Xubuntu 20.04 disaster

[MR ZenWiz]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 2:09 PM Karl Auer <kauer at biplane.com.au> wrote:
>
:
>
> It would be very unusual for a software update to delete files not
> related to the operating system, so I suspect the files are still
> there. Use something other than df to make sure - ls is good :-)
>
I did, though I failed to say so.  Thanks for pointing that out.

> I would boot from a USB stick and inspect the system that way. If you
> locate the "missing" files, obviously copy them to safety before doing
> anything else.
>
Underway.

> Either way the fastest way back is to re-install from scratch.
>
I probably will.  It's easier than most other options, but what a
pain.  I shudder to think how an inexperienced newbie to Linux might
respond if this happened to them.  Ick.

> And (this is much more for the benefit of others than for you, as you
> did mention it): The time between backups is the amount of data you are
> prepared to lose. With a current backup, problems like this are no more
> than an irritation - re-install, plop the files back, done.
>
And I should be well aware of that, having painfully been forced to do
things like this before.

When I reinstalled the system, this is exactly what I did - boot from
a DVD, backup all the files to an external hard drive, reinstall and
restore the files.

Not sure why I didn't absorb this well enough to avoid making the same
dumb mistake last time around.  Never again.  Never!

Thanks.

Mark