USB hard drive data recovery problem

[CK000]

Hello,

I hope some-one will kindly be able to assist me and thank them in advance.

I have bought a USB powered hard drive enclosure to read two different SATA hard drives. My problem is that ubuntu 10.04 does not appear to recognise them and they do not appear in the file system...

I have used "disk utility" and they are recognised there, but are listed as 'un-partitioned'. There is no option to mount them either.

Well, my issue is that I know they are partitioned: One is taken from an old Playstation 3 which gave up the ghost and I wish to recover the music and photographs. The other I rescued from an accidentally broken old Linux Laptop which I no longer have that ran Linux 8.?? Thus the first should be FAT or FAT32 and the other at least read-able by a Linux system.

So, all in all I simply wish to recover the data and would appreciate any help to do so.

My system is ubuntu 10.04 using a laptop.

Many thanks.

[Gone fishing]

I would download the parted magic live cd http://partedmagic.com this has lots of tools for recovering data test disk etc. Boot up on the live cd and see if the disks can be read if not then parted magic probably has the tools you need to get the data back.

[oldfred]

If the drives do not mount, I am not sure sure any of the software will work.

Some laptops do not put out enough power on the USB port for a hard drive. Is yours only USB powered?

If you run this before & after plugging in USB device what shows?

lsusb

[CK000]

Output from running lsusb command:-

BEFORE:-

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62c0 Microdia Sonix USB 2.0 Camera
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

AFTER:-

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1bcf:0c31 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62c0 Microdia Sonix USB 2.0 Camera
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[Hadaka]

There are some great examples on data recovery and USB hard drive
commands in this link.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ommand-362506/

Don't let the "newbie" in the link fool you. dd should ALWAYS be used with caution,
an error in the if= and of= can and will destroy your good data...forever.

read through..use caution and patients.

good luck.

[Gone fishing]

oldfred Makes a very good point - normal usb cables will not usually work for a hard drive (bitter experience)you will need one of the double usb cables (for hard drives) or a short thick cable usb hard drive cables.

If that isn't the problem I'd still try parted magic and see if test disk can see the partitions.