Losing data is one of the worst things that can happen to you especially if you haven't used a backup solution.

Stellar Phoenix Linux is a fully automatic Linux data recovery software for Ext2, Ext3 and Reiser FS file system volumes. It's designed to deal with the particular needs of Linux users which differ than those of Windows users - e.g. you're far less likely to need it for virus attacks or security breaches like Windows users often suffer.

The program automatically recognizes lost partitions, volumes, files and folders on IDE/EIDE/ATA & SCSI hard drive media. It works with most major Linux releases including Red Hat, Suse, Caldera, SCO, Debian, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo and more. If you've had a partition deleted, it also allows you to recover data from damaged or partially deleted sectors.

Although the interface differs from the Windows GUI version somewhat, it's still extremely easy to use. You are provided with advanced File Mask options according to file name, size and date and any scanning process can be halted at any time to view the results and the log generated can be saved as a file. Although it claims to be able to recover large fragmented files, user opinions differ to how far this definition of big goes - anything bigger than a GB or so and you may be out of luck but it's worth a try nevertheless.

With very few Linux data recovery solutions out there, this utility is certainly worth a try for anyone who has suffered the worst.