Restore unmountable disk

[IronF]

Hi guys,
probably few days ago my computer suddenly get switched off during the system boot and now I cannot mount the partition with ubuntu and ALL MY FILES.
If I try to boot this is the result:

[...]
mount:mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
mount:mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount:mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target filesystem dosen't have /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init=bootarg
And If I try e2fsck /dev/sda1, it refuse to run stating "Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/sda. Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?"
How can I recovery my data at least?

[Spencer Reid]

Bios is probably corrupt. Try re-installing BIOS

[3Miro]

Try booting a LiveCD. From there you will be able to recover your data and perhaps fix the problem.

[IronF]

Try booting a LiveCD. From there you will be able to recover your data and perhaps fix the problem.
I used the LiveCD but I can't mount the partition!

[3Miro]

Do you get any errors? You can try this:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=694301

[IronF]

Now, maybe something is changed, probably in a worst way...:(
Now if I try
mount /dev/sda1 this is the result
mount: can't find /dev/sda1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
I've just tryed
sudo mkdir /media/windows
sudo mount /dev/(yourdevice) /media/windows -o force but nothings happened.

[3Miro]

Try:


sudo mkdir /media/oldhdd
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd

Now the trick is to find which one is the right partition. You can do


sudo fdisk -l

to get a list of all HDD devices and partitions. They will most likely be labeled sda1, ada2, adb1 ....

If this doesn't work, you can try:

sudo mkdir /media/oldhdd
sudo mount -o force /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd

[IronF]

First, thank you for your help, and apologize me if I wasn't clear!
I'm gonna try to be clear. This is the situation of my pc, I've 2 hd with ubuntu e windows. Windows is still working(unfortunately)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004620f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19084 153285632 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 19084 19458 3002369 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 19084 19458 3002368 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 164.7 GB, 164696555520 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 21274 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f2f6f2f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 21273 160823848+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

I tryed to mount but it doesn't work:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/oldhdd
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd/


I tryed also with force but:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/hdd
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o force /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd
mount: mount point /media/oldhdd does not exist

[IronF]

I tryed also with force but:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/hdd
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o force /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd
mount: mount point /media/oldhdd does not exist

ok sorry I've just tryed with

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/oldhdd
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/oldhdd': File exists
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o force /dev/sda1 /media/oldhdd


but it's the same situation: it's working but nothing is happening(I can't use the same terminal any more)

[3Miro]

That last one should have worked. Read the errors that you get, file already exists and no such file for example.

Once you do the last one, you should have your HDD mounted. Go into Nautilus (Places -> Home) then go up until you reach / and enter /media. You should see a folder oldhdd that has all of your files from the hard-drive.

[oldfred]

One other user recently had the same issue with device busy, so they could not run e2fsck.

They solved it by downloading one of the other small distributions ( forgot which they used) and then they were able to run the e2fsck. For them it may have been just that Ubuntu was in the extended partition and they did not unmount swap and the other distribution did not automatically mount swap, but I still might try it as it cannot hurt.

[IronF]

That last one should have worked. Read the errors that you get, file already exists and no such file for example.

Once you do the last one, you should have your HDD mounted. Go into Nautilus (Places -> Home) then go up until you reach / and enter /media. You should see a folder oldhdd that has all of your files from the hard-drive.
No sorry again, I think that I got that error because I had created the same directory twice...
I'm gonna try with another Live-CD distro.

[Philio]

This sounds identical to the problem I had this morning on a brand new SSD drive I had installed last night.

I tried everything above and a few other things but was unable to get the drive to mount at all. As I had little more than a base install I gave up and just nuked the partition table and started over.

Maybe there is something in syslog or dmesg that has some clues?
I read somewhere (after I'd reformatted) that someone had a similar problem and used a different disto live cd to fix, as someone mentioned in this thread too. I think they said it was slackware.

[Philio]

Sorry, my mistake, you want slax not slackware.

There is another thread on it here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1601810

Bottom of page 2 onwards.

[IronF]

THANK YOU GUYS, I restore my hd with Slax!
Endless Thank you...