4

I'm currently running Ubuntu 13.04 and my external hard drive no longer seems to mount. I've tried plugging it into a Windows OS Laptop and it comes up with a corruption error when trying to access the disk.

On Ubuntu I can only view the disk using gparted but again cannot access any data etc.

What is the best method for trying to recover this data? Most of it I have backed up but there are some folders which aren't, so ideally I would like to be able to recover the data.

3 Answers 3

3

I would recommend that you don't use the drive, and try TestDisk. Also if you have room on another drive, you can try using dd.

Note: Keep in mind, that when it comes to data recovery nothing is guaranteed. Also it can be a time consuming project, so be patient.

2
  • I will give TestDisk a go. How long will it take to scan the disk do you think? 1TB disk with about 70GB used up on the disk Aug 19, 2013 at 13:42
  • 1
    Update after scanning with testdisk it found no partitions etc so I tried photorec instead and managed to recover hopefully the things that I need, says it will take 54hrs! I may already have enough to stop it and just keep what has been recovered! Aug 20, 2013 at 8:00
2

I can't think of a better answer than this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

1
  • This also helped with the photorec option so thanks for this link. Unfortunately I cant vote up due to my reputation being under 15! Aug 20, 2013 at 12:53
0

You can use a drive cloning utility to move your data to a new harddrive. Many of them have the ability to clone a failing harddrive by skipping the bad sectors. You can create and .img file of the drive or clone it directly to another drive. Hirens Boot CD has a cloning utility, as well as some other stuff that might come in handy.

2
  • Ok will also look into that, cheers. Also if a disk has 4 bad sectors does that mean its basically broken or going that way? Aug 19, 2013 at 13:50
  • I wouldn't trust it with important data.
    – Dan
    Aug 19, 2013 at 13:54

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .