Deleted a Directory? Don’t Panic: Tools Every Dev Should Know for Data Recovery

#webdev #programming #beginners #linux

Hi there! I'm Maneshwar. Right now, I’m building LiveAPI, a first-of-its-kind tool that helps you automatically index API endpoints across all your repositories. LiveAPI makes it easier to discover, understand, and interact with APIs in large infrastructures.

Picture this: you're SSH’d into a prod VM, cleaning up clutter, and your fingers slip:
rm -rf /var/lib/mysql.
Silence.
Your heart drops. Welcome to the club.

Good news? If you're fast and lucky, you might get your data back. Let’s talk recovery.

1. TestDisk – Your First Responder

Use case: Recover lost partitions or access deleted files on supported filesystems (ext4, NTFS, etc.)

Install: sudo apt install testdisk
Launch: sudo testdisk
Use arrows to:
- Create a log
- Select the disk (e.g., /dev/sda)
- Pick GPT/Intel partition type
- Choose Analyse, then List to see files
- Navigate and copy deleted files to another location

🚨 Tip: Don't copy back to the same disk you're recovering from.

2. PhotoRec – Deep Scanner

Use case: Recover files by content, even if the filesystem is gone or corrupted.

Launch: sudo photorec
Select disk > partition
Choose filesystem type (usually ext2/ext3)
Select a destination to save recovered files (make sure it's NOT the same drive)
Sit back and watch it dump recovered files into recup_dir.* folders

🚨 Downside: It’s noisy — recovers everything, and doesn’t preserve filenames or paths.

🔍 Useful:

find ~/photo -type f -name "*.ibd"
strings /path/to/file.ibd | grep -i 'liveapi.toml'

🔐 Bonus: Know Your MySQL/MariaDB Files

If you're trying to recover MySQL:

.ibd — table data (InnoDB)
.frm — table definition (older versions)
.MYD, .MYI — MyISAM format
mysqldump output — .sql files

You can’t just copy .ibd files back and expect it to work — you'll need the matching metadata (like *.frm or a live server that created them).

Prevention > Cure

Let’s be real. These tools are last-ditch life jackets. Here’s what you should be doing:

✅ Automated DB backups (mysqldump, xtrabackup, etc.)
✅ Snapshots for your cloud VMs
✅ Versioned volume snapshots (EBS, GCP disks)
✅ Infrastructure as Code to rebuild quickly

🛠️ Tools Summary

Tool	Use Case	Good At	Limitations
TestDisk	Partition + file recovery	Navigable, structured	Needs unmounted/inactive partitions
PhotoRec	Raw file carving	Gets everything possible	No names, chaotic output
`strings` + `grep`	Sift through recovered binary blobs	Finding key config/data lines	Doesn’t restore structure