Comment 85 for bug 249340

Since Big Dave has already reinstalled, this is small consolation.

First thing to know is that the entire file system was likely not corrupted.
Second thing to know is that if you boot with a live CD, you can likely
look at it, and almost certainly repair it.
Third thing to know is that it's worth trying to search the net for a
solution, even if you have to go to the local library to do it because
your one and only PC is temporarily down.

If you happen to have a dual boot Windows/Linux system and GRUB is
corrupted so that you don't think you can't get into Windows, there are
ways around that too.

If you're interested in learning more about Linux, there are lots of
resources on the net, including the IBM developerWorks tutorials for LPI
certification (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/lpi/) which cover
a lot of useful system administration material and a recent article
"Lazy Linux: 10 essential tricks for admins"
(http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-10sysadtips/). These
aren't the only resources (by far), I just happen to work for dW and
wrote some of the LPI tutorials.

Ian Shields
jlms wrote:
> There was no reason for you to lose any data.
>
> You should have backups (irrespective of the OS you use) because
> something can always go wrong.
>
> Something you must consider is to have a separate partition for your
> data, or at the very least for your home directory (or directories)
> and put all data there, then when an upgrade comes along you always
> have the option of a full reinstall without touching your data.
>
> If you find too overwhelming all this discussion I suggest you install
> from scratch using the latest version of Ubuntu. With time you may
> find that following the workarounds provided is achievable, for the
> time being you may be better off just putting a DVD and reinstalling
> to have a clean start.
>
> Regards and good luck.
>
>