thanks for the help, michaaa62...! I feel like I'm getting nowhere... (:

I connected my device to my laptop (Ubuntu) with BackupMenu running and made the image of the dev/disk/by-label/@ot\x20a\x20boot\x20d to my laptop. so now I've got the "N900.dd.img" file. I mounted it (mount -o loop N900.dd.img /home/my_user_name/n900) but testdisk does not see it. I tried to mount it some other places (/mnt, /dev/disk), but no use... in midnight commander (and in nautilus) I can see the mounted device and its content. even the other folders that I created before the fsck deletion (and I can reach the contents of these folders - for example I created a folder for python, for R statistics). but I always see/saw them, so it is not a surprise I think.
all my settings, all my other files remained the same - all diary events, all contacts, messages, ringtones, alarms, etc. just lost the contents of (or access to) .documents, .videos and .sounds...

o, and another thing: I ran GParted (couriosity...), and it says, that the 27 Gig partition is "unreservable", the swap and the 2 Gig partition is OK...

when I fsck my n900, it says:

dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
/dev/mmcblk0p1: 143 files, 33319/442337 clusters

I think this amount of files (143) is not enough for my original .documents, etc. - it is the "new MyDocs" folder contents: .images, R folder, python folder (I store nothing else on my phone), I assume. but I experienced another very interesting thing: when I browse images (I mean: File Manager -> Nokia N900 -> Images), and see one of the original image (for example "digital_nature1"), then press the "back arrow key" on the top right, it goes back to "Images" folder (of course), and when I press another "back arrow key", it goes back to "All images" (as always, of course), and the deleted images appear for only 5 seconds (even the scanned books, album wrappers for mp3s, etc - and I can scroll them), but when I try to access them, they "are no longer available". but the "All images" folder "knows" (I mean it writes this on the middle top), that there are 1369 images there (or was there...) - somewhere in the device, but cannot gain access to them...

now I don't know what to do... it seems like my .documents, .videos and .sounds folders are soooo hidden (or cannot be mounted at all) that they really are lost...

The inconsistant behaviour might get triggered by the different content of the data base of tracking services of the N900 and the actual missing files. You may just look at the thumbnails the tracker once produced og the images.

I will look into mounting or examination of the image later, when i have access to a 'capable' PC at home

sorry, but I don't really understand what do you mean by "You may just look at the thumbnails the tracker once produced og the images"... how should I look and what exactly? when all the images come up (wrappers, books, etc), and I really see them (not just the "broken icon"), but I can't do anything with them... no "Details", or in the "tags" I cannot do anything...

btw. thanks a lot...!

Sorry for confusing you
The application is showing you the thumbnails of the images, the tracker-process registered in the database before, not the real images themselves. Thats why you are not able to interact with the files. The database does not show the real content of the folders anymore, because of the error/corruption, that happened.

oh, you are not confusing, I'm the one who is not an expert (as you can see... (.
now I understand... thanks.

Okay, just verified my idea...

Start testdisk with the image unmounted like thisMake sure to choose non-partitioned media. Nevertheless the creation of folders with the same name might confuse testdisk.
This means... Photorec is the only viable option

thanks, michaaa62, I will try this option.

however last evening I tried a few things, just to see how things work. so:

1. I connected my n900 device (with BackupMenu running) to Ubuntu laptop, and checked all the items on it folder by folder (in Ubuntu's /media folder) - the 2 Gig partition (/home) and the 27 Gig partition (MyDocs folder).
I saw a MyDocs folder in the 2 Gig partition with irreco, DCIM, cities and Downloads. they were empty (no hidden folders were there). then I found the thumbnails for the "deleted" pictures that you mentioned.
then I checked the 27 Gig partition (named "ot a boot d") - I saw all the folders (hidden too), but no sign of the deleted files (as before of course).

2. then I ran testdisk on Ubuntu to check the n900 (ot a boot d) again. I can gain access only to "ot a boot d", so I checked the files - I found so many deleted files (of course), but only those which I deleted some time ago from DCIM, tmp, Downloads... but nothing from .documents. I saw the .documents folder as it should be: intact. but no files in there... no even deleted files...

the only thing that I don't understand is how is it possible that photorec could restore so many files, but testdisk doesn't even see the deleted files... I assume that photorec is capable to see the original N900, but testdisk only see the "ot a boot d", and couldn't gain access to the original N900...

