Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

pntruongan · 2017-11-23 11:39:21

I will try to be brief: I was lazy to create Partition table for my new hard disk, so in Gnome disk Utility I format the whole disk as an single NTFS file system. I didn't know that I was inadvertently create a partition less disk and just keep using it. Now, 2 terrabytes of data and 16 bad sector later, mount.ntfs-3g refuse to mount that disk and suggest me to run checkdisk in Window:

# mount /dev/sdd a
ntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read NTFS $Bitmap: Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it's a
SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows
then reboot into Windows twice. The usage of the /f parameter is very
important! If the device is a SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first activate
it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for more details.

. And that's when my laziness in the past comeback to bite me because window doesn't seem to support partition less disk so it won't recognize the filesystem and cannot run check disk.

Now I'm pretty much desperate to savage my 2 TiB data. Do you guys know anything that I should try? .

Last edited by pntruongan (2017-11-23 11:53:48)

WorMzy · 2017-11-23 11:53:25

If ntfs-3g is recommending that you run chkdsk from Windows, then it's highly unlikely that this is something that can be resolved by the reverse-engineered Linux utilities. You should ask on a Windows support forum.

Failing that, your best option is to read up on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_recovery

Mod note: Not an App/DE problem, moving to kernel & hardware.

pntruongan · 2017-11-23 11:58:47

Thank you for moving the post. I thought the post belong in app/de because the filesystem was created by running mkfs.ntfs on the whole disk

mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdd

. But Kernel/hardware sound approriate too.

I did try plug the disk in a Window system. But window doesn't recognize the partition less filesystem, instead recognize my disk as 3 unformated partition. I did ask around on some window forum but no one seem to be famililar with partition less system. I'm open to any suggestion.

Last edited by pntruongan (2017-11-23 12:02:07)

frostschutz · 2017-11-23 12:45:49

Anything in dmesg when you get those i/o errors?

smartctl -a for this drive?

if there are bad sectors, you should ddrescue to a new drive first (and if it's a larger drive you could use a partition as target drive then)

pntruongan · 2017-11-23 14:36:33

frostschutz wrote:

Anything in dmesg when you get those i/o errors?
smartctl -a for this drive?
if there are bad sectors, you should ddrescue to a new drive first (and if it's a larger drive you could use a partition as target drive then)

This is a pretty large drive with no partition:

# parted /dev/sdd
GNU Parted 3.2
Using /dev/sdd
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print                                                            
Model: ATA TOSHIBA DT01ACA3 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 3001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Flags
 1      0,00B  3001GB  3001GB  ntfs

(parted) quit

Regarding dmesg there's a bunch:

 08 81 00 00 00 07 00 00
[36423.452930] print_req_error: I/O error, dev sdd, sector 732629121
[36423.452934] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629121, async page read
[36423.452936] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629122, async page read
[36423.452937] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629123, async page read
[36423.452938] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629124, async page read
[36423.452939] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629125, async page read
[36423.452940] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629126, async page read
[36423.452941] Buffer I/O error on dev sdd, logical block 732629127, async page read
[36423.452960] ata6: EH complete

smartctl report some bad sector: https://pastebin.com/7JR05PMq
I can accept the fact that could mean a few GiB was loss but there were 2TiB data on that drive before it fail to mount and I don't have any working drive with big enough capacity to fully copy that much amount of data, can dd_rescue work?

Last edited by pntruongan (2017-11-23 14:37:37)

ewaller · 2017-11-23 15:33:37

pntruongan, I am really curious.

What was your rationale for using a closed standard files system that is not normally a good choice for a Linux installation; especially when you are not using that device with the operating system to which that file system is native?
Most of us only use NTFS when we are forced to use data that comes from Windows as a way to make things available to both OSes. Do you see any upside to using NTFS in a manner that is not compatible with Windows?

What I am dancing around is suggesting you migrate away from NTFS unless there is a need to have the data available to toy operating systems.

Last edited by ewaller (2017-11-23 15:33:59)

frostschutz · 2017-11-23 15:49:02

That drive has unreadable sectors, get a new one asap and ddrescue over. Even then, it's all up to luck. Depends how much can be recovered, and what else already got damaged by recovery attempts.

Also that drive never ran a SMART selftest. You should set up smartmontools, monitoring, regular selftests, instant email notification. Otherwise you simply will not notice data loss on HDDs until it's already too late to do anything about it.

pntruongan · 2017-11-23 16:13:54

ewaller wrote:

pntruongan, I am really curious.
What was your rationale for using a closed standard files system that is not normally a good choice for a Linux installation; especially when you are not using that device with the operating system to which that file system is native?
Most of us only use NTFS when we are forced to use data that comes from Windows as a way to make things available to both OSes. Do you see any upside to using NTFS in a manner that is not compatible with Windows?
What I am dancing around is suggesting you migrate away from NTFS unless there is a need to have the data available to toy operating systems.

I understand your curiosity. To be honest here, that disk contained video data that I at once time thought that was easier to share with my window-using-friends if I just use NTFS and lend them the whole disk. I'm willing to migrate away from NTFS now but just want to savage as much as possible of the 2TiB data still on that disk.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-11-23 11:39:21

Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#2 2017-11-23 11:53:25

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#3 2017-11-23 11:58:47

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#4 2017-11-23 12:45:49

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#5 2017-11-23 14:36:33

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#6 2017-11-23 15:33:37

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#7 2017-11-23 15:49:02

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

#8 2017-11-23 16:13:54

Re: Recover NTFS filesystem on PARTITION LESS DISK

Board footer