Comment 87 for bug 1265192

Just want to post a short tutorial on how to recover files (took me the entire US Labor Day weekend to figure it out). If you think this may useful to other people (such as those in ubuntuforums, askubuntu, and ubuntu launchpad "Answers" section), please share this with them.

The following is mostly derived from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

1. Stop using the wiped hard drive.
2. Use/borrow another hard drive or computer for recovered data.
3. Make a live-CD/usb if necessary (I used lubuntu and pendrivelinux's Universal USB Installer)
4. Run the live-CD or the recovery computer and use GNU ddrescue to make an image of the wiped hard drive so that we have a !backup!. Store the image on the recovery hard drive or computer.
5. Use testdisk on the image to recover the lost partitions and copy desired files http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

If everything goes well, you should be good to go. For me, some additional challenge occurred.

6. testdisk shows that my NTFS partitions have the correct sizes, but does not show any file. Still, use testdisk on the image to get the partitions back.
7. On a Windows computer, use OSFMount to mount the image http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html
8. Use chkdsk on the mounted partitions, use the "/f" option if fix is needed
9. Copy files from the mounted partitions, or unmount the partitions and use testdisk under live-CD (or Windows) on the fixed image