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can I still get to my files?

rh71

rh71

No Lifer
because of a bad sector on the hdd, my thinkpad is not booting into windows. Booting with safe mode freezes at a particular .sys file while loading them. But I can still use a bootable CD - I have a WIN XP CD that loads right into setup, but that blue-screens before I get anywhere. I just need a DOS prompt, that gives me access to C: and perhaps USB (not likely?) to copy to. Can I still do this somehow? Thinkpad doesn't have a floppy.
 
thx, i've got ubuntu on a bootable usb stick... but when in ubuntu running off the stick (not installed on hdd), how do I see my C: files that were there before? It seems to show only what's on the USB stick.

Must it be installed on the hdd? I am afraid it will erase my whole drive. It says I chose an entire device to partition (the only space that was there before). If I proceed with creating a new partition table on the device, then all current partitions will be removed. Can undo... so I said yes and it shows all 160gb on the HDD as "free space" which I'm not sure I want to do. I didn't do it yet...

Hopefully there's some way to see C: with Ubuntu on the USB stick only.
 
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no, you dont want to install ubuntu, You just want to use the live version.

then go into the file explorer and browse your files. (more then likley they would be under \mnt
 
Remove the HDD - put it in an external USB case and access your files on another computer - yes, and back them up. Then you can deal with repair of your Thinkpad drive.
 
THRiLL KiLL said:
no, you dont want to install ubuntu, You just want to use the live version.

then go into the file explorer and browse your files. (more then likley they would be under \mnt
Click to expand...

when you say live, that's what I'm doing via USB now correct?

Nothing is showing up under file system --> \mnt.

corkyg said:
Remove the HDD - put it in an expernal USB case and access your files on another computer - yes, and back them up. Then you can deal with repair of your Thinkpad drive.
Click to expand...

I don't have an external USB enclosure / setup. Do these smaller laptop hdds work with any standard one I can buy at a microcenter?
 
After Ubuntu finishes loading (choosing "Try Ubuntu without changing...") use top menu Places -> Computer, it should show your hard drives right there. It'll show up as XXX GB Hard Drive.
 
discerning said:
After Ubuntu finishes loading (choosing "Try Ubuntu without changing...") use top menu Places -> Computer, it should show your hard drives right there. It'll show up as XXX GB Hard Drive.
Click to expand...

I have a Go menu --> Computer... then it shows 2 drives, the CD/DVD, and "File System". I did a properties on File System and contents say total of 2.7GB and 904MB of free space... so that looks like it's just the USB stick. No other drives show up.

I went to Disk Utility and it shows the 160GB drive (device /dev/sda) with SMART status: Disk has a few bad sectors. Options from there are format drive, benchmark. And I can do a few similar things with the volume/partition (/dev/sda1).

I then went into GParted and see the drive...
Path: /dev/sda1
Status: Not Mounted

Warning: unable to detect file system! Possible reasons are:
- file system is damaged
- file system is unknown to GParted
- unformatted
 
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OK, need to force mount the drive. Find Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal). At the prompt, type:

sudo /bin/bash
mkdir /media/disk
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o force

I am assuming the drive is NTFS formatted. The drive should now show up under the file browser.
 
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?


I tried doing /dev/sda instead and it gives the same message. I don't know what the command is for fat32... if I just replace NTFS with FAT32, or VFAT, it says unknown filesystem and maybe I meant "vfat", which doesn't work either.
 
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so


so I type dmesg | tail and it says a whole buncha stuff including:

NTFS driver 2.1.30 [Flags: R/O MODULE].
QNX4 filesystem 0.2.3 registered.
FAT: Unrecognized mount option "force" or missing value
(2 more times)
FAT: invalid media value (0x4f)
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda1.
 
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20673 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 & 512 = 7741440 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal); 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x64656469

Device
/dev/sda1

Boot
*

Start
1

End
20672

Blocks
156280288+

Id
7

System
HPFS/NTFS

I suppose the NTFS is what you wanted to know... but that command didn't work, as above.
 
Also, when using the Windows XP disc at bootup, can you get to the recovery console? If so, try running chkdsk and fixboot, then use Ubuntu live.
 
discerning said:
Also, when using the Windows XP disc at bootup, can you get to the recovery console? If so, try running chkdsk and fixboot, then use Ubuntu live.
Click to expand...

no, it BSODs when using either the XP disc (as it loads drivers), or when using recovery console as a startup option (without disc). Something about unmountable boot volume.
 
My guess it doesn't want to mount because the partition is corrupt. In Terminal, try to install ntfsprogs, it's a NTFS utility program (it may already be there).

sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs

To attempt the fix:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda1

Try mounting the drive after fixing.
 
Mounting volume... Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
FAILED
Attempting to correct errors... FAILED
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
Volume is corrupt. You should run chkdsk.

I've tried chkdsk from windows and it goes through step 1 of 5 and the percentage rises and freezes at a random number... every time.

Would putting this thing in an external usb case even get me access? Before I make a cross-town trip to grab one...?
 
If you have a desktop, can you just put the drive in there?

Edit: One more thing to try is to repair the MBR on the drive. In Terminal:

sudo lilo -M /dev/sda1 mbr
 
rh71 said:
I don't have an external USB enclosure / setup. Do these smaller laptop hdds work with any standard one I can buy at a microcenter?
Click to expand...

They will work with any 2.5" USB enclosure. Vantec has a good one. I would assume MEI has them. Sounds like at present, that is your best bet for saving important files.
 
rh71 said:
when you say live, that's what I'm doing via USB now correct?

Nothing is showing up under file system --> \mnt.



I don't have an external USB enclosure / setup. Do these smaller laptop hdds work with any standard one I can buy at a microcenter?
Click to expand...

I had to recover my files from a laptop hard drive using an external USB enclosure. There are 2 types of enclosures, a small one for laptop hard drives and a larger one for desktop hard drives. I have used both without any problems. Just get the proper one for a laptop hard drive. If you are having issues with Ubuntu, using the external hard drive enclosure should be the way to go.

Incidentally, I did use a bootable linux CD when another hard drive failed, and I was able to see my files on C: after booting from the Linux CD. I am not an expert on linux, though, so I dont know why you are having problems and cant really give you any suggestions. The only thing I can say is to be sure to just boot from the CD, dont install linux to the hard drive.

It just occured to me, I trash a lot of hard drives!!
 
discerning said:
If you have a desktop, can you just put the drive in there?

Edit: One more thing to try is to repair the MBR on the drive. In Terminal:

sudo lilo -M /dev/sda1 mbr
Click to expand...

/dev/sda1 is not a master device with a primary partition table

so I did /dev/sda instead and it says

The Master Boot Record of /dev/sda has been updated...

then I tried to force mount as per the command above but same error about it not having a valid NTFS.
 
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discerning said:
Can you try the ntfsfix again?
Click to expand...

unfortunately same result:

Mounting volume... Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
FAILED
Attempting to correct errors... FAILED
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
Volume is corrupt. You should run chkdsk.
 
The only thing I can think of that's left is the NTFS boot sector is damaged. I would suggest FIXBOOT at the recovery console, but you can't get there. The next thing I could find was this: http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/node/57

I haven't tried this Rescue Remix though. If this don't work, go with the 2.5" USB enclosure.
 
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