I want to uninstall backtrack 4???

[Barry]

Try an external usb hard drive case, plug your hard drive into it, plug the case with hard drive to another PC.
Install and run a data recovery software, scan drive, navigate through the results and rescue what you can. Hopefully you'll save most of your data.
I've done it numerous times with friends who screwed up and formatted the hole hd and i was able to save all their data.

He installed backtrack over windows, most likely it overwrote the data.

[Thorn]

He installed backtrack over windows, most likely it overwrote the data.

Yeah, but it depends on what was written and where. If the OP had, for example, a 100GB hard drive, and 50GB was data, the BT4 install should have only installed the BT4 4GB+ of data, leaving some remaining 45GB+ relatively intact. The format would have changed on the partition of course, but there are some tools that will still pull out some data. It's worth a try, if he really "had all my life in that computer!!"

Of course a backup might have helped, too.

So today's lesson are:
1) Don't **** around with installs that you clearly don't understand.
2) Always RTFM.
3) Backup. Backup. Backup.

[Snayler]

He installed backtrack over windows, most likely it overwrote the data.

Thorn is right, sometimes you can eve retrieve data after a hard format. That's why i never disposed of a hard drive before without hitting it with a hammer. Or using some kind of software that will write random bits all over the drive, that should work to make it impossible to retrieve your personal data.

[BEETEE]

Sorry to say, but ............

YOU MADE MY DAY




As it was said, you can recover your stuff. Depends on what you have done before with the harddisk. That means, if you copied many things, wrote here stuff and there to the harddisk, it will be hard to recover your personal stuff.
Best thing is. DO NOT TOUCH IT ! unplug the harddisk, put it in another computer and install there a recovery tool and pray to "fill in what u like" that the tool is able to recover your stuff...

regards

beetee

[Barry]

Thorn is right, sometimes you can eve retrieve data after a hard format. That's why i never disposed of a hard drive before without hitting it with a hammer. Or using some kind of software that will write random bits all over the drive, that should work to make it impossible to retrieve your personal data.

I know all about making drives unreadable.... I'm just saying if the OP screwed up his windows install goofing around with backtrack, I'm going to guess data recovery software is waaaaaaaay out of his league.

[Lincoln]

@ OP: I wasn't going to say anything but I noticed last night your registration date to the forum is Dec 08. Being that we're in December, I just passed you off as a first time poster/user to Backtrack (Dec 09).

While you never made any posts before, it means a year ago you came to this forum and registered with some intent of either using BT, or learning about BT. So within a year's time, you haven't bothered to look at any how to's, guides, or any of the dozens of installation videos?

/useless rant

Try installing Ubuntu, learn the command line, and come back when you feel comfortable. We all make mistakes, you'll get over it, good luck.

[Virchanza]

The configuration file for Grub is "menu.lst" as far as I'm aware, stored in "/boot/grub/menu.lst".

After you edit that file, you gotta run the "grub-install" program like:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

[Archangel-Amael]

@ OP: I wasn't going to say anything but I noticed last night your registration date to the forum is Dec 08.
it means a year ago you came to this forum and registered with some intent of either using BT, or learning about BT. So within a year's time, you haven't bothered to look at any how to's, guides, or any of the dozens of installation videos?

Nice catch Lincoln!
@OP, It does not get any better than the above. Might be a good idea to follow through.

[purehate]

The configuration file for Grub is "menu.lst" as far as I'm aware, stored in "/boot/grub/menu.lst".

After you edit that file, you gotta run the "grub-install" program like:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

This is actually incorrect. While you do have to re run lilo each time after editing the file, this is not the case with grub. Once grub is installed all you have to do is edit the grub.conf or the menu.lst. The 2 files are symlinks of each other.

[Virchanza]

This is actually incorrect. While you do have to re run lilo each time after editing the file, this is not the case with grub. Once grub is installed all you have to do is edit the grub.conf or the menu.lst. The 2 files are symlinks of each other.

If you have grub installed directly to the Master Boot Record instead of having a special boot partition, then you need to run grub-install. On my own machine, my "/boot" folder is located on my main Linux partition right alongside bin, sbin, usr, home, etc, lib.

Also, whatever way I installed it or have it set up, my "/boot/grub" folder hasn't got a grub.conf (it hasn't got a link by that name either). All I've got is menu.lst.