Hi.

In a system like:

Code:

OS, ker|rel, machine: Linux, 2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.centos.plus.x86_64, x86_64
Distribution        : CentOS 6.4 (Final)

There appears to be:

Code:

extundelete.x86_64 : An ext3 and ext4 file system undeletion utility
testdisk.x86_64 : Tool to check and undelete partition, PhotoRec recovers lost
                : files

I have no experience with either one.

This could also be considered a valuable (but difficult) learning experience:
1) Have a backup, even if minor (e.g. file.01, file.02, etc).
2) Balance extra resources with risk of losing one's time.
3) It's a rite of passage to destroy something valuable.

I consider my time to be very valuable. So I use a number of strategies to reduce risk. For example, I use virtual machines most of the time. This allows me to do a snapshot, which can restore an entire system in less than 5 minutes (and usually less). I usually do a snapshot just before a big update. After a reboot and few days of smooth running, I fold the snapshot into the running system. I have used VMWare and Virtualbox for that. Requires learning about virtual machines.

I have an external machine contact other machines periodically, say every 4 hours, then do an rsnapshot to capture changed files, rotating to daily, weekly, monthly backups. Rsnapshot knows about LVM volumes, and can create LVM snapshot volumes (not to be confused with virtual machine snapshots, but both use the idea of copy-on-write , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy-on-write), so that the system can be captured without stopping the machine. Requires learning, setup, external machine, and a big disk (I use a big disk in a raw disk dock).

During development work, I use a version control system, like rcs, bzr, etc., to keep a local (to the directory) copy of files in development. Requires learning a bit about version control. More feature-full systems include subversion, git, etc.

Every week or so, I tar up the home directory on my main workstation and store it on a (slow, but large) external drive. This is easiest.

On a Windows box I recently tried cloud backup with Acronis. It was agonizingly slow. It seemed better to backup to a local drive (again in a USB/SATA dock).

I have rarely completely lost a file in the recent past.

Good luck ... cheers, drl