3. then I tried to run testdisk on Ubuntu: I mounted the N900.img, then run testdisk. it only saw my laptop's harddrive, but I made an analyse. it saw 4 partitions:
"1* Linux
2 P HPFS-NTFS (I have a Windows partition for dual-boot)
3 E Extended LBA (maybe this is the n900 image...?)
5 L Linux swap (yes, I know, that this number is 5, but this was the case...)"
then I made a deeper search. after that I got this message:
"The following partition can't be recovered:

Partition Start End Size in sectors
Linux 9335 0 1 25358 252 37 257425408 "

Then I only can continue and could not access to it...

so yes, I also think that nothing to do but trying photorec may help... but I will try your idea first. and I will try running testdisk on n900 itself... then photorec... if nothing helps, I guess I have to say goodbye to my docs...

The difference of Testdisk and Photorec is the approach to the data.

Testdisk assumes an intact whole, like partitions and file systems, thats why you could browse the hierachy, even for deleted stuff. The problem with your case is that the partitions are identical and the names in some part of hierachy are the same, that leads to no indication whatsoever, that deleted stuff is hiding there.

While Photorec has only the ability to assume file types from the typical pattern of bits that correspondend to a file type, like every .png or .mp3 has a typical structure of bits. That's why they are not sorted, but for file type in those recup folders.

ohh, thanks for the explanation, now I understand. it is quite logical... (:

I tried running testdisk on the n900 itself, and I got the following:

The current structure:

"Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
1 P FAT32 LBA 1 0 1 884864 3 16 56631296 [ot a boot d]
2 P Linux 884865 0 1 950400 3 16 4194304
3 P Linux Swap 950401 0 1 974976 3 16 1572864
No partition is bootable









*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
[Quick Search] [ Backup ]
Try to locate partition"

so I made a quick search:

"Disk /dev/mmcblk0 - 32 GB - CHS 977024 4 16
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* FAT32 LBA 1 0 1 884864 3 16 56631296 [ot a boot d]
P Linux 884865 0 1 950400 3 16 4194304
P Linux Swap 950401 0 1 974976 3 16 1572864








Structure: Ok. Use Up/Down Arrow keys to select partition.
Use Left/Right Arrow keys to CHANGE partition characteristics:
*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, T: change type, P: list files,
Enter: to continue"

and then I made a deeper search:

"The harddisk (32 GB) seems too small! (< 3563993 TB)
Check the harddisk size: HD jumpers settings, BIOS detection...

The following partitions can't be recovered:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
Linux 551099 2 1 2993307748 0 4 6960924773968419JFS 0, 3563993 TB
Linux 917698 0 1 983233 3 16 4194304
Linux 917700 2 1 983236 1 16 4194304
Linux 917705 0 1 983240 3 16 4194304
Linux 917720 0 1 983255 3 16 4194304
Linux 917722 0 1 983257 3 16 4194304
Linux 917723 2 1 983259 1 16 4194304
Linux 917724 1 1 983260 0 16 4194304
Linux 917725 1 1 983261 0 16 4194304
Linux 917726 1 1 983262 0 16 4194304"

after this I only could "continue", then I got this:

"Disk /dev/mmcblk0 - 32 GB - CHS 977024 4 16
Partition Start End Size in sectors
D FAT32 LBA 1 0 1 884864 3 16 56631296 [ot a boot d]
D Linux 514577 0 1 580112 3 16 4194304 [m5v3e] (I have Easy Debian on it)
* Linux 884865 0 1 950400 3 16 4194304
P Linux Swap 950401 0 1 974976 3 16 1572864







Structure: Ok. Use Up/Down Arrow keys to select partition.
Use Left/Right Arrow keys to CHANGE partition characteristics:
*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, T: change type, P: list files,
Enter: to continue
FAT32, 28 GB"

I can list all the files with "p" in the "ot a boot d" and the Easy Debian partition, but the results are the same - no sign of the deleted files.

sorry, I know michaaa62 that you are saying that this is because of the similar folder names, but I wanted to do this, and I definitely will try your "testdisk N900.dd.img" code selecting "Non-partitioned media". but I have a question according to this: earlier testdisk said that it cannot write it because "None was selected". will it be able to write it now, if I choose "Non-partitioned media"...?