Main Ecrypted LVM not Accessible after Deleting a Different Encrypted LVM on USB HD

[bodhi.zazen]

I have not seen that behavior before, it either aks for a password or gives an error message if it is not a LUKS partition.

Try changing to root:

sudo -i

and run the command from there.

You can also try proceeding with the lvm commands (vgscan ... )

[jreece]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 crypt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
root@ubuntu:~# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 crypt
root@ubuntu:~# vgscan --mknodes
Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
root@ubuntu:~# vgchange -ay
root@ubuntu:~#

[jreece]

Here is a screen shot of the disk utility.

[bodhi.zazen]

Mount it =)

Your partitions are listed in /dev/mapper

mount /dev/mapper/your_partition /mnt

ls /mnt

[jreece]

Here it is again.

[jreece]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ mount /dev/mapper/your_partition /mnt
mount: only root can do that
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/mapper/your_partition /mnt
mount: special device /dev/mapper/your_partition does not exist
root@ubuntu:~# ls /mnt
root@ubuntu:~#

[bodhi.zazen]

The screen shot is not helpful as I do not think the graphical tool recognizes either a crypt or LVM.

What is listed in /dev/mapper ?

What happens when you mount your LVM partition ?

[bodhi.zazen]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ mount /dev/mapper/your_partition /mnt
mount: only root can do that
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/mapper/your_partition /mnt
mount: special device /dev/mapper/your_partition does not exist
root@ubuntu:~# ls /mnt
root@ubuntu:~#

You have to change "your_partition" to the name of your LVM partition. If you do not know what that is, ls /dev/mapper

Side note: If you are going to use encryption and LVM I highly advise you do some reading. The time to learn how these tools work is NOT when you are having problems.

[jreece]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev/mapper
control
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/mapper/control /mnt
mount: /dev/mapper/control is not a block device
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[bodhi.zazen]

If this is a live CD, and you installed all the packages I advised, it then appears you have lost your data.

It is odd there were no error messages, but that leaves me with nothing to go on.

I am not aware of any data recovery software or techniques that will recover your data.

My only guess would be you managed your partitions with a graphical tool (such as gparted) that does not recognize crypts or lvm and that this tool somehow corrupted your crypt.

You can try

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
ls /mnt