Can't mount hard drive!

[knewhouse]

First off, I just wanted to make it clear that I have searched through many forums for a while, and I have not found any answers. So, I am hoping someone here can help me out with this headache of a problem.

I have an Arch Linux server running. It's been up for about six months now, with few issues. However, recently the location the server is in has had a few power outages. After one of the outages, my server stopped mounting the USB hard drive attached to it. I checked the hard drive in Windows, and all of the data is there, perfectly intact.

I run:

#mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /mnt/usb

#mount /dev/sda1 /media/external
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/external

I have also tried unmounting, but the system says that the drive isn't mounted (even though mtab thinks it is).

Here's my fstab:

 
devpts                 /dev/pts      devpts    defaults            0      0
shm                    /dev/shm      tmpfs     nodev,nosuid        0      0
/dev/sda1              /mnt/usb      ntfs      defaults  0 2

This is the way my fstab has always been. Do I need to change something in it?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Post the output of fdisk -l command here.

[knewhouse]

Hi, and thanks for the quick reply. Here's my fdisk -l.

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/mtdblock0: 1 MB, 1048576 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 0 cylinders, total 2048 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mtdblock0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/mtdblock2: 33 MB, 33554432 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4 cylinders, total 65536 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mtdblock2 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/mtdblock3: 95 MB, 95420416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 11 cylinders, total 186368 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mtdblock3 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2973ae33

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   976769023   488383488    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 2003 MB, 2003795968 bytes
32 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1941 cylinders, total 3913664 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0bb22328

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63     3913055     1956496+  83  Linux

The 500GB drive (sda) is the one I'm trying to mount. Thanks!

[atreyu]

What kind of file is your mtab?

ls -l /etc/mtab

What does your mtab file look like?

cat /etc/mtab

On some systems, /etc/mtab is a stand-alone file, but on others, it is a symlink to /proc/mounts (which I think is the preferred way to do it). If it is indeed a file, maybe move it to a temp file, like /etc/mtab.bak, then try to mount your USB drive.

If mtab is indeed a static, file, then if you check /proc/mounts, it should accurately reflect what is actually mounted, e.g.:

cat /proc/mounts

You can change the 6th column in your fstab line to be '0', as the NTFS filesystem does not need to be fscked, e.g.:

/dev/sda1              /mnt/usb      ntfs      defaults  0 0

[devils casper]

You should set umask=0 to enable read/write access for all users.

/dev/sda1       /mnt/usb    ntfs      defaults,umask=0   0  0

[knewhouse]

I edited fstab as devils casper recommended.

However, I'm having issues getting to my mtab. I try:

# ls -l /etc/mtab
ls: cannot access /etc/mtab: Input/output error

When I change directory to /etc and ls, I can see the mtab file. So it's there. But, If I try to edit it (nano /etc/mtab) all I get is a blank file (edit: it actually prompts me to create a new file). I tried sudo as well, still nothing. Any ideas? Is there something wrong with my mtab file?

EDIT: I just did this:

 #ls -l /etc

and this is what it shows for mtab:

 -????????? ? ?    ?         ?            ? mtab

Any suggestions?

[devils casper]

It looks like Machine wasn't shut down properly or for some other reason, /etc/mtab file has been corrupted.
Delete it, create a new empty file and reboot.

Run following commands as root user. Make sure to type correct command. There shouldn't be any typo.

rm -f /etc/mtab
touch /etc/mtab

Reboot machine.

[knewhouse]

# rm -f /etc/mtab
rm: cannot remove `/etc/mtab': Input/output error

I am logged in as root. Doesn't seem like it will let me delete the file, though.

Also, thanks for your continued help... I really appreciate it.

[MikeTbob]

I think the only way to delete that is by using a LiveCD. I noticed in your other forum threads that the problem went away and then came back..is that correct? Have you done a disk check on the drive? It might be failing.

[knewhouse]

Using a Live CD isn't really an option for me, I'm actually SSH'ing into the server remotely. Also, my server is actually a modified Pogoplug, so the capabilities are really limited on it (no DVD drive, and the whole OS is actually running from a flash drive).

The problem actually hasn't gone away at all, it just came and stayed Also, the disk drive is fine, had it unplugged and checked in a Windows machine.

If you know of another way I could delete the mtab or fix the issue, I would really appreciate it. Worst case scenario, I could always just do a clean install of Arch next time I'm physically at the server.