How to recover a dropped MongoDB database?

Question

If somebody accidentally dropped a MongoDB database but executing db.dropDatabase(), how can he recover the database?

Dropping a database in MongoDB is simple, and t

Answer 1

I tried to reproduce what you had done. I killed a database using db.dropDatabase() after I had backed it up :-) The db name was 'gacheater'. Before dropping mongodb folder contained 3 files (the db is non-empty):

• gacheater.ns
• gacheater.1
• gacheater.2

after dropping these files disappeared. Therefore I think mongodb really removes your data.

So the only choice you have is to try to restore files from the filesystem

PS: MacOS 10.5, MongoDB 1.8.2

Answer 2

AFAIK most systems just mark the file as deleted, via a flag rather than actually overwriting it. It's possible to recover files with standard tools...

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linuxunix-recover-deleted-files.html

These might be easier to work with

http://extundelete.sourceforge.net/

As pointed out no substitute for backups.