[ale] Help with data recovery

[Jim Kinney]

If you are super lucky, the old password might actually work. 

On August 21, 2020 9:05:40 PM EDT, Jim Ransone via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>Bummer. As I said, I am not very tech savvy. I really don't even
>understand
>encryption. This Deja Dup backup software was widely recommended and
>encrypting all the files was the default. I didn't know enough to even
>question this. Now I realize how stupid that was. They put warnings on
>plastic bags so people don't suffocate themselves. You'd think they
>might
>put a warning on software that encrypts all your data.
>
>
>
>On Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 8:37 PM SpaXpert, Inc. <spaxpert at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Unfortunately, if you lost your encryption key, then you're likely in
>the
>> burnt toast department.  If you could find anyone to fix this
>situation
>> you'd probably owe them a million bucks.  I've been working with
>Linux for
>> over 25 years, and I'm definitely not the smartest ever, but it saves
>me
>> from the bots.  That said, I would never encrypt my data with a sole
>> encryption key that could be... never mind.
>>
>> Sad advice... I have a separate usb hard drive that I drag and drop
>the
>> critical folders that I use for work occasionally.  That works for
>me, and
>> everything is unencrypted.  10 years ago I lost tons of family videos
>and
>> photos that I didn't backup due to a crappy hd controller on a crap
>> motherboard.  Never again.
>>
>> I feel your pain.
>> Doug.
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 8:19 PM Jim Ransone via Ale <ale at ale.org>
>wrote:
>>
>>> Hey all,
>>>
>>> I found this group when searching for a local computer repair place
>that
>>> works on Linux stuff. I am not a programmer or particularly tech
>savvy. I'm
>>> hoping I can get some advice here, be it a recommendation on
>somewhere I
>>> can go to pay someone to fix this, or tips on how to fix it myself.
>>>
>>> I did something that in retrospect seems completely boneheaded. I am
>>> running Ubuntu Studio 20.04 on my laptop and was backing up my data
>to an
>>> external hard drive using Deja Dup (which uses Duplicity.) I was
>trying to
>>> fix some audio issues and somehow screwed things up pretty badly, so
>I
>>> reinstalled Ubuntu Studio 20.04 hoping to take everything back to
>before
>>> the audio problems. The reinstall erased everything. When I went to
>restore
>>> my home folder from the backup, it's not working because of the
>encryption.
>>> From an old forum thread I found about a similar situation, I was
>clued in
>>> to the sad news that I probably erased the encryption key during the
>>> reinstall. Doh! Suggestions included using testdisk to recover the
>data on
>>> the laptop and manually restoring the encrypted files on the backup
>drive.
>>> The latter seems very complicated and mysterious.
>>>
>>> I might be in over my head trying to do this myself. Anyone know of
>>> anyone in the Atlanta area you would trust with a recovery job like
>this?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations!
>>>
>>> Jim
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Ale at ale.org
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>>>
>>

-- 
"no government by experts in which the masses do not have the chance to inform the experts as to their needs can be anything but an oligarchy managed in the interests of the few.” - John Dewey
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