Mounting external hard drive(mint) as root to windows host

[Creenome]

Not sure how it works, whether that folder is part of a standard installation or created on demand... If this is a new installation that never booted then maybe the folder doesn't exist? Really, don't know. And I wonder why are you looking for that folder, what do you expect to do with it...

The hard drive containing Mint 17(the hard drive in question) used to be booted and used daily. That specific folder has the GNUPG keys I need to transact BTC with an old buddy on a P2P site. They rely heavily on community feedback. Bitcoin-OTC.

[TheFu]

I only skimmed the thread. Sorry if this has been covered.

Don't do things the hard way. Please.

Don't use Windows to fix Linux issues. Use a "Try Ubuntu" flash USB stick. I don't use mint, but suspect their installation ISO placed onto a flash drive and booted will work just as well. After booting from teh flash storage, choose the "Try {whatever Linux OS}" option, point-n-click any file manager at the disk and follow it down into the user's HOME/.gpg/ directory. Insert a different flash storage/usb storage device and copy/paste the entire folder over to it.

If the directory isn't in the HOME directory for the userid you expect, my expectation would be that the Windows computer screwed it up OR there is a HW fault with the storage. Check the SMART data.

swap files don't have users. They are just used to extend RAM as needed. There's nothing useful for anyone but crackers in a swap file and most of it will be garbage after a shutdown.

Anything you consider critical needs to have at least 3 copies in at least 2 different locations, with the 2nd location being at least 500 miles away from the 1st location to avoid regional disasters. Anything less is a total failure.

[SeijiSensei]

The concept of a dot file doesn't exist in Windows filesystems, so if you're trying to copy ~/.gnupg to Windows I can imagine you might have problems.

I rarely back up to Windows, but when I do, I first create tar archives of the files I want to preserve, then copy the archives to windows. E.g.,

cd /
tar czvpf myhomedirectory.tar.gz /home/myusername

You might look into reversing the process by exporting a directory in Windows and mounting it in Linux.