Information lost after installation. Please help!

[booster]

Hello,

I wanted to install LinuxMCE on an computer with windows xp installed. I prepared a partition for it. After downloading and burning the dvd image and starting it in windows you can read: 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'

Then i reboot from dvd and then you have to choose the hd to install linuxmce. The distribution didnt recognicedd my sata2 hd but recognized the usb hd were i have a lot of information. But i said ok, it shoudnt affect my system as noticed before. Finally the installation on usb hd finished with a black screen in some point after 'tar: read checkpoint:xxxxxx'

I tried to boot from it. Not possible. Now i have three partitions on the usb hd unreadable under windowsxp

Then i took a look at the wiki installation manual (yes i should finish reading it before...) and in bold you can read 'Warning: This installation will wipe the whole disk of the machine, all previous data will be permanently lost! '

So i wonder: Did i lost all the information on the usb hd?
If so, how can be said 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'?
Is there any possibility to recover that information?

Thank you.

PD: Maybe my english is not as good as i would like...

[rrambo]

Hello,

I wanted to install LinuxMCE on an computer with windows xp installed. I prepared a partition for it. After downloading and burning the dvd image and starting it in windows you can read: 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'

Then i reboot from dvd and then you have to choose the hd to install linuxmce. The distribution didnt recognicedd my sata2 hd but recognized the usb hd were i have a lot of information. But i said ok, it shoudnt affect my system as noticed before. Finally the installation on usb hd finished with a black screen in some point after 'tar: read checkpoint:xxxxxx'

I tried to boot from it. Not possible. Now i have three partitions on the usb hd unreadable under windowsxp

Then i took a look at the wiki installation manual (yes i should finish reading it before...) and in bold you can read 'Warning: This installation will wipe the whole disk of the machine, all previous data will be permanently lost! '

So i wonder: Did i lost all the information on the usb hd?
If so, how can be said 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'?
Is there any possibility to recover that information?

Thank you.

PD: Maybe my english is not as good as i would like...

wow...  where to start....  ok..  the dvd install will wipe anything you have on your hd...

you mounted it running in a live windows system...  the dvd is meant to be booted only for a quick install... you got an autorun file from the base kubuntu live distro which told you that you could try kubuntu without effecting your system...  that part is true..  however, the dvd is NOT the kubuntu live cd...  it is specifically for a fast install of linuxmce which WILL wipe your hd...  don't know what else to tell you....  any info you had on that drive you installed to is gone...

[booster]

ok. bad news for me...

so it would be good that some kind of notice were included in the future to avoid this happends again... or maybe i am the foolest in this world and only happens to me

[dan g]

from wiki: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Download_Instructions

and this is the old 0704 guide

Quick Install DVD

This installs both Kubuntu and LinuxMCE at the same time in 20 minutes with only 3 keystrokes. You pick the hard drive you want it to install onto, and it will partition it, format it, install everything with default options, and set your location and regional settings using an IP2Location service. The DVD installer essentially takes a pre-installed image and copies it to the hard drive. This is why it is so fast and easy. But you also don't have low-level control over the installation process. Note: this installer will erase all existing data from the selected hard drive.

[/b]

What else should be done to prevent this from happening again?

i think a minimum reading it's necessary before jumping into boat 

[booster]

I wanted to install LinuxMCE on an computer with windows xp installed. I prepared a partition for it. After downloading and burning the dvd image and starting it in windows you can read: 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'

Thank you.

What else can be done?..

I wanted to install LinuxMCE on an computer with windows xp installed. I prepared a partition for it. After downloading and burning the dvd image and starting it in windows you can read: 'Boot from this CD to try Kubuntu without affecting your sytem'

Maybe you also didnt read the entire thread...

[rrambo]

The point is, the dvd is not meant to be started in windows in the first place..  The best answer is to read the instructions...  You needed the CD install to create your own partitions.

[rnmixon]

Booster's point is valid - the auto run file/message should not have been left in place for the DVD.

It is an unusual situation, and Booster should have read more, but to publish a DVD that under reasonable use pops up  a message that says reboot and no harm will be done is not good.

Booster, I think its worth opening an Mantis issue for this so that it can be removed from the next DVD that's created.

[colinjones]

Also, given that I have read the same story many times on the forums about newbies who, in a rush of blood, whack in the DVD and hit go without reading any of the instructions or these forums - that we are long overdue for a simple extra piece of text during the setup where it presents your HDDs to you and asks which one to use, that says "*** WARNING: This will delete everything on all partitions of your hard drive - the data is not recoverable, if you have something else on your hard drive that you want to keep, remove this DVD and goto www.linuxmce.org, do you wish to proceed (N/y):"

?

[dan g]

Good point

I've added this mantis and it's already in svn

http://mantis.linuxmce.org/view.php?id=3884

[coley]

And from someone who should know better - I'm glad that warning is now in place!!!
I know the warnings were there but as info was changing as the beta was just released I thought the DVD was more recent than the wiki! Installed fine on a VM but then all went wrong on real install - won't be using that DVD again on my system now that I've rebuilt the partition table!