Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Help with HDD. Is it a Partitioning Problem?

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Help with HDD. Is it a Partitioning Problem?

    Hello all,

    My laptop used to dual boot Win 8 and Kubuntu, until yesterday when my computer wouldn’t start. The little power button would sometimes flash for a moment. I cleared the ram (unplugged it, removed the battery, and held the powerbutton for several minutes). I took it apart, removed the CMOS, and put it together again. It turned on for a second, and a weak, staticy beep went out, and then there was nothing. I took the HDD out, and it is plugged into my spare computer.

    Here’s what I’ve found:

    • Windows Explorer will not detect the HDD, although it will show up in the “Safely Remove Hardware” dialog.
    • Trinity Rescue Kit will not recognize it
    • Only Hiren’s boot CD will recognize it, and ONLY if it is plugged into the computer at startup. It shows up in Win Explorer, but cannot navigate it (it says please insert drive”).


    I have tried various partitioning softwares to recover the partition tables, and most fail for various reasons (I can retest them and give you details if you need them). Only ONE program detects anything, and that is TESTDISK.

    TestDisk will detect partition tables to recover, and will also detect files. I am backing up my files with TestDisk as we speak, and it is taking forever. I am currently unemployed, and need to get my old system back to send out applications. Can you help me?

    Screenshots of testdisk below:

    ––-
    When I start TestDisk, here’s what I see (line 2 and 4 are the broken HDDs – ST500LT0)
    Click image for larger version

Name:	TestDiskStartup.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	59.0 KB
ID:	649017

    When I select Line 2 (sdb), and click “intel partition:”
    Click image for larger version

Name:	IntelPartitionStructure1.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	33.8 KB
ID:	649018

    What I get after “Quick Scan for Intell Partitions”
    Click image for larger version

Name:	IntelPartitionStructureQScan.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	60.5 KB
ID:	649019

    Here’s what I get when I select “EFI GPT” partitions:
    Click image for larger version

Name:	EFIPartitionStructure1.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	25.6 KB
ID:	649020

    And after I start a deep scan of “EFI GPT:”
    Click image for larger version

Name:	EFIPartitionStructureDScan.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	58.0 KB
ID:	649021

    ––
    Any help will be appreciated beyond expression. Thank you!

    TM

    #2
    Sorry, until someone steps in with better ideas, I can only toss out one more thing to look at, I am not expert in this at all. Btw, is your system a UEFI+GPT, or the older BIOS+MBR?

    You might look at gdisk if you have a GPT. I messed with this a little bit, and for my small set of experiments concluded this:

    Summary
    For a UEFI+GPT setup, if you damaged your GPT structure, or if you accidentally lost/damaged your partitions, you may be able to use TestDisk and gdisk to recover. One goal here is to see how TestDisk worked on GPT. Good news: It recovers deleted partitions. But: I could not use TestDisk to repair either the Partition Header or the Partition Table entries. For those two tasks, I used gdisk. I did five experiments. There are references included along the way for everything. (If you can use TestDisk to fix the damage described in experiments 4 & 5, let us know.)
    https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...417#post372417
    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

    Comment


      #3
      And if a drive is a GPT, you might run
      sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdx
      to see what it says (where, of course, sdx = sda, or sdb, etc.).
      If a drive is not GPT, you might try
      sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdx
      -- again, just to see what comes up, any clues, and such.
      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

      Comment


        #4
        Sorry to say, but I think this hdd is almost dead. If your computer will start without the hdd plugged in , that would confirm it. Get what you can off of it and see if you have any other drives to use in it. If you can get about $210, you can get a 500Gb ssd from amazon. Less for a standard hdd, but not as fast

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks all! Here's an update:

          I have a liveCD of Kubuntu running, and I ran

          Code:
          Sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
          And this is what was returned:

          Code:
          kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)
          
          
          Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
          255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7600 cylinders, total 122096646 sectors
          Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
          Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
          I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
          Disk identifier: 0x3956b6f3
          
          
             Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
          /dev/sdb1               1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT
          I'm assuming that the disk is GPT.

          Apt will not let me install gdisk, and returns the error:

          Code:
          Install these packages without verification [y/N]? yErr http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main gdisk amd64 0.8.7-1
            404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
          Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gdisk/gdisk_0.8.7-1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
          E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
          I'm going to try to work on that. Any tips from here are still appreciated!

