SOLVED: External Seagate 500 GB USB hard drive will not mount

[sueharris59]

I have an external Seagate 500 GB USB hard drive that was attached to a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop when the laptop battery ran out of power. When I plugged the laptop into the wall and rebooted, the external hd would not mount. I attached the external hd to the desktop and it won't mount there either.

I had just installed PCLINUXOS 2009 (Free) [with KDE version 3.5.10 Release 2.6.26.8.tex3] to the desktop computer the day before. I'm a novice user in LINUX so it took me a few days to look on the Web to find a few sites that would help me figure out what might be wrong. Many of the answers I found indicated that a power failure causes a failure of the disk to mount. I am trying to diagnose and solve the problem as conservatively as I possibly can so I don't damage any of the data on the drive.

You might wonder if I have a backup of the data and couldn't I just restore from that? Well, this IS the backup of the contents of the entire user data on the internal hard drive on the computer from before the PCLINUXOS install. What was on the internal drive is now wiped out and gone. I really need to do what I can to get access to the external drive without damaging it any further.


Here's the error when I try to mount the hd, and the sequence of what I've tried:

----> mount in Konsole:

[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sdd1/
mount: can't find /dev/sdd1/ in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab


----> mount from Konqueror:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdd1, missing codepage or helper program, or other error In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so

I tried their suggestion:

----> dmesg:

[root@localhost ~]# dmesg | tail
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 1c 00 00 00
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] 976773168 512-byte hardware sectors (500108 MB)
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 1c 00 00 00
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through sdd: sdd1
sd 19:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
sd 19:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete


It is useful that it sees the disk is there, even though it won't mount.


----> fdisk:

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

… [snip: sda, sdb, & sdc] …

Disk /dev/sdd: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa25c73bd

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1               1       60801   488384001   83  Linux

I Googled the  “mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock...”   error message and found several pages that had suggestions on how to fix it. I tried the ones that sounded nondestructive that would give me information on the condition of the drive and its contents:


----> fsck:

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -n /dev/sdd1
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck.jfs version 1.1.11, 05-Jun-2006
processing started: 3/21/2010 18.10.32
The current device is:  /dev/sdd1
Block size in bytes:  4096
Filesystem size in blocks:  122096000
**Phase 1 - Check Blocks, Files/Directories, and  Directory Entries
**Phase 2 - Count links
**Phase 3 - Duplicate Block Rescan and Directory Connectedness
**Phase 4 - Report Problems
**Phase 5 - Check Connectivity
**Phase 6 - Perform Approved Corrections
**Phase 7 - Verify File/Directory Allocation Maps
Errors detected in the Fileset File/Directory Allocation Map control information. (F)
**Phase 8 - Verify Disk Allocation Maps
Incorrect data detected in disk allocation structures.
Incorrect data detected in disk allocation control structures.
488384000 kilobytes total disk space.
    60133 kilobytes in 16587 directories.
347770039 kilobytes in 317414 user files.
        0 kilobytes in extended attributes
   230426 kilobytes reserved for system use.
140443668 kilobytes are available for use.
File system checked READ ONLY.
Filesystem is dirty.
Filesystem is dirty but is marked clean.  In its present state,
the results of accessing /dev/sdd1 (except by this utility) are undefined.

The fact that it can find 317414 user files means that my data must still be there! But the messages “Incorrect data detected...” and “Filesystem is dirty but is marked clean.” sound bad.


----> e2fsck:

[root@localhost ~]# e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/sdd1
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdd1

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

(but it doesn't matter what number I put for the block number, everything I try gives the same message.)


----> sudo:
sudo badblocks -snv /dev/sdd1

After 25 hours of random read and write trials, it came back with no errors to report.


I would appreciate any directions you can give me that will help me get my data back. Thank you very much for your consideration. --Sue

[muungwana]

it looks like you have looked into this, congratulations .. more of people like you and i might never reach 10,000 post counts

your hard drive was not properly shut down and it probably has errors on it and "fsck" should clean it up for.

make sure that hard drive is not mounted and run the following command as root user.

fsck -f /dev/sdd1

this thread has more info of what you should see: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,65685.msg532883.html#msg532883

[Old-Polack]

sueharris59:

Follow the instructions of muungwana, and take note of the fact that the first fsck you ran indicated the filesystem used is JFS not ext. Running e2fsck wouldn't work on a JFS filesystem no matter what you did.

[sueharris59]

Dear muungwana and old-polack,

Thank you so much for telling me what needed to be done. I was afraid to do anything I wasn't sure of to repair it. The -f did the job.

I have my data back again!

Sue

[menotu]

Firstly - big welcome to the forum.

So pleased you got your drive and data back!

