How do I recover documents from a broken Ubuntu installation?

Solution 1:

Go to another computer, simply download an actual Ubuntu image and make a bootable USB stick described on homepage from ubuntu.com. Boot from these USB stick and choose "Try Ubuntu". Now put a clean second USB stick or HDD into another USB port and save your documents from your computer HDD.

PS: It does not work, if you have encryption enabled by installation.

Solution 2:

You might have somehow crashed the GRUB bootloader.

I'll explain how to recover, saving both systems, and also how to get files from in case recovery fails.

But for both you'll first need a live CD/USB

Preparing LiveCD/USB

From another computer make a Live CD or USB by simply following these steps.

1. Download an Ubuntu image

2. Write it to a CD or USB as described

3. Boot from the live CD/USB on the problem computer. You may need to access the BIOS by pressing an F key (eg F2), Esc or Del and change boot order to prefer CD or USB.

Recovering bootloader

4. In terminal execute

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install boot-repair
   boot-repair
   

5. Press Recommended repair and when finished try booting your system from the hard disk again.

   See boot repair | Ubuntu help wiki

Copying files

5. Mount the partition that contains /home/

6. Copy your whole username folder to some other place, not on the hard disk or the live USB system. Ypu need to copy the whole directory rather than just the contents because it will contain also hidden files that include browser bookmarks and other settings you might want to keep for backup.