Recover data from a dropped/truncated MySQL table

Question

I just spend a few hours putting together a table full of data, and just decided to drop a WP installation in the same database. I expected WordPress to leave my table as it was and simply add the WP_* tables, but apparently the install wiped my database before installing the wordpress tables.

I have full access to the server root. Is there any way for me to recover this table?

Answer 1

I'm sorry, but that can't be done. Once a table is truncated or dropped everything is gone.

The only way to get it back would be recovering the database files from the disk, but that is not very reliable. To do that, you first have to find out where the MySQL's data files are (see this), then try using a file recovery tool to get them back. Good luck.

Another one who learns to back up the hard way.