Can't access partition

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 09:40:34

Hello I formatted windows partition and installed Arch on it, before that I created extended windows partition and moved all my data there. Now I have a problem I can't access partition where all my data is. When I run gparted I get notification that partitions are overlapped and if I check information of that partition I get following describtion:

Failed to open '/dev/sda5'.

ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup_warn: magic: 0x00000000 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 0: Invalid argument

Record 0 has no FILE magic (0x0)

Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error

Failed to mount '/dev/sda5': Input/output error

NTFS is inconsistent. Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!

The usage of the /f parameter is very IMPORTANT! No modification was

made to NTFS by this software.

Hard drive partitions look like this:

Disk: /dev/sda
                                        Size: 465.78 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
                                                  Label: dos, identifier: 0x0efe3462

    Device              Boot                   Start              End          Sectors         Size       Id Type
>>  Free space                                  2048        307202047        307200000       146.5G                                    
    /dev/sda1           *                  315590656        976773167        661182512       315.3G       83 Linux
    /dev/sda3                              636456960        976771071        340314112       162.3G        f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    |-Free space                           636459008        754976769        118517762        56.5G
    |-/dev/sda5                            754976769        754976923              155        77.5K       50 OnTrack DM
    `-Free space                           754980864        976771071        221790208       105.8G
    /dev/sda4                              307202048        315590655          8388608           4G       82 Linux swap / Solaris

I want to access /dev/sda3 partition. I made backup image of partition with dd, but still can't access it.
Do you know how to solve it?

Last edited by mitogoni (2020-06-11 19:26:24)

seth · 2020-06-11 12:32:53

sda3 is an extended partition, ie. a container for more parititions (common workaround for limitations of the DOS partition table)
There's only one subpartition (sda5, 77.5kB small) in the middle of it.

I created extended windows partition and moved all my data there

There's a chance you didn't. Do you have a backup of that data?

In the best case scenario, you create sda3 and sda5 spanning its entirety. Then accidentally re-partitioned sda3.
In that case, restoring the partition table (NO FORMATTING!!!) that existed at the time when you moved the data would reveal the old partition, filesystem and all your data.

Worst case: you moved your data over a cliff.

==> What *exactly* did you do? (Describe all steps in order, what programs you used and to the best of your memory. Be accurate!)

If things went really badly, all you could do was to scan your disk for files w/ eg. testdisk, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_recovery
If they were encrypted w/ bitkeeper, this won't work either.

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 15:21:11

Thank you for reply!

==> What *exactly* did you do? (Describe all steps in order, what programs you used and to the best of your memory. Be accurate!)

Before I started installing Arch I moved files under Windows on seperate partition (D disk) and it was accessable, It was sda5 subpartition of sda3 as you said.
I messed up partitions later. Initially it looked like this when I ran arch first time after installation.

Festplatte: /dev/sda Größe: 465,78 GiB, 500107862016 Byte, 976773168 Sektoren Bezeichner: dos, Identifikator: 0x0efe3462

Gerät                 Boot                  Anfang            Ende        Sektoren        Größe       Kn Typ
Freier Bereich                                2048          307202047       307200000       146,5G
/dev/sda1             *                  315590656       976773167       661182512       315,3G       83 Linux
/dev/sda3                                636456960       976771071       340314112       162,3G        f W95 Erw. (LBA)
└─/dev/sda5 636459008 976771071 340312064 162,3G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 307202048 315590655 8388608 4G 82 Linux Swap / Solaris

So what I did:

1. During installation I deleted windows os partition and created swap and root partitions on that space.
2. When I was finished with installation of Arch, extended partitoin wasn't listed in file manager. I ran gparted and first notification was "overlapped partitions aren't allowed" then I checked partition information and I got following notification:
Failed to open '/dev/sda5'.

ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup_warn: magic: 0x00000000 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 0: Invalid argument

Record 0 has no FILE magic (0x0)

Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error

Failed to mount '/dev/sda5': Input/output error

NTFS is inconsistent. Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!

The usage of the /f parameter is very IMPORTANT! No modification was

made to NTFS by this software.

3. I booted from slax live cd to check if I could access from there, but partition wasn't accessable from there either.
4. Then I started Arch again and made image backup of that partition with dd (if=/dev/sda3 of=/sda3.img)
5. After that I tried to mount that image in "furius iso mount", but it didn't work.
6. Then I launched testdisk to check/fix partitions it said that Linux root partition /dev/sda1 and ntfs partition /dev/sda3 were in conflict. I didn't do anything I cancelled testdisk with ctl+c.
7. I wanted to install windows again aside Arch to run checkdisk, I DELETED BACKUP image (because there wasn't enought space), but I couldn't resize linux partition, it just didn't allow when you try from gparted live cd.
8. After that I got partition structure and deleted space like it is now. I don't know when did it change, during backup or running testdisk.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kk6qq0z1cmacj … 8.png?dl=0

Last edited by mitogoni (2020-06-11 19:29:17)

seth · 2020-06-11 15:46:35

Gerät                 Boot                  Anfang            Ende        Sektoren        Größe       Kn Typ
Freier Bereich                                2048          307202047       307200000       146,5G
/dev/sda1             *                  315590656          976773167       661182512       315,3G       83 Linux
/dev/sda3                                636456960          976771071       340314112       162,3G        f W95 Erw. (LBA)
└─/dev/sda5                              636459008          976771071       340312064       162,3G        7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4                                307202048          315590655       8388608         4G           82 Linux Swap / Solaris

