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unknown contents of hdd

unknown contents of hdd

Hi,

I formatted an external hdd and seemed to have successfully transferred many files to it. However it's icon doesn't show up on my desktop now. and Gparted claims the thing is "Unallocated". Is that certain there's nothing on there?

Thanks.

Have a read of this current thread.

Thanks for yor interest.

I think i know what you asked me to do; but i don't know what to make of it?

nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/nnjond/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=nnjond)
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ea053

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 60239 483864576 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 60239 60802 4519937 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 60239 60802 4519936 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007e67e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$

are files lossed

Hi,

I formated an external hdd and seemed to have successfully transfered many files to it. However it's icon doesnt show up on my desktop now. and Gparted claims the thing is "Unallocated". Is that certain there's nothing on there?

I hope this will tell you and me:

nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/nnjond/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=nnjond)
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for nnjond:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ea053

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 60239 483864576 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 60239 60802 4519937 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 60239 60802 4519936 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007e67e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$

Thanks.

Quote:

However it's icon doesnt show up on my desktop now.

Are you sure that disk is properly mounted?

Try on other system.

Rescue software may help restoring things.

Note that ext4 is newer fs and may contain bugs, while older versions of Gparted may not recognise it..

Thanks for your interest. How do i make sure it's properly mounted?

nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=3c30ba43-6de6-4e68-856b-e5495254bbfa / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=2c3e1b82-4ea9-4e53-82ab-718d9d6e465f none swap sw 0 0
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$

First, don't do anything that would cause a write to that drive. You can't mount it with no partitions but I would also keep it turned OFF.

We'll need to know the exact steps you followed getting to the current state. For example, did you ever verify that the files were on the drive? If so , what happened after?
How many partitions did you create on the drive? and how were they formatted?
etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yooy (Post 4032137)

Are you sure that disk is properly mounted?

Try on other system.

Since fdisk does not show any partitions, how would he be able to mount it? (Unless maybe it was not partitioned at all...?)

To the OP:
Answer the questions in my other post before proceeding.

I think that's the prob . i didn't partition it.

I used a live cd to copy across files from hdd a, to hdd b. with sudo privlliges, and they seem to have arrived. The format on hdd b was not a Fat, it was Ex 4, or ntfs I'm not sure if i can tell it showed up in fstab. Please tell me how i might manually mount this hdd b.

Thanks again.

So you did format it with a filesystem??

Note: Your earlier fdisk output shows sda and sdc (What else is on the system?---i.e. why no sdb?)

Try mounting the drive as follows:

Code:

cd /mnt

sudo mkdir ext_drive

sudo mount /dev/sdb ext_drive

cd ext_drive

ls

If that doesn't work, do the same thing, but use /dev/sdc (typo fixed here)

i removed a pen drive and it now shows up as sdb in gparted.

nnjond@nnjond-desktop:~$ cd /mnt
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:/mnt$ sudo mkdir ext_drive
[sudo] password for nnjond:
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:/mnt$ sudo mount /dev/sdb ext_drive
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
nnjond@nnjond-desktop:/mnt$

How do i add or try the filesys types?

which returns us the the question: "Did you format it with a filesystem?"

Look at the man page for the "mount" command for info on how to specify a filesystem.

I wasn't actually asking you to do anything (for me), just pointed you to that thread for some background info that might have been useful.
Presuming Ubuntu try this from a terminal (note the code tags - use them in future when posting output pls).

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt

ls /mnt

@Pixellany:
nnjond's first post states that he formatted the HD. Can one format without a filesystem?

@nnjond
As there are currently no partitions on your disk, it's my guess that the partition table got corrupted. I'm not sure if it can be recovered without additional risks.
I think it's time to install some recovery software on your system (NOT on the external HD) and see how far you get with that; yooy already mentioned it. testdisk and photorec come to mind.

My last attempt would be to use fdisk to partition it again with the same parameters (probably one big partition).