Accidentally did a mv /* /media/tosomedirectory

jntbox · 10. Juli 2018

Hello all,

As the subject that I written, I moronically did a mv /* /media/tosomedirectory. I just realized it when I saw the permission denied messages and all my blood ran up to my head. My data seem to be intact because it was just moved to a different directory and I can access it from ssh and through SMB from the directory. However, some of my SMB mounts are not working obviously.

Can I do a mv /media/<fromdirectory> / to fix it? Or is the OS screwed? I haven't restarted yet cause I know I will be much trouble.

LouBen3010 · 10. Juli 2018

First of all please do a backup to a different volume like an USB drive.
If you know the location of all your files then I think you can try to move them back.
In fact should all linux-boot-files be included in / again.

Fingers crossed that it works as you want!

subzero79 · 10. Juli 2018

Try to fix it but offline. Bring the server down, boot live distro, mount rootfs partition and try to revert. Did you let the command go all the way through ?

jntbox · 11. Juli 2018

Good news! OS is still alive. I moved my data back on the correct directory first then did a mv of the copied files to /.

One thing to mention though, I did cancelled the accidental mv as soon I saw the error messages. I assume it started moving the interchangeable files first before the heavy stuff that is why my undo mv might have worked.

Jetzt mitmachen!