The first 146,5G are unused, then there's 4G swap, then there's your 315,3G linux partition and about halfway in is the 162,3G extended/NTFS partition, which resides entirely inside the linux partition.
If you don't care about the data on the windows partition (which is probably lost), you can delete the extended partition, create a new one in the free space at the beginning of the disk and install windows there.
If you do care about the data in the windows partition, your best hope is to delete the partition table and create a paritition that spans the exact sectors of sda5 (starting at 636459008 and 340312064 sectors wide), tag it NTFS, boot some life distro, try to mount that partition and pray.
If you don't care about any data on the disk, I'd suggest to completely repartition the disk and install everything again, because w/ the conflicting partitions, it's hard to say whether and which data might have lost its integrity (notably because files might be fragmented across the disk, though from your description, that doesn't see likely)

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 17:10:28

thank you for answer.

that was before I started fixing, now it looks like this:

Disk: /dev/sda
            Size: 465.78 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
                       Label: dos, identifier: 0x0efe3462

    Device       Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
>>  Free space             2048 307202047 307200000 146.5G                      
    /dev/sda1    *    315590656 976773167 661182512 315.3G 83 Linux
    /dev/sda3         636456960 976771071 340314112 162.3G  f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    |-Free space      636459008 754976769 118517762  56.5G
    |-/dev/sda5       754976769 754976923       155  77.5K 50 OnTrack DM
    `-Free space      754980864 976771071 221790208 105.8G
    /dev/sda4         307202048 315590655   8388608     4G 82 Linux swap / Solar

Does it mean that I deleted all my files? Which tool would you suggest me to try to recover that partition?

Last edited by mitogoni (2020-06-11 19:03:32)

Slithery · 2020-06-11 17:19:45

Please post commands and their output in English and in between [⁣code] [⁣/code] tags...
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 17:48:51

Disk: /dev/sda
                                        Size: 465.78 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
                                                  Label: dos, identifier: 0x0efe3462

    Device              Boot                   Start              End          Sectors         Size       Id Type
>>  Free space                                  2048        307202047        307200000       146.5G                                    
    /dev/sda1           *                  315590656        976773167        661182512       315.3G       83 Linux
    /dev/sda3                              636456960        976771071        340314112       162.3G        f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    |-Free space                           636459008        754976769        118517762        56.5G
    |-/dev/sda5                            754976769        754976923              155        77.5K       50 OnTrack DM
    `-Free space                           754980864        976771071        221790208       105.8G
    /dev/sda4                              307202048        315590655          8388608           4G       82 Linux swap / Solaris

Sorry I am new here didn't know that option.

Last edited by mitogoni (2020-06-11 19:40:57)

Slithery · 2020-06-11 17:54:40

And in English.

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 18:40:51

Disk: /dev/sda
                                        Size: 465.78 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
                                                  Label: dos, identifier: 0x0efe3462

    Device              Boot                   Start              End          Sectors         Size       Id Type
>>  Free space                                  2048        307202047        307200000       146.5G                                    
    /dev/sda1           *                  315590656        976773167        661182512       315.3G       83 Linux
    /dev/sda3                              636456960        976771071        340314112       162.3G        f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    |-Free space                           636459008        754976769        118517762        56.5G
    |-/dev/sda5                            754976769        754976923              155        77.5K       50 OnTrack DM
    `-Free space                           754980864        976771071        221790208       105.8G
    /dev/sda4                              307202048        315590655          8388608           4G       82 Linux swap / Solaris

seth · 2020-06-11 20:00:06

Does it mean that I deleted all my files?

Something that has escaped me:

Then I started Arch again and made image backup of that partition with dd (if=/dev/sda3 of=/sda3.img)

You made a backup of the windows partition that was overlapping your linux partition onto the linux partition.
Assuming the image is not 77.5kB but 162.3GB, this image is the closest thing of what's left of your data, because you overwrote at least some sectors of sda3 with a shifted version of the partition.
That might also explain the shredded extended partition layout - the headers now contain random garbage.

You can try testdisk on the image (see the link I posted in #2) but you probably want to invest in an external drive to rescue the data on (because there's not 162 GB free space left on the linux partition and don't even think about extending the partition into the 146.5GB free space before you secured what's left of your data :-(

mitogoni · 2020-06-11 21:34:28

Thanks a lot! I guess I couldn't make it more complicated :)

You can try testdisk on the image (see the link I posted in #2) but you probably want to invest in an external drive to rescue the data on

I will try that, hope there is still left something on it.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-06-11 09:40:34

Can't access partition

#2 2020-06-11 12:32:53

Re: Can't access partition

#3 2020-06-11 15:21:11

Re: Can't access partition

#4 2020-06-11 15:46:35

Re: Can't access partition

#5 2020-06-11 17:10:28

Re: Can't access partition

#6 2020-06-11 17:19:45

Re: Can't access partition

#7 2020-06-11 17:48:51

Re: Can't access partition

#8 2020-06-11 17:54:40

Re: Can't access partition

#9 2020-06-11 18:40:51

Re: Can't access partition

#10 2020-06-11 20:00:06

Re: Can't access partition

#11 2020-06-11 21:34:28

Re: Can't access partition

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