As have I when there's a clicking... but this doesn't apply in this case.

And that's only worked twice in about 50 tries :-(

On Apr 13, 2010, at 10:47 AM, don wrote:

> Sounds crazy but I had luck with sticking the drive in the freezer for 24 hours and then mounting it.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of Ryan Coleman
> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 10:35 AM
> To: TCLUG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Mounting a bad NTFS partition
> 
> I trust that it was not dropped  - the device does not make any abnormal noises that would lead me to believe that is the case. It spins up normally...
> 
> I have the image made ...
> [root at server /mount/archive/da-harddrive]# ls -la
> total 78188872
> -rw-r--r--   1 ryan  wheel  80026361856 Apr 13 03:46 80gb.drive
> -rw-r--r--   1 ryan  wheel          425 Apr 13 03:46 80gb.log
> 
> When I try to mount that with mount_ntfs I get the following (expected) error:
> mount_ntfs: /mount/archive/da-harddrive/80gb.drive: Block device required
> 
> Is there a way to fake the Block device? I also tried just now to mount the physical partition with the fusefs NTFS port and got the following response:
> [root at server /mount/archive/da-harddrive]# ntfs-3g  /dev/da0 /mount/drive1
> NTFS signature is missing.
> Failed to mount '/dev/da0': Invalid argument
> The device '/dev/da0' 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'm still planning on testing out TestDisk.
> 
> On Apr 13, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Justin Kremer wrote:
> 
>> Just a couple comments from a couple similar experiences I had...
>> The first is to figure out the mode of failure of the drive.
>> Is it from a laptop that was dropped during use?  Is it a drive that
>> is having sectors go bad?  Did someone do something silly and start
>> writing zeros to the wrong device?  (not that I've ever done that...)
>> Different modes of failure may require different tactics, and can also
>> have very different results.
>> 
>> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Ryan Coleman <ryanjcole at me.com> wrote:
>>> I was given leads to using ddrescue and dd but frankly that is outside of my
>>> realm of knowledge and 9 of the 10  NTFS partitions that refused to mount in
>>> Windows have mounted so far in FreeBSD (I'm running 8.0).
>> 
>> ddrescue might be VERY useful in this situation.  If you're not
>> familiar, it is basically dd, but it is forced to keep reading (and
>> writing) on when it encounters bad blocks.  Some of the files will end
>> up corrupt in the disk image you create, but if you are fortunate, the
>> lion's share will be there.
>> You just want to start with the failed drive readable to you, and with
>> a location you can write the output file to with more space available
>> than the size of the partition you are trying to recover.
>> Both dd and ddrescue use similar syntax.  As I recall there is a
>> slight difference, but starting with the basics, you should be able to
>> figure out the rest...
>> I think the command I used was: dd if=(path of the device name for the
>> partition to be recovered) of=(path of the file name to create from
>> the partition)
>> Certain other flags may be necessary, and ddrescue may be the
>> preferable command.  The less times you have to try the better.  If
>> the drive's condition is getting worse with use, you want to use it
>> less if possible!
>> I would expect it to take a LONG time.
>> Once the process is complete, you can try to mount the output file as
>> a loopback filesystem.  (under Linux, I believe the flag is "-o loop")
>> If you're able to mount it, you should be able to copy any important
>> files off of it and then weed out what is intact and what is corrupt
>> without dealing with i/o errors in the middle of trying to copy a
>> batch of files.
>> 
>>> The drive is presently connected via USB on a SATA sled.
>>> I know that there's something to be had on there somewhere:
>> 
>> Personally, I would try to use the most direct connection possible.
>> SATA direct to the motherboard first.  Maybe it's just my dislike for
>> middlemen...
>> - Justin
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org
>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> tclug-list at mn-linux.org
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