[SOLVED] External Hard Drive failure

Eupator · 10-20-2012, 06:15 PM

Hi all,

I have an HDD Gear Pro 1TB external HD. It is formatted in ext2. Recently, it has stopped mounting, with this error:

Code:

# mount -t ext2 /dev/sdb1 /media/usb0
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb1,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

I ran e2fsck on it, but it complained:

Code:

# e2fsck /dev/sdb1 -y         
e2fsck 1.42.6 (21-Sep-2012)
e2fsck: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/sdb1
Could this be a zero-length partition?

So I ran it with an alternate superblock:

Code:

# e2fsck /dev/sdb1 -b 32768 -y
/dev/sdb1 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Free blocks count wrong for group #0 (31223, counted=0).
Fix? yes

( . . . many lines omitted for brevity . . . )

Free inodes count wrong for group #7447 (8192, counted=8189).
Fix? yes

Directories count wrong for group #7447 (0, counted=1).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong (61054965, counted=61000828).
Fix? yes


/dev/sdb1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sdb1: 54148/61054976 files (1.4% non-contiguous), 130432233/244190000 blocks

I get similar results no matter how many times I run e2fsck, but the drive still won't mount.

Finally, I tried to mount with alternate superblock:

Code:

# mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb0 -o sb=32768 -t ext2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb1,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

. . . and now I'm not sure where to go. I've read that smartctl is useful in documenting these issues, but I really don't have any idea how, so I'll post the output:

Code:

#smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [i686-linux-3.2.29-smp] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     WL1000GSA3272
Serial Number:    WOL240121613
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 00187638d
Firmware Version: 05.00K05
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Sat Oct 20 19:09:06 2012 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x84)	Offline data collection activity
					was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
					Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
					without error or no self-test has ever 
					been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection: 		(18600) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
					Suspend Offline collection upon new
					command.
					Offline surface scan supported.
					Self-test supported.
					Conveyance Self-test supported.
					Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
					power-saving mode.
					Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 ( 214) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x303f)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
					SCT Feature Control supported.
					SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   229   229   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       8550
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       315
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       270
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       293
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       204
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       315
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   101   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       49
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Conveyance offline  Completed without error       00%        17         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Any pointers are much appreciated!

aetratus · 10-20-2012, 07:38 PM

Start here: http://linuxcat.org/showthread.php?tid=45

You're going to want to do

Quote:

smartctl -t long /dev/sdb

then

Quote:

smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdb

Eupator · 10-20-2012, 11:44 PM

I ran both commands, and got this:

Code:

# smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdb
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [i686-linux-3.2.29-smp] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       90%       270         68
# 2  Conveyance offline  Completed without error       00%        17         -

onebuck · 10-21-2012, 06:21 AM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Linux-Hardware> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

H_TeXMeX_H · 10-21-2012, 07:36 AM

The extended test failed, this means the drive is failing. If you still have important info on the disk, either carve the data off it using testdisk or foremost, or image the drive using ddrescue to a larger drive, and then carve the data off.

Eupator · 10-21-2012, 09:46 AM

Thanks, even though that isn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

Unfortunately, I don't have any drive larger than 1 TB available as a destination for ddrescue. Other than shelling out the money for a 1.5 TB, is there a way around this issue?

H_TeXMeX_H · 10-21-2012, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eupator

Thanks, even though that isn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

Unfortunately, I don't have any drive larger than 1 TB available as a destination for ddrescue. Other than shelling out the money for a 1.5 TB, is there a way around this issue?

Yes, use testdisk or foremost to carve data off the failing drive and onto a good drive. The good drive just has to contain the carved data, so unless the 1 TB drive is full, it should work fine with a smaller drive. Carved data means the files that it can find on the failing drive.

Eupator · 10-23-2012, 01:29 PM

Unfortunately, it seems testdisk cannot list or recover my files. Still, I'll count this thread as "solved," with a reminder to backup your files.

H_TeXMeX_H · 10-24-2012, 02:14 AM

Try foremost, maybe it can do something:
http://foremost.sourceforge.net/
I've had better luck with it personally.