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I accidentally formatted the partition that contained the GRUB loader, so I cannot boot into Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Background to the saga:

I have an iMac with OSX and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS installed side by side. And am using REFIND to choose between the two.

After upgrading OSX to OSX Mavericks I could no longer boot into Ubuntu because I got the error:

error: unknown filesystem
grub rescue >

(During the upgrade process the OSX Installer added another Recovery partition, so I now have 2 of those. I think this lead to the problems with my partition that holds the GRUB loader).

However I then went and, in a moment of insanity, did something silly and dug myself a deeper hole:

I booted using an Ubuntu Live CD, and fired up gparted.

Then without really thinking, I changed the filesystem on the GRUB partition from "unknown" to FAT32, effectively also erasing anything that was on this GRUB partition.

So my question is, can I get myself out of this mess?

If yes, how?

Edit 1 - 23.05.2014:

I tried the suggestion mentioned by user Karel, who pointed me to this thread: Problems with booting ubuntu after formatting boot partition

I got to the point where I launched an Ubuntu Live CD and tried using Boot Repair.

But that failed, the error message said I am in Legacy mode and need to be in EFI mode. I am assuming it refers to the Ubuntu Live CD? If yes, how could I boot the Ubuntu Live CD in EFI mode?

Also here is the info summary from Boot Repair: http://paste.ubuntu.com/7505869/

Community
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ghoti
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1 Answers1

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There is no nice way to say it is fukked. The boot partition is a sacred place. It wasn't always set up in this manner though. By placing that data on its own partition, it added another dynamic of protection in case data loss occurred; however people still persist to have problems keeping their boot environment from getting hit.

Linux is unforgiving. But you can recover your data by using an install disc to get into an environment and mount your partitions. There is also a method of recovery along that same path if you get crafty. Search for a recovery tutorial and the solution will present itself.

If you're really serious about recovering the partition, you could use deep scan recovery software to recover the data, but I assure you it's more trouble than it's worth.

Gama Xul
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