#1 2020-11-14 11:27:39

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 494

Website

External USB HDD not mounting

What happened:
  Last time I used this disk it was not unmounted properly.
Status now:
  It won't mount. GParted tells me this:

$MFTMirr does not match $MFT (record 0).
Failed to mount '/dev/sdc1': Input/output error
NTFS is inconsistent. Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!
The usage of the /f parameter is very IMPORTANT! No modification was
made to NTFS by this software.

Way forward?
  Is there a way to get it back in service without wiping it?

TIA

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

rbh

Member

From: Sweden/Vasterbotten/Rusfors

Registered: 2016-08-11

Posts: 866

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Way forward?

Hi Martin.

I do not understand. Gparted said nothing about "forward".
It said "force chkdsk" "/f" is short for /force.

Is there a way to get it back in service without wiping it?

Of cource. "chkdsk /f", will not wipe the disk. Chkdsk is for "Check disk and repair after next reboot or when unmounted". If filesystem is severely damaged, it takes more than one "repair session" to fix. Ntfs-3g is still not capable of reparing ntfs-partitions.
So, attach the disk to a pc with windows. Open cli-windows. Run "chkdsk /f", with disk unmounted. Check log. If many errors encountered second time, make a thoird round. Test to mout in windows before using under linux.

Good luck!
And do not forget to unmount before unplugging!

---

// Regards rbh

unklar

Member

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 1,309

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

^Actually I have no idea about windows and ntfs. But, if gParted recommends it, you should at least try it. 

Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!

a Instructions (should also be in english above)
"How to Run CHKDSK /F or CHKDSK /R to repair the external hard disk"

Ops, @rbh was faster 

Last edited by unklar (2020-11-14 17:43:12)

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 494

Website

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Thanks guys.

The only access to Windows I have these days is on a server at work by ways of Citrix...

/Martin (not counting an old 486 laptop with Win 3.11)

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

twoion

ほやほや

Registered: 2015-08-10

Posts: 3,063

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Thanks guys.

The only access to Windows I have these days is on a server at work by ways of Citrix...

/Martin (not counting an old 486 laptop with Win 3.11)

You can download the install media of Windows 10 directly from Microsoft and use it for a while without entering a product key.

https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/softwar … ndows10ISO

It should ask you which edition to install. You should install enterprise edition to get a real trial edition.

I recommend installing in a VM using using virt-manager (libvirt + kvm). You can simply pass through the USB device that is the disk to the VM using the virt-manager GUI, and then have Windows work on it. It's really simple. Create the VM (it has presets for Windows), then after finishing the install, shut it down, open the VM properties, click Add Hardware > Host USB device > pick the connected hard disk > start the VM.

Windows 10 vanilla install will use 3-7G of disk space when fully installed (without updates), and it goes pretty quick, assuming you have the qcow2 virtual hard disk on a SSD.

I think the only really decent NTFS driver these days for Linux is the one by Paragon.

---

Per aspera ad astra.

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 494

Website

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Ah, right, it just struck me I have WXP available on Virtualbox. Would that do?

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 494

Website

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Ah, right, it just struck me I have WXP available on Virtualbox. Would that do?

No luck there. WXP does not see the USB disk. Testing with pen-drive that mounts OK under Linux yields the same result. This is a little strange as I remember virtual systems 'highjacking' USB devices in the past.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

rbh

Member

From: Sweden/Vasterbotten/Rusfors

Registered: 2016-08-11

Posts: 866

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

In virtualbox, you need to be root, to manage external disks.

You can find rescue dvd (iso) made in WindewsPE.
Should be able to repair ntfs.

---

// Regards rbh

rbh

Member

From: Sweden/Vasterbotten/Rusfors

Registered: 2016-08-11

Posts: 866

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Here a Link howto manage physical raw disk in virtualbox
https://www.serverwatch.com/guides/usin … ualbox-vm/

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// Regards rbh

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 494

Website

Re: External USB HDD not mounting

Great! I will try that but not tonight. Too tired, will not end well...

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein