[Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

edgley · 2012-01-08 03:51:03

Hi all,

I have just installed Arch over my old Windows drive (I've used it before) so it's now my only operating system, however I cannot seem to mount my second hard drive.

Curiously the second hard drive is seen as sda (obviously the order I plugged them into on the motherboard) but no matter what I try I just can't get Arch to see it as a NTFS drive and mount it.

I have plugged the drive into another Windows machine and that can see all the data on the drive with no issues.

I quickly installed gparted which has no idea what to do with it and just comes up with "Unknown filesystem".

$ fdisk -l

!-- snip --!
Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640133946880 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77521 cylinders, total 1250261615 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00059ed7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1  4294967295  2147483647+  ee  GPT

$ mount /dev/sda /media/data -t ntfs

NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda' 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?

This also happens when I try sda1, sda2 and sda3 (no other partitions are recognised).

Not sure what to do other than a very long winded approach of copying the entire contents to the other Windows machine, formating the drive and recopying. But I would really like to avoid this.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Last edited by edgley (2012-01-08 05:15:56)

matse · 2012-01-08 03:56:56

try it with ntfs-3g, see wiki entry.

karol · 2012-01-08 03:57:11

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GPT#GPT_fdisk: The fdisk partitioning utilities from util-linux (i.e. fdisk, cfdisk and sfdisk) do not support GPT.

Try https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pe … ice_naming to get consistent names instead of sda etc.
Do you have ntfs-3g installed?

edgley · 2012-01-08 03:59:50

It has exactly the same output as the previous mount command:

$ ntfs-3g -t /dev/sda /media/data

NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda' 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?

Thanks.

matse · 2012-01-08 04:01:36

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?

try

$ ntfs-3g -t /dev/sda1 /media/data

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:03:55

As I said above, the same thing happens when I try to use each partition number:

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?

matse · 2012-01-08 04:07:32

Yes, but trying it with ntfs-3g instead of "ntfs" was worth a try...

karol · 2012-01-08 04:08:51

Is the partition encrypted?

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:09:45

Okay, I tried it anyway, but it still didn't work.

Googling for this sort of problem always does my nut.

Any more help is greatly appreciated.

karol wrote:

Is the partition encrypted?

Nope.

Also, to your earlier reply which to me looked like an advert (Sorry! It's late.) the disk isn't actually GPT as far as I am aware. It was formated in Windows 7 which reads it as basic NTFS.

Last edited by edgley (2012-01-08 04:11:33)

matse · 2012-01-08 04:15:39

Please post the output of

# gdisk -l /dev/sda

It's in the package gptfdisk.

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:17:26

That appears to have yeilded some results, though not sure what to make of them.

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
2113 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Disk /dev/sda: 1250261615 sectors, 596.2 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 0DA4AA82-8BBB-4CE7-A531-C54DC232CC27
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1250261581
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 0 sectors (0 bytes)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              34            2081   1024.0 KiB  4201  LDM metadata partition
   2            2082          262177   127.0 MiB   0C01  Microsoft reserved part
   3          262178      1250263694   596.0 GiB   4200  LDM data partition

Thanks.

matse · 2012-01-08 04:20:21

Try again

#mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /media/data

I don't see a reason why this should not work...

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:22:34

ntfs-3g: Failed to access volume '/dev/sda3': No such file or directory

ntfs-3g 2011.4.12 external FUSE 28 - Third Generation NTFS Driver
		Configuration type 1, XATTRS are on, POSIX ACLS are off

Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Yura Pakhuchiy
Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Szabolcs Szakacsits
Copyright (C) 2007-2011 Jean-Pierre Andre
Copyright (C) 2009 Erik Larsson

Usage:    ntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] <device|image_file> <mount_point>

Options:  ro (read-only mount), remove_hiberfile, uid=, gid=,
          umask=, fmask=, dmask=, streams_interface=.
          Please see the details in the manual (type: man ntfs-3g).