You might wonder if I have a backup of the data and couldn't I just restore from that? Well, this IS the backup of the contents of the entire user data on the internal hard drive on the computer from before the PCLINUXOS install. What was on the internal drive is now wiped out and gone

One further addition - you don't have a backup if you only have ONE copy of the data (I know, this was a backup of your wiped internal disk) but as soon as you wiped your internal disk you no longer had a backup in the true sense of the word. True data security states you should make a further backup when removing the original in case of of unforeseen things happening (such as you've just found out) even backing up to CD/DVD or USB Sticks. would be fine.

Anyway, all's well that end well    

BTW, are you aware that PCLinuxOS has a new 2010 version available? Its currently at Beta 2 (pclinuxos-2010-beta2.iso) with the final version coming out (most likely) within a week or so.

If you are aware of that and are planning on installing it you may not want to invest toooo much time on 2009.2

Also, an install is essential as 2009.2 can't be updated to the 2010 version

I had just installed PCLINUXOS 2009 (Free)

All PClinuxOS  versions are free.

[sueharris59]

menotu:

Thank you for the welcome.

RE: 2010 version.   Yes, I think I had heard that it was in the Beta stage. Being a bit of a novice, I think I'll use the 2009 version for a while. In case I run into trouble again, I'm thinking that all you experts probably know 2009 like the back of your hand, but there will probably be a bit of a learning curve for the 2010.

RE: Free
Yes, I knew PCLINUXOS is all free, I was just reporting it the way it says on the About screen of the PCLOX Control Center.

Sue

[sueharris59]

So I booted from the live PCL CD, logged in as ROOT, and tried the fsck -l command.
It does nothing.

Sue

[Old-Polack]

So I booted from the live PCL CD, logged in as ROOT, and tried the fsck -l command.
It does nothing.

Sue

Maybe that's because there is no such thing as a fsck -l command.

What is it you want to do?  

[sueharris59]

(oops. sorry. I confused the fsck command with fdisk -l)

fdisk -l   returns info for
sda1   61.4 GB     Linux swap / Solaris    (Internal HD)
and
sdb1   500.1 GB   Linux   (external HD)
 
I tried fsck -f /dev/sda1

It returns:

fsck 1.41.6 *30-May-2009)
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda1

fsck -f /dev/sdb1    runs fine. "Filesystem is clean."

fsck -f /dev/sda2   Has Superblock error

fsck -f /dev/sda3   Has Superblock error


Sue

[Old-Polack]

(oops. sorry. I confused the fsck command with fdisk -l)

fdisk -l   returns info for
sda1   61.4 GB     Linux swap / Solaris    (Internal HD)
and
sdb1   500.1 GB   Linux   (external HD)
  
I tried fsck -f /dev/sda1

It returns:

fsck 1.41.6 *30-May-2009)
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda1

fsck -f /dev/sdb1    runs fine. "Filesystem is clean."

fsck -f /dev/sda2   Has Superblock error

fsck -f /dev/sda3   Has Superblock error


Sue

All of which means nothing to any of us, so is worthless. Post the prompt, command, and results as a copy/paste so we see exactly what you see. Do this for all commands involved. Your interpretation of the results, again, means nothing.

If you want help, we need real information.  

[sueharris59]

Sorry again.

This computer is not the computer having the problem. The computer with the problem is not connecting to the internet with the live CD.
What should I do?

[Old-Polack]

Sorry again.

This computer is not the computer having the problem. The computer with the problem is not connecting to the internet with the live CD.
What should I do?

Is there a problem recognizing the hardware? Possibly a newer liveCD would help. The new 2010 images have been released with newer kernels, better drivers, and capable of much better hardware detection.

[sueharris59]

I copied the text to a thumb drive to transfer to this computer.


[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe64a4d43

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        7476    60050938+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x01393187

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       60801   488384001   83  Linux
[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda1
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda1

[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda2
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda3
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda3

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>


Thanks,

Sue

[pags]

I copied the text to a thumb drive to transfer to this computer.


[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe64a4d43

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        7476    60050938+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x01393187

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       60801   488384001   83  Linux
[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda1
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda1

[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda2
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[root@localhost root]# fsck -f /dev/sda3
fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda3

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>


Thanks,

Sue

You only have two partitions (on two drives...one per drive)

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sda1, which is labeled as a swap partition (used for virtual memory).  There is no

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fsck utility for swap...it is all transient data.  If something happens to it, it is easier to recreate the partition (

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mkswp) than it is to try and recover outdated information...

You tried to do

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fsck on sda2 and sda3, but they do not exist (they never were listed by

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fdisk -l).

The other single partition is

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sdb1.  Is this your external drive you backed up to, or is it internal?  If it's internal, I presume that is were you installed PCLOS.  If it is external, then there isn't anywhere to install to

[sueharris59]

Then this is not good.  It was partitioned with sdb1 for swap, sda1 for root, and sda2 for userfiles. Where did the partitions go?
sdb here should be sdc and is the external Seagate.
And why is the loss of power so destructive?