lost documents because of Ubuntu uninstallation

When you say you uninstalled it, how did you install it in the first place? Did you use the wubi installer? If so, it created an image file of the Ubuntu installation and I suspect you can't recover that although someone is welcome to correct me on that.

If you had Ubuntu installed from the installation disks, then it created a separate partition for itself and stored the data there. Again, that depends on what you did to "uninstall" it. If you re-partitioned the drive then the data is gone. If you left the partition intact, then the data is likely still there. In that case:

1) boot with the Ubuntu installation CD. You don't have to install it, just select the first menu option to try Ubuntu without installing. That's called a live session which doesn't change anything on the hard drive(s) but does give you access to the files on them.

2) In the locations menu on the Ubuntu desktop (I may have the menu name wrong - it's the second one from the left at the top of the screen), you should be able to see various drives and partitions listed. Click on the one that you had Ubuntu installed on. If in doubt, go through all of them. It doesn't hurt to mount them and have a look.

3) Once you've found your former Ubuntu partition, navigate to /home/username where "username" is whatever name you were logging in as, and look in either the Documents folder or the Desktop. Your file should be there.

4) If you haven't already done so, mount your Windows 7 partition and copy your file over to it. OpenOffice is also available for Windows platforms so you can continue using the file as-is.

5) Be sure to shut the system down gracefully to ensure that the partitions are closed cleanly and that all data from your file has been written to the hard disk. If you just shut the system down via the power button, you may lose data.

If you have installed Ubuntu over your file, you can try to recover it with a recovery software.
Testdisk works fine.

Follow this:
1) Boot from the Ubuntu Live CD.
2) Download testdisk from http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download (ex: Linux, kernel 2.6.x i386/x86_64 )
3) Extract it.
4) Go to the extracted folder > "linux" > right-click on "testdisk_static" and select "Properties", select 'Permissions' tab. "Allow executing file as program" must be checked.

5) Open a terminal then go to the "linux" folder with "cd ...."
6) Type: sudo ./testdisk_static

7) Follow the instructions
8) Few steps later, it will propose you to show the list of files by pressing P, press it.
9) Select your file then press C, select the folder you want to copy to, then press Y.

Adam Hamilton, did you solved your problem ?

Sorry about not responding sooner:

So I decided to follow BabyGeek's advice, and I got all the way through #4, but I don't know what you mean, or how to do # 5, could you give more details?

Thanks!

Where did you extract the archive ?

Eg, if you extracted it to /home/xxxx/testdisk-6.11.3
open a terminal then type: cd /home/xxxx/testdisk-6.11.3/linux then PRESS ENTER
now, type: sudo ./testdisk_static then PRESS ENTER and follow 7).

at first it was in Desktop, and I did this, substituting the word "desktop" for "home" and it didn't work.

So, I deleted it and downloaded it again, extracting it in home, but this time, when I enter exactly what you said the terminal gives me this:

bash: cd: /home/xxxx/testdisk-6.11.3/linux: No such file or directory

And, I believe this is what it gave me when I substituted the word "desktop" for "home" before (except with the words in the answer also switched), but I can't be sure.

One thing is I thought it was optional to either have ubuntu downloaded, or to use ubuntu live, so I just downloaded it (I don't have the CD), could this be my problem?

Thanks!

Adam

at first it was in Desktop, and I did this, substituting the word "desktop" for "home" and it didn't work.

So, I deleted it and downloaded it again, extracting it in home, but this time, when I enter exactly what you said the terminal gives me this:

bash: cd: /home/xxxx/testdisk-6.11.3/linux: No such file or directory

And, I believe this is what it gave me when I substituted the word "desktop" for "home" before (except with the words in the answer also switched), but I can't be sure.

One thing is I thought it was optional to either have ubuntu downloaded, or to use ubuntu live, so I just downloaded it (I don't have the CD), could this be my problem?

Thanks!

Adam

In Ubuntu the desktop is in /home/your_username/Desktop

"bash: cd: /home/xxxx/testdisk-6.11.3/linux: No such file or directory"
You must replace "xxxx" by your username.

"One thing is I thought it was optional to either have ubuntu downloaded, or to use ubuntu live, so I just downloaded it (I don't have the CD), could this be my problem?" No.

If you extracted it in /home/, type: cd: /home/testdisk-6.11.3/linux

Ouch ! I'm too tired ! It's not "cd: /home/testdisk-6.11.3/linux" but "cd /home/testdisk-6.11.3/linux" without ":" !

Is your problem resolved ?