# Recovering lost partitions



## balanga (Aug 9, 2017)

Can anyone recommed a PKG for recovering lost partitions? I managed to lose them while trying to install Linux on a Windows based computer. I tried `TESTDISK` but the FreeBSD version was unable to detect any partitions whereas the Linux version was. Unfortunately it was unable to recover them.


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## SirDice (Aug 9, 2017)

Are only the partition tables lost or is there a chance the Linux install overwrote the actual data too?


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## balanga (Aug 10, 2017)

SirDice said:


> Are only the partition tables lost or is there a chance the Linux install overwrote the actual data too?



I'm not sure how to tell. Using `Testdisk` on Linux it was able to identify various directory structures and partitions but it wasn't able to restore the file system or copy various files to an external disk.


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## SirDice (Aug 10, 2017)

balanga said:


> I'm not sure how to tell.


When you did the install did you follow through with it? And later realized you accidentally overwrote the existing data or did you bail out of the installer right after the partitioning?

If you followed through with the installer there's a high chance the original data was overwritten.


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