/dev/sda not able to detect

[sazan]

Hi
I have a general problem.
I was re-installing Windows in my partition and my desktop restarted during the format session of the disk, now i am unable to see my hard disk and its partition again.

So, i got into bootable ubuntu and trying to format the disk, though i am getting nothing here too.

Here is my fdisk result. Need to get a new NTFS filesystem on this disk again, though i hope the other partitions have their data secured.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda

Unable to read /dev/sda

[deadflowr]

Do you have anything like gparted installed?

I know gparted has a check function which will check for errors on the disk, and it'll run windows filesystems.

[sazan]

I have gparted in this bootable DVD, i had run gparted, but using this doesn't detect my disk.

[chipbuster]

Do you need the data on that disk? If the disk isn't physically broken, you might be able to get something going by dd'ing the disk. It will destroy anything left on that disk though.

[sazan]

It is ok if I loose the data in this disk. Though I would stil want the partitions except for the primary ones to be ok and data secured as far possible.

[sazan]

this is my gparted msg


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo gparted
======================
libparted : 1.8.8.1.159-1e0e
======================
Input/output error during read on /dev/sda



Though the disk is detected in BIOS

[fantab]

Which partition were you formatting when the mishap happened? was it the Windows partition? First partition, /dev/sda1?
Can you find other partitions on the HDD when you boot with Ubuntu LiveDVD/USB? Can you mount them? Can you read the data on 'em?
Does you computer boot with UEFI? What Windows version do you use?

[sazan]

I was formatting the primary windows partition since my windows crashed. It was /dev/sda1.
I am unable to find other partitions now on HDD, maybe because the partition table is lost, so I can't mount them too.
The windows I use is Windows XP SP2

[fantab]

If the Partition Table is lost then probably you won't have any other partitions.... check and re-confirm from Ubuntu LiveDVD/USB if you have other partitions or you lost 'em. If you have 'em then Make a BACKUP asap of all your important files/folders.

Then boot Windows installer and see if it detects the c: partition or /dev/sda1. Let us know if it doesn't. try again.
Can you also post the screenshot of your partitions from Gparted?

There are tools to recover the lost partitions but I am not sure if you can recover lost partitions without 'Partition Table'. If there was any important DATA that you want to recover then give TESTDISK (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step) a try.

More info:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2136126&p=12606265#post12606265 (read the post by Mark Phelps)
http://geekyprojects.com/storage/how-to-repair-a-damaged-partition-table-or-mbr/
http://datarecoverymethods.blogspot.com/2011/01/recovery-of-lost-windows-partition.html

If loosing DATA is not an issue then use Gparted to create a new partition table and start over.

Good Luck...

[sazan]

Hi
Thanks for your reply

I had run gparted and it is not showing any disks available, also there is no partitions being displayed in fdisk.

I am currently confused if my HDD is ok and running fine and I am unable to use SMART on them.

[sazan]

I have run the dd command to erase all data to start fresh.

[prodigy_]

Input/output error during read on /dev/sda
I/O error might indicate a hardware issue. You should start with
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda If SMART readings are OK, check the manufacturer website for HDD utilities. They should have some diagnostics software you can run from a bootable CD.

[fantab]

SMART will not run without partition table, I think. It should be alright. You just damaged the partition table. It may be difficult to restore it but you can easily create a new one.

Without partition table there will be I/O error, I am not sure though.

[prodigy_]

SMART will not run without partition table, I think.
SMART has nothing to do with partitions whether they exist or not. It's HDD internal self-test and it generates a report for the entire physical device.

Also you don't need partition table to check I/O or scan for bad blocks because you can read/write directly from/to block device (e.g. with dd).

[fantab]

SMART has nothing to do with partitions whether they exist or not. It's HDD internal self-test and it generates a report for the entire physical device.

Also you don't need partition table to check I/O or scan for bad blocks because you can read/write directly from/to block device (e.g. with dd).

Thanks for the clarification.. I wasn't sure.