Fsrecovery
Since most current filesystems come with journaling functionality, yet another layer between the physical (on-disk) and the logical layout (userspace representation of the filesystem) has been added, making it even more complex to e.g. find out on which part of the disk 'inode 123' has been stored. So, in general it's impossible to recover the contents of a lost (overwritten, severly corrupted) journalling filesystem. However, there are tools out there trying to do the impossible :)
Ext2/3
| Software | Last updated | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| extundelete | 05/2010 | GPL | |
| ext3grep | 04/2010 | GPL | |
| ext3rminator | 08/2005 | GPL | http://web.glandium.org/blog/?cat=15 |
| recover | 03/2002 | GPL | ext2 only |
| salvage | 03/2006 | GPL | |
| undel-ext3.sh | 05/2004 | - | |
| R-Linux | - | commercial | Win32 |
| Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery | - | commercial | Win32, demo available |
FAT/NTFS
| Software | Last updated | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreeUndelete | - | commercial | personal use version |
| Restoration | 04/2003 | freeware | NTFS support |
| WinUndelete | - | commercial | preview demo |
| NTFS Undelete | - | GPL | |
| Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition | - | commercial | 1 GB demo |
| Zero Assumption Recovery | - | commercial | 4 directories demo |
| EasyRecovery Professional | - | commercial | 1 file demo |
| EasyRecovery DataRecovery | - | commercial | 1 file demo, file repair only |
JFS
| Software | Last updated | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| jfsrec | 03/2007 | GPL | works...sometimes |
| Kernel Recovery for JFS | - | commercial | demo |
ReiserFS
The best thing I can remember of was running fsck.reiserfs --rebuild-tree after losing a filesystem. But this was a long time ago, with Linux v2.3 and I did not (have to) try it again since then.
You can always ask at the ReiserFS mailinglist for help, or pay the developers $25 to try their best.
XFS
| Software | Last updated | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux XFS Recovery Boot Tool | 11/2002 | - | |
| Raise Data Recovery for XFS | 11/2010 | shareware | Win32 |
Note: when using XFS with Linux 2.6.17, be sure to read this FAQ entry