LinuxQuestions.org - DD Image mounting & fsck issues

I have an image that I need to restore to a drive. I have been told by someone who talked to the guy who created it that it's a dd image.

If I run 'file filename' I get back the following:

Code:

filename: Linux rev 1.0 ext3 filesystem data (needs journal recovery) (large files)

So then I run 'e2fsck -v -b 32768 filename' on it and then when I do 'file filename' I get:

Code:

filename: Linux rev 1.0 ext3 filesystem data

So far, so good. At this point if I try to mount the file to a loop device:

Code:

mount -t ext3 -o loop filename mountpoint

I get the following error:
EXT3-fs: journal inode is deleted.
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop0
and etc.

I have also tried to do it the following way:

Code:

losetup /dev/loop0 filename

If I run the mount before I do the e2fsck, I get something similar also at that point.

If I try to run fsck on the image I get:

Code:

The filesystem size (according to the superblock) is 28760366 blocks.

The physical size of the device is 27951243 blocks.

Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt!

Abort?

If I hit no, I have to sit there and click Y for a TON of inodes. When I was trying that I balanced a screwdriver on the Y key and came back a while later.

About My System:
It's a simple Athlon 1.2GHz nothing special running Fedora Core 3.
It's a fresh install.
The image, if you wondered came off a Dell server about two hours away from here. The goal is to image a drive and be able to do some development and whatnot without bringing the production server down... or having to drive out there, etc.
I do NOT know if the dd image was of the entire drive, or just the root partition, and there really is no way of finding this out as the contractor who did it is in the midst of being fired, and he knows it.

Hopefully someone has been through something similar and can help me out. Suggetions are welcome and well appreciated. I've been googling all sorts of info for the past few days when I get time, but I never seem to get any farther.

If I can't get this to work, I have to start this server from scratch, which I'd like to avoid.

Anyway, TIA!