          Thanks,
          TM

          Comment


            #6
            Going on what vsreeser thinks, maybe you should try to test the suspect HDD.
            SMART HDD tests, dibl

            https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...ard-Disk-Drive
            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by technomancer View Post
              Thanks all! Here's an update:

              I have a liveCD of Kubuntu running, and I ran

              Code:
              Sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb


              And this is what was returned:

              Code:
              kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)
              
              
              Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
              255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7600 cylinders, total 122096646 sectors
              Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
              Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
              I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
              Disk identifier: 0x3956b6f3
              
              
                 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
              /dev/sdb1               1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT
              I'm assuming that the disk is GPT.

              Apt will not let me install gdisk, and returns the error:

              Code:
              Install these packages without verification [y/N]? yErr http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main gdisk amd64 0.8.7-1
                404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
              Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gdisk/gdisk_0.8.7-1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
              E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
              I'm going to try to work on that. Any tips from here are still appreciated!

              Thanks,
              TM
              If you want to change it from GPT to msdos and don't have any important data on it, get a livecd of gparted and use it to create a new partition table. Be warned , doing so will erase everything off the drive, but it may help if the partition tables are both shot. GPT saves one at the beginning and one at the end of the drive.

              Comment


                #8
                Sure thing, will do. In the meantime, I already ran gdisk and was greeted with this:

                Code:
                kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdbGPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7
                
                
                Partition table scan:
                  MBR: protective
                  BSD: not present
                  APM: not present
                  GPT: not present
                
                
                Creating new GPT entries.
                Disk /dev/sdb: 122096646 sectors, 465.8 GiB
                Logical sector size: 4096 bytes
                Disk identifier (GUID): 9563EA2A-9C52-4904-9783-3D90E9E7EC48
                Partition table holds up to 128 entries
                First usable sector is 6, last usable sector is 122096640
                Partitions will be aligned on 256-sector boundaries
                Total free space is 122096635 sectors (465.8 GiB)
                
                
                Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
                Does that help us at all?

                I'll get back to you with the scans. Thanks, TM

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by vsreeser View Post
                  If you want to change it from GPT to msdos and don't have any important data on it, get a livecd of gparted and use it to create a new partition table. Be warned , doing so will erase everything off the drive, but it may help if the partition tables are both shot. GPT saves one at the beginning and one at the end of the drive.
                  Thanks for the update. I really don't want to erase everything of I don't have too. Would it hurt the disk to recover the table, a supposed to re-writing it?

                  Thanks,
                  TM

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Responding to Post #9.

                    So you have Kubuntu 13.10.

                    gdisk says you do NOT have a GPT--that's OK for now. Leave it that way because we don't want to mess with too many changes and variables.

                    SMART may tell you if there's some fundamental problem with the HDD.

                    I'm guessing your computer is using the older, standard BIOS and MBR to boot. It doesn't seem to be using the newer UEFI. And that is OK. Just noting the fact. (/usr/lib/grub would tell you about this: if all you see is grub-pc, then you are booting BIOS+MBR; if you see anything like grubx64.efi[-signed], then you probably have UEFI. Sounds like your system is a bit older, like maybe before 2011 or so => BIOS+MBR, probably)

                    We are hoping that SMART will tell a story here about the health of the HDD in question ...
                    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

                    Comment


                      #11
                      If you use TestDisk to recover/fix the partition(s) and/or the partition table, it should not destroy anything of your data ... BUT, holy cow! This is the most major surgery you can imagine doing on your system ... I would definitely back up all my personal data (documents, photos, vids, whatever). gdisk works on GPT, and it will convert your MBR to GPT, but I don't think I'd take that step at this time. I'd hold the line and try to find out what caused this change in your system and try to fix it "as is." And someone else on the forum may be able to chime in here with something more definitive.

                      First: SMART, see what it tells you about the health of your drive(s).
                      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Going back to your first post.
                        It's your sdb showing the problems:
                        Bad relative sector
                        Bad GPT partition, Invalid Signature

                        But then gdisk shows no GPT present.

                        Looks like you have a GPT on sdb, but it is damaged in a way that makes it seem like non-GPT to gdisk?

                        If, in fact, it is GPT on sdb, gdisk should be able to fix the GPT (the partition table) and fix partitions.

                        EDIT:

                        And gdisk isn't showing any partitions on sdb, do I read your output right?

                        Where is your Linux, on this sdb? (and your Windows is on sda?)
                        An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

                        Comment


                          #13
                          (see EDIT to above post)
                          An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                            Going on what vsreeser thinks, maybe you should try to test the suspect HDD.
                            SMART HDD tests, dibl

                            https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...ard-Disk-Drive
                            I ran
                            Code:
                            sudo smartctl -ia /dev/sdb
                            here's what I have:

                            Code:
                            kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -ia /dev/sdbsmartctl 6.2 2013-04-20 r3812 [x86_64-linux-3.11.0-12-generic] (local build)
                            Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
                            
                            
                            === START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
                            Device Model:     ST500LT012-9WS142
                            Serial Number:    S0V9C9VG
                            LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 061fcf9ca
                            Firmware Version: 0002SDM1
                            User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
                            Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
                            Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
                            Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
                            ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
                            SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s)
                            Local Time is:    Tue Jul 21 14:36:33 2015 UTC
                            SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
                            SMART support is: Enabled
                            
                            
                            === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
                            SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
                            
                            
                            General SMART Values:
                            Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                                                    was never started.
                                                                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
                            Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                                                    without error or no self-test has ever 
                                                                    been run.
                            Total time to complete Offline 
                            data collection:                (    0) seconds.
                            Offline data collection
                            capabilities:                    (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                                                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                                                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                                                    command.
                                                                    No Offline surface scan supported.
                                                                    Self-test supported.
                                                                    Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                                                    Selective Self-test supported.
                            SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                                                    power-saving mode.
                                                                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
                            Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                                                    General Purpose Logging supported.
                            Short self-test routine 
                            recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.
                            Extended self-test routine
                            recommended polling time:        (  95) minutes.
                            Conveyance self-test routine
                            recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
                            SCT capabilities:              (0x1035) SCT Status supported.
                                                                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                                                                    SCT Data Table supported.
                            
                            
                            SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
                            Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
                            ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
                              1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   117   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       137634248
                              3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   099   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
                              4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   098   098   020    Old_age   Always       -       2852
                              5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
                              7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   072   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       21561560618
                              9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       5885 (170 212 0)
                             10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
                             12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   099   099   020    Old_age   Always       -       2044
                            184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
                            189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   069   057   045    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Min/Max 22/31)
                            191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1502
                            192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       155
                            193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   072   072   000    Old_age   Always       -       57371
                            194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   031   043   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (0 6 0 0 0)
                            196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x000f   094   094   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       5695 (36226 0)
                            197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
                            199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   094   094   000    Old_age   Offline      -       155589485270591
                            241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2113945599
                            242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3180007868
                            254 Free_Fall_Sensor        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
                            
                            
                            SMART Error Log Version: 1
                            No Errors Logged
                            
                            
                            SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
                            Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
                            # 1  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%      5854         -
                            # 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5854         -
                            # 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5073         -
                            # 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       666         -
                            # 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       136         -
                            
                            
                            SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
                             SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
                                1        0        0  Not_testing
                                2        0        0  Not_testing
                                3        0        0  Not_testing
                                4        0        0  Not_testing
                                5        0        0  Not_testing
                            Selective self-test flags (0x0):
                              After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
                            If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
                            Does that mean it passed?

                            Next, is the short one:

                            Code:
                            sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sdb
                            And the Short Test log:

                            Code:
                            kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdbsmartctl 6.2 2013-04-20 r3812 [x86_64-linux-3.11.0-12-generic] (local build)
                            Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
                            
                            
                            === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
                            SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
                            Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
                            # 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5886         -
                            # 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5886         -
                            # 3  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%      5854         -
                            # 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5854         -
                            # 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5073         -
                            # 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       666         -
                            # 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       136         -
                            I have yet to run the long test. Shall I continue?

                            Also, any tips on what it is that I am actually doing will be appreciated. I love Linux, and as of January, I've been using it almost exclusively for a year. Anything that can make me a better user will be an extra special bonus for me.

                            Thanks,
                            TM

                            EDIT!!

                            Upon refreshing the page after posting this, I read several posts that do in fact tell me what I'm doing. Thank you all!
                            Last edited by technomancer; Jul 21, 2015, 09:06 AM. Reason: Saying thanks

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                              Responding to Post #9.

                              So you have Kubuntu 13.10.

                              gdisk says you do NOT have a GPT--that's OK for now. Leave it that way because we don't want to mess with too many changes and variables.

                              SMART may tell you if there's some fundamental problem with the HDD.

                              I'm guessing your computer is using the older, standard BIOS and MBR to boot. It doesn't seem to be using the newer UEFI. And that is OK. Just noting the fact. (/usr/lib/grub would tell you about this: if all you see is grub-pc, then you are booting BIOS+MBR; if you see anything like grubx64.efi[-signed], then you probably have UEFI. Sounds like your system is a bit older, like maybe before 2011 or so => BIOS+MBR, probably)

                              We are hoping that SMART will tell a story here about the health of the HDD in question ...
                              Kubuntu 13.10 is the LiveCD I'm using. My hard drive dual boots Windows 8 and Kubuntu 15.04.

                              I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

                              Does that help us?

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X