[solved] Old internal HD now external--how to access?

[LindseyD.]

This must have been answered somewhere, but I can't find it

I took the old hard drive out of a dead computer and put it in a USB hard drive enclosure. Actually the tech at the shop did it for me so I'll assume nothing went wrong there.

When I plug it in, it doesn't mount. The drive isn't encrypted, but it is partitioned. There's at least /home and /. I can't for the life of me remember if I'd left Windows on it; I never used it.

fdisk -l returns:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe999b1a8

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 23582719 11790336 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 23582720 24721407 569344 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 24721408 57924532 16601562+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 57925630 488396799 215235585 5 Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5 57925632 77924351 9999360 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 77926400 81829887 1951744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 81831936 488396799 203282432 83 Linux

and df -h returns:
udev 1.9G 4.0K 1.9G 1% /dev
tmpfs 384M 1.3M 382M 1% /run
/dev/sda5 9.3G 6.4G 2.5G 72% /
none 4.0K 0 4.0K 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 1.9G 15M 1.9G 1% /run/shm
none 100M 20K 100M 1% /run/user
/dev/sda7 191G 167G 15G 92% /home
/dev/sda3 16G 16G 652M 96% /media/wolfgang/WINDOWS
/dev/sda2 556M 38M 519M 7% /media/wolfgang/SYSTEM

So is Partition 4 the external?

The KDE partition manager can't see the external.

How would I go about mounting the external, at least the /home partition?

[karlchen]

Hello, LindseyD.

"sudo fdisk -l" gives details about the partitions on the harddisk /dev/sda only.
This will be your internal disk from which you are running your current Linux Mint.
Mint is running from

Code: Select all

/dev/sda5 9.3G 6.4G 2.5G 72% /
/dev/sda7 191G 167G 15G 92% /home

/dev/sda6 is the swap partition.
There are no details about your external harddisk.
Seems as if it is not recognized.
Maybe the expert who put the old harddisk into the USB enclosure did not do everything correctly?
I would return to the shop and kindly ask them to show me that the disk in the USB enclosure is really functional.

Best regards,
Karl

[LindseyD.]

Hi Karl:

"sudo fdisk -l" gives details about the partitions on the harddisk /dev/sda only.

If I plug a USB stick in, it shows up: (Skim down to the green text)

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe999b1a8

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 23582719 11790336 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 23582720 24721407 569344 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 24721408 57924532 16601562+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 57925630 488396799 215235585 5 Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5 57925632 77924351 9999360 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 77926400 81829887 1951744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 81831936 488396799 203282432 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 7876 MB, 7876902912 bytes
116 heads, 55 sectors/track, 2411 cylinders, total 15384576 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00073aeb

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 15381504 7689728+ b W95 FAT32

Maybe the expert who put the old harddisk into the USB enclosure did not do everything correctly?

I searched long & hard for a shop that would tackle an ext4 file system. Most of them won't touch anything that isn't Windows. But these guys did, and assured me they tested it.

[karlchen]

Hello, LindsayD.

How about insufficient power supply through USB adapter?

The very first USB harddisk which I bought still came with an external power supply, because it needs more energy than a USB connector can supply.
Could this be the problem? - I really would ask the shop people telling them that your Linux system does not seem to see the disk although it has been plugged in.

P.S. about what "sudo fisdk -l" displays:
I expressed it not too clearly. In your first post fdisk displays details about the internal harddisk /dev/sda only. Which suggests that the external disk is not recognized. I know that fdisk will display details about all connected storage devices (internal harddisk, external harddisk, USB pendrive, SD card)

Regards,
Karl
--fdisk output here (not relevant to your problem)--

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for karlchen: 

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 127.9 GB, 127865454592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15545 cylinders, total 249737216 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x88a878ef

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1   *        2048    62916607    31457280   83  Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p2        62916608   125831167    31457280   83  Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p3       125831168   136316927     5242880   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/mmcblk0p4       136316928   249737215    56710144   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 128.0 GB, 128035676160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15566 cylinders, total 250069680 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2a8a324a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   167774207    83886080    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       167774208   250066943    41146368    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

[michael louwe]

@ LindseyD

Try another USB port. Try wiggling the USB connectors on both ends while it is plugged into the port.
Try opening up the enclosure/casing, disconnect and reconnect the hard-drive.

Maybe, the disk has died.

[LindseyD.]

Hi Karl:

Thanks for the quick reply. I am most embarrassed.

I called the shop because it's too far to go if they were only going to fob me off (Linux support here is abysmal).

The technician I spoke to swore he'd tested the drive. He had me unplug everything then plug it in again. As soon as I replugged the USB cable into the drive, I knew I hadn't done it properly the first time.

So everything's mounted nicely, and you were right: it wasn't software, it was hardware. Mostly it was me