Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

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jiawen
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Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

A 2TB hard drive on my desktop computer, running LM 19.1, recently disappeared from the list of accessible drives. This is a drive with some data that I'd much prefer to keep if possible, but it wouldn't be catastrophic if I had to start with it from scratch. So I'd like to preserve the data if possible.

In the Disks utility, it still showed up as having partitions, looking like it was just not mounted; and the options to check the filesystem, repair it, etc. were available. But something tipped me off that it was messed up (I forget what now, sorry), so rather than trying to mount or repair it, I ran fsck, and got this result:

Code: Select all

thisuser@thiscomputer:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sdb1
[sudo] password for thisuser:          
fsck from util-linux 2.31.1
e2fsck 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
fsck.ext2: Input/output error while trying to open /dev/sdb1

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 <device>
Problem is, as soon as I ran this, Disks no longer gave me the option to repair, check, etc.; the only options not greyed out were, I think, Format Partition, Edit Partition, and Edit Mount Options. In any case, all the available options seemed to be of a "completely obliterate any data on this drive and re-format it" nature. So, I didn't use any of them.

I am not sure if this drive is ext2/ext3/ext4 or not. I've only ever used it with Linux, so it probably is, but I'm not sure.

Following similar questions on these forums and elsewhere on the net, I ran dmesg | grep sdb. The results are very long, so here is a pastebin link: https://pastebin.com/XpQ6x18Z Lots of mention of I/O errors on sectors 2048, 76040, and 3907028864, but apparently some other ones as well. Does that mean the drive is just plain bad? Is it going to be impossible to rescue data from it?

However, there are also a lot of mentions of EXT4-fs in there. So maybe this drive is indeed an ext4 one? Or are those just errors saying that it's not actually ext4? I don't understand how to read dmesg output.

Again following other, similar threads on these forums, I tried to run gparted. Before opening, it gave me a whole bunch of errors, along the lines of Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sdb: Input/output error and Input/output error during read on /dev/sdb. I clicked "ignore" a bunch of times. Gparted finally gave me information on the drive, at least, showing the drive's fstab instructions, "mount as" instructions, etc. (I suppose I should've got a screengrab of this, but I didn't think to.) Nothing that seemed to obviously indicate a way to fix it, or to indicate if the drive is ext2/3/4 or not.

After I did that, Disks no longer even showed Format Partition, etc. as options for the drive. The only available option in Disks is currently Edit Mount Options.

All that, and I'm still not even sure if I can/should run e2fsck -b 8193 <device> or e2fsck -b 32768.

What should I do next? I would still like to save the data from this drive if at all possible, and to keep using the drive. Thanks in advance for any help!
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t42
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by t42 »

jiawen wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:35 am All that, and I'm still not even sure if I can/should run e2fsck -b 8193 <device> or e2fsck -b 32768
... it's ambiguous as you before you said
jiawen wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:35 am Problem is, as soon as I ran this
anyway why not to try. You need to reboot after modification.

to find superblock backups on unmounted partition:

Code: Select all

sudo mke2fs -n /dev/sdXY
-=t42=-
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

I get these results:

Code: Select all

$ sudo mke2fs -n /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
The file /dev/sdb1 does not exist and no size was specified.
$ sudo mke2fs -n /dev/sdb
mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
mke2fs: Device size reported to be zero.  Invalid partition specified, or
	partition table wasn't reread after running fdisk, due to
	a modified partition being busy and in use.  You may need to reboot
	to re-read your partition table.
And in Disks, the disk doesn't show up as having any partitions or anything -- the only option available is Edit Mount Options.

So does that mean I need to reboot regardless? I don't want to reboot and find out doing that makes the situation worse. What should I do next?
t42
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by t42 »

jiawen wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:51 am

Code: Select all

sudo mke2fs -n /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
The file /dev/sdb1 does not exist and no size was specified.
This output is contradicting to an output of sudo fsck /dev/sdb1 in your previous comment.
Look at sudo fdisk -l , sudo parted -l and cat /proc/partitions to re-evaluate the situation.
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jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

t42 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 4:11 amThis output is contradicting to an output of sudo fsck /dev/sdb1 in your previous comment.
Yes, it contradicts it, because the situation changed between me running sudo fsck /dev/sdb1 and mke2fs -n. I'm not sure which command it was that made /sdb1 no longer a visible partition; perhaps opening gparted? But in any case, yes, the outputs were different because the disk's status apparently changed between commands. Sadly, it seems like each successive command I've run has made the disk less accessible.

Can you suggest next steps? Thanks for your help so far. :)
t42
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by t42 »

jiawen wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:33 am Can you suggest next steps?
t42 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 4:11 am Look at sudo fdisk -l , sudo parted -l and cat /proc/partitions to re-evaluate the situation.
Also did you look at SMART data of the disk?
I don't think GParted could do any harm just by opening it.
-=t42=-
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

When I run sudo fdisk -l, /dev/sdb isn't listed at all. The list just jumps right from /dev/sda to the next disk in line. Same with sudo parted -l and cat /proc/partitions; they list the various sda partitions, and then the partitions of the next disk in line, with no mention of sdb at all.

When I tried to install smartmontools (to get smartctl, which seems to be the main SMART tool I'd need?), it tried to install a mail system. That seemed weird, so I stopped the installation.

Can you suggest next steps? Thanks again for your patience.
t42
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by t42 »

You can open smart data in the Disks menu.
-=t42=-
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

t42 wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:14 amYou can open smart data in the Disks menu.
That option is greyed out in the Disks menu. All the hamburger menu options for that disk are greyed out; and in the little gear icon below the Volumes figure (which just shows "No media"), the only non-greyed out option is "Edit Mount Options...".
t42
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by t42 »

jiawen wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:35 am That option is greyed out in the Disks menu.
In that case can you reveal, is it hdd or ssd, what is the model of the drive. Sorry if I missed that info, however this is my last comment in this thread.
-=t42=-
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

It's an hdd. I think it's a Seagate ST2000DM001.
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

Can anyone else help? I still don't have any solid answers here.
mikeflan
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by mikeflan »

IMO, if the disk was working fine and then Disks does not see the drive, it is history. Sure there are services that can extract the discs within and get them spinning in another setup, but I have never used those services.

BTW, I won't buy a Seagate anything. They aren't horrific drives, but they are not top-of-the-line either. I need top-of-the-line, so that is what I buy. It is amazing how long these drives last. I have a 13 GB hard drive dated June 1999 that still works! It is now formatted EXT4, but No, I don't use it.

Maybe your has a burnt circuit board, but I doubt it:
https://hddfaqs.com/seagate-st2000dm001/
jiawen
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Re: Can't mount hard drive; apparent bad superblock; not sure if ext2/ext3/ext4; next steps?

Post by jiawen »

Hmm... Is it dangerous to reboot the system? I'm wondering if that is more likely to solve problems or create them.
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