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I'm trying to learn linux, so I installed ubuntu onto a 64 gigabyte USB and restarted my computer and booted from the usb. When it was loaded it asked me if I wanted to "try without installing"(which is kind of like a trial right?). The second option was to "install ubuntu". I clicked this option and it said "no operating systems detected", so I assumed it would install onto the USB since I don't have windows or any other operating system on the USB stick. When it was all done I rebooted my computer and tried booting windows but it had been completely overwritten. I unplugged the USB stick with ubuntu on it and ubuntu had been installed onto my main HDD from the USB stick.

Luckily, I have recovery USB sticks that lenovo sent me, so when I get back to college I'll be able to recover windows, but I want to know what I did wrong, and what I need to do next time, so that I can learn from my mistake.

Allen Birmingham
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It is really too bad that this happened. I'm glad that you have recovery USB sticks.

I think (but am not sure) that Window was hibernated or semi-hibernated (alias fast startup), which means that linux cannot read the file systems, and should not read the file systems. But it also means that the installer does not discover Windows.

It is very important to identify the target for the installation, so that you are 99.9% sure, that you will install to the correct drive.

The good thing is that you know 'forever', that installing an operating system is risky. And you have those recovery sticks, so it could be worse. It is good to 'Try Ubuntu' for a considerable time before you decide to install.

And before installing, remember to always backup everything that you cannot afford to lose (or make a complete backup, for example a compressed image with Clonezilla).

-o-

Are there any personal files, that you want to recover? In that case, do not use the [internal] drive except for recovery, because you might overwrite what you want to restore. There is a tool, PhotoRec, that can recover files from the data stored in the drive's memory without a file system. It is hard work, because the file names and directory structure are lost (except if the file name is stored among the file data). Boot from another drive, for example your USB pendrive, install PhotoRec, and recover the important files before doing anything else with the internal drive.

sudodus
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