Recovering data from an external hard drive

[dhw682]

So, I'm pretty new to linux and I've been told that sometimes you can recover data using linux.

I have an external hard drive that I used with my windows computer. Awhile ago it started giveing me an error saying that the drive is not yet formatted.

I plugged the hard drive into my Ubuntu linux computer and it cannot mount the volume the details are as follows:

ntfs_attr_pread: ntfs_pread failed: input/output error failed to
read first NTFS_BLOCK_SIZE bytes of potential restart page.
Failed to mount '/dev/sdc1': operation not supported Mount is
denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one
action: Choice 1: if you have windows then disconnect the
external devices then shutdown windows cleanly. Choice 2:
if you don't have windows then you can use 'force' option for your on responsibility. For example type on the command line: mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1/media/Dan's External Hard Drive -o force or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc.fstab file: /dev/sdc1/mediaDan's External HArd Drive ntfs-3g force 0 0

So, I figured how to get to the root user and tried to do the 'force' option but I really wasn't sure if I was doing it right

any input would be appreciated. I'd love to get my pictures and music back!

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Open Terminal and execute this

sudo umount /dev/sdac1
sudo mkdir /media/external
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1  /media/external -o defaults,force,umask=0
cd /media/external
ls

In case it doesn't work, execute this

sudo fdisk -l
df -h

Post output here.

[dhw682]

I put the outputs of both commands below. I was able to get the top one before but didn't know what it meant.

outputs:

dwojno@dwojno:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1 /media/external -o defaults,force,umask=0 cd /media/external
Usage: mount -V : print version
mount -h : print this help
mount : list mounted filesystems
mount -l : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
mount device : mount device at the known place
mount directory : mount known device here
mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
mount --move olddir newdir
One can change the type of mount containing the directory dir:
mount --make-shared dir
mount --make-slave dir
mount --make-private dir
mount --make-unbindable dir
One can change the type of all the mounts in a mount subtree
containing the directory dir:
mount --make-rshared dir
mount --make-rslave dir
mount --make-rprivate dir
mount --make-runbindable dir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd].
For many more details, say man 8 mount .
dwojno@dwojno:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Examples Music Pictures Public Templates Videos


dwojno@dwojno:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2e3bc032

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 4 32098+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 5 4680 37559970 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 4681 4863 1469947+ 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdc: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000098ec

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 19929 160079661 7 HPFS/NTFS
dwojno@dwojno:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 35G 2.7G 31G 9% /
varrun 501M 100K 501M 1% /var/run
varlock 501M 0 501M 0% /var/lock
udev 501M 52K 501M 1% /dev
devshm 501M 40K 501M 1% /dev/shm
gvfs-fuse-daemon 35G 2.7G 31G 9% /home/dwojno/.gvfs
dwojno@dwojno:~$


the 163 gig is the external hard drive

[devils casper]

sudo mount and cd are two different commands. Execute both one by one.

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1  /media/external -o defaults,force,umask=0

cd /media/external
ls

[dhw682]

dwojno@dwojno:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1
[sudo] password for dwojno:
Usage: mount -V : print version
mount -h : print this help
mount : list mounted filesystems
mount -l : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
mount device : mount device at the known place
mount directory : mount known device here
mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
mount --move olddir newdir
One can change the type of mount containing the directory dir:
mount --make-shared dir
mount --make-slave dir
mount --make-private dir
mount --make-unbindable dir
One can change the type of all the mounts in a mount subtree
containing the directory dir:
mount --make-rshared dir
mount --make-rslave dir
mount --make-rprivate dir
mount --make-runbindable dir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd].
For many more details, say man 8 mount .
dwojno@dwojno:~$ /media/external -o defaults,force,unmask=0
bash: /media/external: is a directory
dwojno@dwojno:~$ cd /media/external
dwojno@dwojno:/media/external$ ls
dwojno@dwojno:/media/external$

[Jonathan183]

dwojno@dwojno:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1
[sudo] password for dwojno:
....
dwojno@dwojno:~$ /media/external -o defaults,force,unmask=0

You need to use ...

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1  /media/external -o defaults,force,umask=0

type all the text on one line ... then press return

[dhw682]

Gotcha, well below is the output... doesn't look promising

dwojno@dwojno:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdc1 /media/external -o defaults,force,umask=0
[sudo] password for dwojno:
ntfs_attr_pread: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read first NTFS_BLOCK_SIZE bytes of potential restart page.
WARNING: Forced mount, reset $LogFile.
ntfs_attr_pread: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read NTFS $Bitmap: Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or you have hardware faults, or you have a
SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows
then reboot into Windows TWICE. The usage of the /f parameter is very
important! If you have SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first you must activate
it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for the details.
dwojno@dwojno:~$

[devils casper]

Either Partition or Harddisk has problems. Execute chkdsk /f command in Windows Repair shell. You can use Windows Installation CD to boot up in Repair shell.

[dhw682]

sounds good, I'll give it a try. Thanks for your help!

[jmadero]

anyone know why there isn't an equivalent in Linux for chkdsk /f to scan ntfs partitoins? I've had a couple partitions have these kinds of problems and it's always a pain having to dig through boxes to find my XP cd...since I never use it....in order to run one command