Can't read Linux formatted External HDD

-TangleFoot-

Haven't the foggiest. Taken a look at fstab yet?

debitcardmayhem

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Haven't the foggiest. Taken a look at fstab yet?

Won't be there yet , its still unmounted. Looks like there are some orphan inodes .Lucian you could try running without the -n i.e. it will try and recover stuff but I cannot promise it will, I am 8 years out of being caring about no pain no gain :cool: depends on how important the files I would personally in my case go !!!! and try it but it is your call for now , I will look again tomorrow if you want to wait for others to look too

LucianH

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Won't be there yet , its still unmounted. Looks like there are some orphan inodes .Lucian you could try running without the -n i.e. it will try and recover stuff but I cannot promise it will, I am 8 years out of being caring about no pain no gain :cool: depends on how important the files I would personally in my case go !!!! and try it but it is your call for now , I will look again tomorrow if you want to wait for others to look too

Thanks - sound like it's time for the horlicks and put the night cap on. Will build up the courage to have a go tomorrow. Would still like to understand the different recovery tools as I mentioned above (xfs_repair, fsck or gpart's "Attempt data rescue..") so if any of the all nighters have got any thoughts I would appriciate it.

debitcardmayhem

LucianH wrote: »

Thanks - sound like it's time for the horlicks and put the night cap on. Will build up the courage to have a go tomorrow. Would still like to understand the different recovery tools as I mentioned above (xfs_repair, fsck or gpart's "Attempt data rescue..") so if any of the all nighters have got any thoughts I would appriciate it.

Gparted and fsck should call the xfs_* routines for xfs filesystems, just a frontend really , the underlying routines are the xfs_* built in to the kernel. As I said I would go for it anyway but it depends if the files you have are irreplaceable. Generally any orphans will hopefully end up in the lost+found directory on the disk , but whether they are readable is another thing. Good luck ....

-TangleFoot-

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Won't be there yet , its still unmounted.

The instructions mentioned editing, though that may not even be relevant at this juncture. Gpart isn't quite the same thing as GParted is it?

I'm more worried about the DRM.

tombruton87

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

That won't help it's an xfs filesystem, looks like Lucian needs to do a fsck let me have a look for the options for xfs

sorry didnt read properly

LucianH

Bit more info if it helps - ran sudo xfs_check /dev/sde1 and it produced the following:

xfs_check: read failed: Input/output error
XFS: failed to find log head
ERROR: cannot find log head/tail, run xfs_repair

I'm phsycing myself up to running xfs_repair but am still nervous. What I don't want to happen is what you sometimes get with file recovery stuff where you end up with RecoveredFIle001, RecoveredFile002 etc etc. I want to be able to reconstruct as much of the file structure/system as possible. I'm assumig that xfs_repair will attempt to do this.

-TangleFoot-

If you ever get something usable out of it, suggest you take a look at this.

LucianH

Sorry guys, really need a bit more help.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and have a go at restoring whatever files are on the drive. However, having looked at the various options previously mentioned, Linux has proved to be a life-changing experience; behind this supposedly techie facade of mine, I've finally discovered that deep down inside I'm a techie woose - all those command line switches are sooo scary! So I took the easy GUI way out and decided to try the "Attempt data rescue" function in Gparted.

Oh, and to answer the question:

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Gpart isn't quite the same thing as GParted is it?

when I first tried to run "Attempt data rescue" from Gparted, it said that I had to install Gpart. So a "sudo apt-get install gpart" got it working.

Now, the Gparted manual states that "Large disk devices can take a very long time to scan"... and it ain't wrong. Must have been running for approx 5 hours before it came up with the helpful statement that no file system could be found.

The Gparted manual makes reference to PhotoRec to attempt to recover files but this is where I need further advice. The Photorec webpage states that the following file systems are supported:

- FAT,
- NTFS,
- EXT2/EXT3 filesystem
- HFS+

But it doesn't mention XFS - is this a "subset" of one of the ones mentioned?

Also, if Gparted didn't have any success, will xfs_repair have more success and, if so, help with the myriad of command line switches (in layman terms) would be welcome.

debitcardmayhem

Have a look at this http://docs.cray.com/books/S-2377-22/html-S-2377-22/z1029470303.html then the next section tells you about errors found....
Make sure the filesystem is not mounted(7.6.2)