RecoverPy v2.1.2 releases: Recover overwritten or deleted data

by do son · Published January 6, 2022 · Updated October 11, 2023

RecoverPy

You can already find plenty of solutions to recover deleted files, but it can be a hassle to recover overwritten files. RecoverPy searches through every block of your partition to find your request.

Changelog v2.1.2

Bump coverage from 7.3.1 to 7.3.2 by @dependabot in #295
Bump pylint from 2.17.6 to 3.0.0 by @dependabot in #296
Bump ruff from 0.0.291 to 0.0.292 by @dependabot in #297
Bump pylint from 3.0.0 to 3.0.1 by @dependabot in #298
Bump mypy from 1.5.1 to 1.6.0 by @dependabot in #299
Bump textual from 0.38.1 to 0.40.0 by @dependabot in #301

Installation

🐧 RecoverPy is currently only available on Linux systems.

➡️ Dependencies

Mandatory: To list and search through your partitions, recoverpy uses grep, dd, and lsblk commands.

Optional: To display real-time grep progress, you can install progress.

To install all dependencies:

Debian-like: apt install grep coreutils util-linux progress
Arch: pacman -S grep coreutils util-linux progress
Fedora: dnf install grep coreutils util-linux progress

➡️ Installation from pip

python3 -m pip install recoverpy

Usage

python3 -m recoverpy

🔴 You must have root access to use recoverpy.

If you are not logged as root use sudo recoverpy or log in with su – before execution.

1️⃣ Select the system partition in which your file was. If you are out of luck, you can alternatively search in your home partition, maybe your IDE, text editor, etc. made a backup at some point.

2️⃣ Type a text string to search. See tips below for better results.

Note that searching a string in a whole partition may take a while. (see euphemism)

The default save path is /tmp/, click on Settings to edit the configuration.

3️⃣ Start search, Results will appear in the left-hand box.

4️⃣ Select a result to display the corresponding partition block content in the right-hand box.

5️⃣ Once you have found your precious, select Save.

6️⃣ You can now either save this block individually or explore neighboring blocks for the remaining parts of the file. You could then save it all in one file.

Tips

Always do backups! Yes, maybe too late…
Unmount your partition before you do anything! Although you can search with your partition still mounted, it is highly recommended to unmount your partition to avoid any alteration to your file.

Regarding the searched string:

Be concise, find something that could be unique to your file.
Stay simple, your string is escaped but exotic characters may affect your results.
Try to remember the last edit you have made to your file.

When you found your file: