Yesterday I was trying to clean out the `/home` directory of my desktop-turned-homelab. I saw a bunch of .zip files prefixed `drive-download-*` in my Downloads which totalled around 100 GB, which I probably downloaded when Google reduced my storage limits after my graduation.
I thought that I already backed those photos up to my network storage, and a quick check with `unzip -l` confirmed that ONE of the videos was already backed up. Pretty confident, I mindlessly `rm -rf`'d it. I saw another .zip file with an unfamiliar prefix, and tried to upload the photos inside. I then discovered that I haven't backed that up before.
A chill suddenly went down my spine. I checked one (1) zip file and deleted dozens (>1), without checking each one individually. Part of 6 years of my university life and travel photos potentially gone. I froze for a few minutes before shutting down the server and booting to a live USB. By that point, it was already too late. Nothing came up from `extundelete`.
I could try comforting myself and say that I probably have backed up all those pictures and videos, but there's really no way to know for sure. I just hope that I could feel that lesson in my bones, that data is more precious than unused storage.
Don't delete random archive files without inspection!!!