Deleted every file by accident, any chance I can save this?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
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I accidentally ran xargs -a file.txt rm -v, which I think probably deleted every file. Everything was saying "not found" and ssh access was lost. Ever since a reboot, the router provides no wifi or connectivity.

Is there are any chance I can save this?

I do have every file of the router stored on my computer. Not just the backup.

My router is WNDR3800-CH

I tried to enter into factory reset, but when I press the reset button I managed to get the status light to blink rapidly, nonstop, for hours, I don't know if that is factory reset or if it's stuck or if it's failsafe mode. Setting my ip address to 192.168.1.2 doesn't give me back access to the router

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Status light blinking rapidly means it is in failsafe mode. I think that only ssh, not the webgui, is available in failsafe mode.

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You can still restore factory defaults. No way to revive erased flash blocks.

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not sure what you mean about reviving erased flashblocks, but I take it that you are suggesting that failsafe mode won't fix it and I have to factory reset

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thanks to that I can ssh into the router and easily restore it into factory settings. Biggest thank you

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I am now trying to understand what happened becaus the files are still there, but commands like ls still don't work. But rsync works (how convenient).

The file.txt I provided doesn't exist. What was supposed to be deleted is still there

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Yes and that is what you should do. If you rewrite every file they would all be in the overlay and that will probably run out of flash space. Reset to factory then restore your config files and reinstall any extra packages.

I would suggest a sysupgrade re-flash without running mount_root, as the firstboot process does depend on having some things in the filesystem.

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Is there any way I can still use my backup, at least to some extent, without increasing the storage of the router?

Like I could for example copy the config files instead of having to type them again manually, copy and paste, or doing it through luci. Maybe there's some files I can copy from my backup and some that I can't? I don't fully understand why I would have the problem you are describing, since copy and pasting the contents I feel like should achieve the same result as replacing the file

Unless there's files in my backup you are saying won't be present in openwrt. In that case I case I can use the backup only for files that exist. Either recursively or cherry pick them.

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After it's back to factory, copying all the files in /etc/config will cover most things. Some packages may have files in other places. The files in /lib/upgrade/keep.d are lists of directories and files that will be tarred up into the backup file by sysupgrade -b

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