HD not fully found and cannot get enough for gparted to work

JimT_23 · 02-15-2023, 07:27 AM

Hi all, I have a hard drive that is undetectable by gparted and by windows and its utilities. A while back it was in a working linux system but because I was new to Linux I messed up the OS and so I just bout a new drive. But now I am trying to use it again as an external drive. I believe when I removed it I was able to wipe it using linux with ones and zeros.

So while trying some basic options to try an recognizance this I noticed when hook up to Linux, and I reboot my Linux system trys to boot into this one but fails, and it had a error line no fstab file or directory found.

here are some basic stuff I tried:

$ sudo fdisk -t /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for jand:
fdisk: unsupported disklabel: /dev/sdb

- - - - - - - next command - - - - - - - - -

$ lsblk
sda is my working hard drive not listed here
sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk

- - - - - - - next command - - - - - - - - -

$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
just clocks and clocks same issue with gparted and win 10 utilities

Thanks for any advice!

mrmazda · 02-15-2023, 02:52 PM

How are you trying to use it as an external drive? External drives need to get power from an external power source, or from a USB port that actually provides enough power for the drive. The latter excludes using USB2 ports, and some USB3 ports.

fatmac · 02-16-2023, 04:05 AM

Quote:

I believe when I removed it I was able to wipe it using linux with ones and zeros.

Possibly, you wiped the MBR, & all info about partitions, if so you will need to give it a new MBR or GPT table, format it with a new filesystem; then try to mount it.

syg00 · 02-17-2023, 12:29 AM

Tr gdisk rather than fdisk.

JimT_23 · 02-17-2023, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

Possibly, you wiped the MBR, & all info about partitions, if so you will need to give it a new MBR or GPT table, format it with a new filesystem; then try to mount it.

I think that is what happened, but if gparted wont recognize it how do I format it? this is the part that is confusing me. Thanks for the help!

JimT_23 · 02-17-2023, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

How are you trying to use it as an external drive? External drives need to get power from an external power source, or from a USB port that actually provides enough power for the drive. The latter excludes using USB2 ports, and some USB3 ports.

I have an adapter with a power adapter to an AC outlet the unit plugs into the drive then through a USB, I have other drives I read like this so I do know this adapter works. I think like was mentioned I did wipe the MBR. Now I am not sure how to create a new MBR

michaelk · 02-17-2023, 07:48 PM

What type of enclosure are using for the drive? I assume the drive is 3.5" but make/model number would help.
As posted internal drives require some sort of external power supply although something is being read because the drive size is being reported i.e. sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk

Check the output of the dmesg command to see if there are disk errors as well as running a smart test via smartctl.

mrmazda · 02-17-2023, 08:18 PM

When a partition table has been removed with disturbing data on the partitions themselves, a new table needs to be created with the exact same parameters as previously used. I have no knowledge of which partitioning tools are capable of this except for one: http://www.dfsee.com/. It used to be proprietary, but it was recently made free. To get author support for this particular process used to be required and covered by the license. How it works now I don't know. It may require a small fee to get a custom script that rebuilds the table correctly.

jailbait · 02-17-2023, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimT_23

if gparted wont recognize it how do I format it? this is the part that is confusing me. Thanks for the help!

use gdisk: https://ahelpme.com/linux/tips/repai...pt-with-gdisk/

also:
man gdisk

JimT_23 · 02-18-2023, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

What type of enclosure are using for the drive? I assume the drive is 3.5" but make/model number would help.
As posted internal drives require some sort of external power supply although something is being read because the drive size is being reported i.e. sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk

Check the output of the dmesg command to see if there are disk errors as well as running a smart test via smartctl.

Here is the dmesg output:

Code:

[76766.858272] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858286] buffer_io_error: 2 callbacks suppressed
[76766.858288] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858344] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858351] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858374] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858380] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858391] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
[76766.858405] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858411] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858433] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858438] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858460] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858465] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858485] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858490] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858499] Dev sdb: unable to read RDB block 0
[76766.858513] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858517] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858537] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858542] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
[76766.858571] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 24 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[76766.858576] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 3, async page read
[76766.858621]  sdb: unable to read partition table
[76766.858762] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
[76766.858767] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense not available.
[76766.858772] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)

JimT_23 · 02-18-2023, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jailbait

use gdisk: https://ahelpme.com/linux/tips/repai...pt-with-gdisk/

also:
man gdisk

Tried gdisk and it just clocks since there are no tables to read I am guessing just clocks for ever like gparted does.

rokytnji · 02-18-2023, 02:35 AM

Ran this bootable partition manager on a comapq cq-56 for more than 5 primary partitions. So the user could keep windows.

Won't hurt to try it I guess.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/3...ion-logic.html

If not. Maybe latest gparted might help

https://gparted.org/livecd.php

Code:

sudo parted -l

don't list the drive either?

fatmac · 02-18-2023, 04:13 AM

To create a new MBR, I use fdisk at the command line, use the 'o' option to set a new MBR, & if not confident using this program, use the 'w' option to write it to disk & quit the program, then you should be able to partition & format it with the program that you are most comfortable using.

JimT_23 · 02-18-2023, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

To create a new MBR, I use fdisk at the command line, use the 'o' option to set a new MBR, & if not confident using this program, use the 'w' option to write it to disk & quit the program, then you should be able to partition & format it with the program that you are most comfortable using.

Sorry, no go I tried every suggestion here.

JimT_23 · 02-18-2023, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

When a partition table has been removed with disturbing data on the partitions themselves, a new table needs to be created with the exact same parameters as previously used. I have no knowledge of which partitioning tools are capable of this except for one: http://www.dfsee.com/. It used to be proprietary, but it was recently made free. To get author support for this particular process used to be required and covered by the license. How it works now I don't know. It may require a small fee to get a custom script that rebuilds the table correctly.

So I was messing around a year ago with this HD and I wanted to remove all my personal info because I have a tendency to loose stuff. So all data was purposefully wiped thoroughly. It seems it did its job and not sure if it is possible to recreate with the same parameters how would we know what these even are now? So I might just buy a new drive and call it a day.