I'm not sure if this is thread should be here in Nokia N900 forum or the maemo 5 forum. But I decided to put it here and hope that a moderator move it if it don't belong.

My problem is:
While trying to install Mauku on my Nokia N900, I did something that earsed a lot of other things on the device.

I was having problems installing the program, but on the homepage for the programme http://mauku.innologies.com/ I found a tip about using an rm command in the terminal. I don't have that much excperience with using the terminal, but I tried the comand. I think that in the process I went a little to far and not only erased the intendet database but alos erased all the files I've ever made on my device.

After using the rm comand in the terminal, I managed to install the Mauku program. But when I looked for the program I couldn't find it. So I switched the device of and on again, and that's when I discovered that my personalised background was gone. I tried to find the file for the background image, and found out that all the picture files, videofiles etc that was stored on the internal memory card was gone too. Aslo all my calendar appointments and phonebook directory was gone.

So I decided to try recovering everything by using the backupfile I made when the last firmware update happened last week. But I discovered that the backupfile was also gone.

Now I sit here and wonder if I've made a compleate fool of my self and done something that can't be fixed..
Or is there a way that I can recover my lost files after using the rm command??

it would be interesting which rm-command(s) you used. do you remember them?

Well, I started with this commnad:

rm -R /home/user/.microfeed

Is there a way to make the terminal show me the last few commands that I used?

Oh my, did you type 'rm -rf / ' ? That thing's legendary
I guess if you had the inspiration to immediately shut down the device a lot of things on the FAT partition can be recovered. Just connect it to a PC and run data recovery software on it. Results may vary
Now, i can hear the angry mob closing in, chanting "stay away from terminal!". My advice is not to listen to them. Just learn the lessons from this mistake. Before using a command, try to find out what it does. Just googling will pretty much tell you. If the command sounds potentially harmful ("removes files"), make sure you copy it exactly and from a trusted source. Make sure the command is not under "don't do this".
Making a backup and keeping it in the device is like making a copy of the key and putting it on the same keychain. For best results, the backup should be kept secure somewhere else.
Now, i can hear the chanting hordes even closer. Remember, i've been using linux for years and last month nearly erased my HDD in a feat of sheer stupidity. Don't lose faith because of this
Good luck!

cant we just plug the n900 into NSU or JAF and reinstall the firmware when something like this happens?

Yes I know I was stupid using this command. Not having much experience with using the terminal.

Any advise on a good data recovery program I can try to use??

Unlikely you will be able to recover anything.

There is a backup program that works really well that is included with the n900. Its never a bad idea to use it. Maybe even store the backup on a card, or copy it off. Because bad stuff (tm) happens all the time with these devices. Including user error.

Anyway, to attempt a recovery you could plug it in and use it as a storage device, and then try using any windows/FAT32 undelete products., but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

I did use the backup program on n900 last week, but stored the backup file on the internal memory. So now that file is also gone...

I was hoping against all hope that there was a way to recover it. But it doesn't look promising.

Thanks for the advices I've got so far!

Well, actually it's very likely that you will be able to recover alot, after managing to delete alot by using the 'rm r-' command in the terminal of a n900.

After giving up trying to find a free recovery software, I finally bought one that looked decent. Tried it out, and found almost everything I'd lost. Even found my backup file

So, now I'm almost happy again. I say almost because all my calendar appointments and todo's are still gone. I'm trying recovery one last time. But if it doesn't work I'll have to put it all in manually *sigh* Good thing I still keep a diary in paper version as a backup

I just thought I should let anyone who are interested know that even though you think you have completely erased files or programs from your n900, there is still a good chance to recover what you lost.

removing/deleting doesn't mean that the files are gone.
just the space were the file is stored is freed for beeing overwritten again.
so... as long as you don't save anything new on your memory you'll have a good chance of recovering the folders/files

(lucky that you didn't use the shred-command *laugh*)