Example: ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows

News, support and information:  http://tuxera.com

matse · 2012-01-08 04:29:30

Hmm, no idea, doesn't make sense to me, according to gdisk /dev/sda3 is existent (in your first post you even wrote that it exists), did you unplug the device? Try running it as root?

//Edit: Oh I just see that you have a "ldm" (dynamic) partition - ntfs-3g can't mount them.

Last edited by matse (2012-01-08 04:31:44)

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:32:37

So I can't use NTFS-3g to mount a dynamic drive? Is there any way to mount it or do I have to convert it to a basic disk?

matse · 2012-01-08 04:37:35

You have bad luck, ldm and gpt don't just work together:

Windows Logical Disk Manager (Dynamic Disk) support (LDM_PARTITION)
CONFIG_LDM_PARTITION:
Say Y here if you would like to use hard disks under Linux which
were partitioned using Windows 2000's/XP's or Vista's Logical Disk
Manager. They are also known as "Dynamic Disks".
Note this driver only supports Dynamic Disks with a protective MBR
label, i.e. DOS partition table. It does not support GPT labelled
Dynamic Disks yet as can be created with Vista.

So - yes, convert it

edgley · 2012-01-08 04:40:34

Right. I'll be back.

Thanks for the help, I just hope this works.

edgley · 2012-01-08 05:15:41

Well the outcome is not so great.

If you already have a partition on a dynamic disk, Microsofts official line is you need to Backup, Format, Restore in order to created a basic disk.

I did a bit of searching and I came across this:
http://mypkb.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/h … sic-disks/

However, I couldn't really follow what was being said and I wasn't even sure what test disk was doing to my drive, so I've opted for the backup, format, restore option instead.

It's going to take a while to get it done, but at least my data is there.

Thank you for you help though.

irgendwer99 · 2013-12-19 10:47:03

Hi for everybody!
I have a problem, like yours. Could you help me, please?

I bought a new 3 TB Toshiba drive, conected it to my laptop(ubuntu) and my desktop(ubuntu) copied a lot of file to the drive.
Then I conected it to my ubuntu server ( 12.04.3).
I mounted it and copied, deleted files (remotely). Everything was ok. I didn't umounted it. The next day - when I wanted to mount I received the following message:

xxx@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/external
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdb1' 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?

The same did work a day before...

Something more to the problem:

xxx@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006627c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 499711 248832 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 501758 312580095 156039169 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 501760 312580095 156039168 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root: 158.8 GB, 158842486784 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19311 cylinders, total 310239232 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdb: 3000.6 GB, 3000592977920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 364801 cylinders, total 5860533160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x027b96bf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 256 732566271 366283008 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-swap_1: 939 MB, 939524096 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 114 cylinders, total 1835008 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-swap_1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Please help!

WorMzy · 2013-12-19 11:02:13

I'm afraid that these are not the Ubuntu support forums, you will need to redirect your question to their forums.

jasonwryan · 2013-12-19 16:10:08

Necrobumping, and for an unsupported distro?

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-08 03:51:03

[Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#2 2012-01-08 03:56:56

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#3 2012-01-08 03:57:11

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#4 2012-01-08 03:59:50

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#5 2012-01-08 04:01:36

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#6 2012-01-08 04:03:55

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#7 2012-01-08 04:07:32

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#8 2012-01-08 04:08:51

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#9 2012-01-08 04:09:45

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#10 2012-01-08 04:15:39

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#11 2012-01-08 04:17:26

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#12 2012-01-08 04:20:21

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#13 2012-01-08 04:22:34

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#14 2012-01-08 04:29:30

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#15 2012-01-08 04:32:37

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#16 2012-01-08 04:37:35

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#17 2012-01-08 04:40:34

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#18 2012-01-08 05:15:41

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#19 2013-12-19 10:47:03

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#20 2013-12-19 11:02:13

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

#21 2013-12-19 16:10:08

Re: [Solved] Second NTFS Hard Drive Refuses to Mount

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