Two near-disasters in two weeks - what's the most panic-inducing mistake you've made on Linux?

[hydn (Hayden James)]

This is always a fun topic.

@Zulan

Felt like an idiot but also learned more about fstab in 30 minutes than I had in months.

This is the important part!

@tkn

including the desktop

Yikes!

@ugnvs

Lazy admin backed up the main server but neglected to turn it off afterwards!

That’s crazy! lol I think we have a similar thread, where I shared mine, let me see if I can find it and at least link to two together.

Edit: Ah, here we are. Crosslinking these threads below, also check them out and continue the discusss:

Linux Confession Booth

Welcome to the Linux Confession Booth. Share one Linux habit, mistake, shortcut, superstition, or “I know this is wrong but I still do it” that you are guilty of. We listen, we don’t judge, mostly.

What are the top 3 or so Linux do's (or don'ts) you've learned over the years?

Besides of course rm -rf / What are other huge must-do’s or mistakes that every new Linux user should avoid?

Only realized my error after the machine was nuked

Dang, I carelessly typed a find command to delete some stuff on an nfs server and only realized my error after the machine was nuked. Good thing I had redundant copies on other machines in the lan. Rebuilding machines, restoring files, good times. I needed a hobby.