilus you'll see the contents of your hard-drive - you can then copy this onto a USB external hard-drive.
    – fossfreedom ♦
    May 22, 2012 at 11:49

1 Answer 1

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A reinstall is definitely your best option for getting Ubuntu working again.

Using the Live CD you can copy your data onto an external USB device (a stick or hard drive, for example).

If you do not have any external storage, and there is enough space on your existing hard drive, there is another more risky option; resize the existing partition and create a new partition to reinstall onto. Here are some instructions on doing this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowtoPartition/ResizingPartition

and here:

Why I'm seeing a lock besides the partition I'm trying to modify with gparted?

But be warned, resizing is potentially risky; if something goes wrong during the process, it could leave your data in an irretrievable state. Copying to another storage medium is definitely safer, because you can check the copy before deleting the original.

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  • Ok, thank you for all your help. I will look for another hard-drive and boot with Live CD and move my files that away, then do a fresh install.
    – jredkai
    May 23, 2012 at 15:32

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