Monday, December 11, 2017

dual boot - Ubuntu 13.04 installation error and data loss

I am completely new to Ubuntu. I have a Dell Studio 1555 laptop. I had Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) installed onto it and it was the only OS. In Windows, my 250-GB hard disk was partitioned only into drive C (where Windows was installed) and drive D.



Recently, I installed Ubuntu 13.04 via a pen drive; I performed a clean install. My aim was to be able to use Windows 7 and Ubuntu 13.04 both as and when required wherein I expected to get a screen that asks me to choose between the two when I boot the laptop. I had done the same on my desktop and it worked fine.




However, on my laptop, when I choose Windows 7 at the screen where I am supposed to choose between Ubuntu 13.04 and Windows 7, it doesn't boot up, saying "Windows 7 cannot start because of some recent software or hardware changes". They ask me to use the Windows installation disc and repair my computer. When I did that (using the installing Windows through USB method), there was no option to "repair your computer", which I think indicates that it doesn't detect the already installed Windows.



I don't remember what exactly is it that I did wrong while installing Ubuntu but I remember NOT selecting "overwrite" or "erase disk", because I wanted my Windows data to remain intact. Also, I think I must have installed Ubuntu in the same drive as Windows (drive C) and that my "home", "root", "bin", "boot" are in the same drive because in Ubuntu the only device I see under "Devices" is "Computer" with all the aforementioned folders.



Ubuntu works just fine. However, I can't find my Windows data anywhere! Almost all the data was in drive D with only programs installed in C. I don't mind losing the application programs but my drive D contained some very important data.



I searched the forums for a solution but for fear of making the problem completely irrepairable, I didn't try most of the stuff. I just need to access the data so that I can copy it onto my desktop and perform clean installations of Ubuntu and Windows 7 again.



I don't know if this will help: paste.ubuntu.com/5794687




Thank you!

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