No, please stop.

You don't want to create an image.

You haven't followed the instructions properly - you do not select Image Creation, you select List.

In this string of output I posted you will see that I did select /dev/sda

USB stick has now been formatted to EXT4

Right, go back and follow the instructions please.

You can see from the last output from running testdisk that I got to the point of being asked where to store what had been recovered but there was no option to store it to the USB. maybe I should store it over the Mar 31 file and then copy from there to the USB?

OK I stopped but List is not one of the options presented:

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63

Partition Start End Size in sectors
> 1 P EFI System 2048 1050623 1048576 [EFI System Partiti
2 P Unknown 1050624 968617983 967567360
3 P Linux Swap 968617984 976771071 8153088












[ Type ] >[Image Creation] [ Quit ]
Create an image

From what I see, the output showed that you had selected "Image Creation" at the bottom, and not "List" which recovers a specific file. That is incorrect.

No, do not save anything to your computer.

Which partition did you choose? You want #2 (/dev/sda2).

But I don't see List anywhere on that screen.

Because you chose partition #1, the EFI partition, not #2, your / partition.

I don't see /dev/sda2

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

TestDisk is free software, and
comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

Select a media (use Arrow keys, then press Enter):
>Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - HGST HTS545050A7E680
Disk /dev/sdb - 8004 MB / 7634 MiB - Lexar USB Flash Drive




>[Proceed ] [ Quit ]

Note: Disk capacity must be correctly detected for a successful recovery.
If a disk listed above has incorrect size, check HD jumper settings, BIOS
detection, and install the latest OS patches and disk drivers.

Look at post #65. You see "2 P Unknown 1050624 968617983 967567360"? Choose it.

OK did that and got this output

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015

Please select where to store the file image.dd (495394 MB), an image of the
partition
Keys: Arrow keys to select another directory
C when the destination is correct
Q to quit
Directory /home/drew
>drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 31-Mar-2018 17:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 4096 19-Oct-2017 19:23 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 31-Mar-2018 17:35 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Music
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 31-Mar-2018 16:58 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Public
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 1001 1001 4096 26-Mar-2018 15:46 Videos
-rw-r--r-- 1001 1001 934 31-Mar-2018 16:46 testdisk.log

No, you've selected "Image Creation" again, and not "List".

But look again at post #65 at the bottom. I don't see a List option.

Look, let's start again.

Quit testdisk, then start it up again.

Only post one screen at a time and wait for me to tell you what to do before doing it and then posting the next screen.

Is that ok with you?