my external ubuntu HD

**hmiersch** · March 9th, 2015

hi. i used to boot ubuntu from an external HD until a failed update made that partition unusable. so i installed ubuntu on my internal HD and i'm running gparted on the problem HD. assuming it recovers the partitions, how can i make that HD bootable again, preferably without losing any data?

**v3.xx** · March 9th, 2015

how can i make that HD bootable again, preferably without losing any data

Can you first backup your data using your new install (FileManager) to access the ext drive.

Also a bad update/upgrade does not necessary mean a partition problem.

**hmiersch** · March 9th, 2015

i tried "attempt data rescue" in gparted, and it couldn't find anything. that HD appears to be unformatted / unpartitioned. i guess this means those files are gone, right? or is there anything else i can try?

**v3.xx** · March 9th, 2015

If you wish to try recovery software

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

**hmiersch** · March 15th, 2015

i know it took me a while but i've used testdisk to recover the files i wanted from that bad partition. but now when i try to do anything with those files (like delete the duplicates) ubuntu tells me that i'm not the owner and refuses to cooperate. so what can i do about that? (those files are on my ubuntu disk).

**v3.xx** · March 16th, 2015

Sounds like your just about there, good show

http://www.googlubuntu.com/results/?...ch&cof=FORID:9

**oldfred** · March 16th, 2015

You probably have to make sure you are the ower and have permissions.

Did you copy to another partition or are they in your /home?
You may just need chmod or chown commands on partition, folder or just the files.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions

**hmiersch** · March 18th, 2015

The files were recovered from that failed partition on the external HD and saved in my home folder which is on my internal HD.

I think I had to use sudo from my admin account, and my theory is that that's why the files were owned by root. But chown fixed that. Now I can move them where they belong, and remove the duplicates that appeared out of nowhere...

**v3.xx** · March 18th, 2015

Sounds like you got it. A lot of people are not so lucky. Maybe time for you to consider a backup plan. And just so happens 'oldfred' has input on that too

http://www.googlubuntu.com/results/?...ch&cof=FORID:9

Don't forget
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnansweredPo.../SolvedThreads