[kwlug-disc] Hard disk smartctl errors

Khalid Baheyeldin kb at 2bits.com
Wed Oct 15 20:51:49 EDT 2014


/dev/sdb2 is the problem partition.
Yes, it is the 3rd partition, but not the last one.

# fdisk /dev/sdb

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 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: 0x8baa29fc

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2048      409599      203776    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2          409600   926949375   463269888    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb3       926949376   976560127    24805376    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb4       976560128   976771119      105496    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

When I try to mount the partition, this is what I get:

# mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/tmp/
ntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read hiberfil.sys: Input/output error
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb2': Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it's 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 the device is a SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first activate it
and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for more details.

Looking at gddrescue examples, they all assume another disk with a
spare partition to recover to.

Not sure if that is the only way. Man pages are very basic. Checking
the info documents ...

On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 8:38 PM, Paul Nijjar <paul_nijjar at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>
> The first two partitions are mostly read partitions. The third one is
> written to more frequently.
>
> If the drive detects okay and mounts two partitions then I would use
> gddrescue to get as much data off as possible, and then photorec to
> try and get some files out (assuming that you need data, and if you
> don't then I presume this thread is just for fun).
>
> I use the instructions here:
>
> http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Ddrescue
>
> I have retrieved data from several bad drives (including clicky
> drives) using this tool.
>
> - Paul
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 12:00:08PM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
>> Reviving an old thread ...
>>
>> So, now I have another disk that is giving errors. It is an 2.5"
>> internal disk from a laptop of a family member.
>>
>> It has 3 NTFS partitions, one with the HP stuff on it, another which
>> is also a sort of system partition, and then a third which is the main
>> Windows partition.
>>
>> Even after freezing it, the 2 former partitions mount OK with no
>> errors. The 3rd (with the data on it) does not mount under ntfs-3g on
>> Linux and gives a lot of media errors.
>>
>> Why would one partition have the errors? Are partitions aligned with
>> cylinders? Or because it is the largest (400+GB out of a 500GB disk)
>> it has more chance of having errors due to size?
>>
>> Any other ideas?
>>
>
> --
> Need election information? Big list of resources here:
> http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/showthread.php?tid=149
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc mailing list
> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org



-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
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