I made a grave mistake today while trying to delete a specific project folder in my DigitalOcean VPS. I accidentally ran `rm -rf /` instead of `rm -rf ./`. The command executed for a couple of seconds before I realized what I was doing and canceled it. Now, my system is barely functioning—SSH is slow, and 'ls' isn't working. I'm in panic mode! Is there any chance I can recover my data? I didn't take any snapshots and have lost crucial custom recon scripts, wordlists, and scan results. I really need some guidance here!
5 Answers
Honestly, if you didn’t have backups, your options are really limited. You can check with DigitalOcean support to see if they’ve got automated backups you weren’t aware of. Sometimes providers keep snapshots and can restore them for you, but you should act fast!
The simplest advice is to restore from a backup, if you have one. We're all guilty of mistakes—this serves as a lesson on the importance of maintaining backups. Don’t skip this crucial step in the future!
I once lost a ton of work too because I didn't keep up with backups. Learn from this!
Without any backups, recovery will be tricky. If the process was stopped quickly enough, your data might still be on the disk. You can try booting from a live Linux USB and see if you can access your files that way.
That sounds risky, but I guess it might be worth a shot if there's any data left.
Just a heads-up: you should be using version control for scripts and important files. Even a private git repository could save you from situations like this in the future. For now, focus on rebooting and checking if any data is salvageable.
Definitely learned my lesson today—backups and version control from now on!
Ugh, this is a classic mistake a lot of us have made. Seriously, try to mount the disk on a recovery VM if you can. It's risky, but there's always a sliver of hope if the data wasn't fully written over yet. Just make sure you're careful during the process!
Yeah, it's a long shot but worth trying if the alternative is losing everything.
I've heard mixed results about that—fingers crossed they can help!