Bad Sectors - CAN NOT save the data on the HDD

[amjjawad]

Hi,

Hardware: ThinkPad E590, Core i5 8th Generation, 12GB RAM and 1TB HDD.
Software: Ubuntu 18.04

Total running time: 10 weeks.

Long story short:

• Despite the fact that I bought this laptop exactly (2) years ago, I have used it for ONLY 10 weeks.
• I bought it without any OS installed.
• I decided to use Ubuntu 18.04 after I have used official variants from 2011 until 2019.
• The current OS is the one and only OS that I have installed on that machine (laptop).
• When I started to use it, I tend to use 'Hibernate' more than 'Shut Down'.
• I noticed recently some crashes in my 'Browser' which is 'Chromium' and the machine is kind of slow. In fact, the performance, in general, was bad when I do 'Hibernate'. However, recently, it became more noticeable.
• A reboot/restart was a good choice to get things back to normal.
• Yesterday (12-May-2021 Sydney Time), something happened: couldn't search anything on google as I was in need to get some information. The tab was crashing over, over and over again. I thought to reboot the machine because I didn't shut it down for a quite sometime. I thought, as usual, that would solve the whole thing. Once that done, the whole laptop crashed.
• I got all kind of weird errors that I have never ever seen since I have started using GNU/Linux back in 2010.
• After several hours and countless tries, I managed to get to (initramfs) and managed to run (fsck).
• Yet again, errors that I have never seen before. Such as "Inode 3670112 seems to contain garbage".
• Tried my best to get to a point where I can at least understand what is happening so that I could save the day and at least rescue the data, but nothing happened.
• Finally, managed to get in after logging in to my OS.
• Nothing was working except 'GParted'.
• Rebooted with the LiveUSB inserted to one of the USB Port and got into the Live Desktop.
• Tried to use 'Disk' to check the HDD and, to my shock, it shows that the HDD has 'Bad Sectors', despite the fact that I've been using the machine for only (10) weeks!
• Here is the HARDEST PART. I managed to access the '/home' partition. While I was trying to save the data, the copy process got crashed and I couldn't save anything whatsoever.
• I have only (3) partitions on that machine: '/' and 'SWAP' and '/home'.
• The root partition is 100GB. The SWAP Partition is 14GB. The home partition is more than 800GB.
• I tried to resize the '/home' partition by reducing the size but 'GParted' crashed.
• I tried to reduce the size, aiming for 'Dual-Booting' but that wasn't successful.
• I am super sad, have anxiety and stress because all my lectures (videos) for (2) months are stored there.
• Now, I'm totally stuck. I can't do anything whatsoever.
• EVEN WORSE, my NEW External HDD (1TB) which I bought long ago, I tried to plug it to save the data but it crashed and it's a hardware issue 100%. So, double losses so far!

What exactly I need to do?

1. SAVE my data.
2. Make sure the saved data is working just fine.
3. Try to save the laptop (HDD).

I suspect it is a software bad sector but I can't verify that.

Again, my priority is saving the data that is, so far, refusing to be saved.

If I can fix the bad sector, in case it is a software one not a hardware issue, that would be even better. If not, then there is noting I can do.

My data must be saved and you may ask, why I haven't done a backup?
Well, because:
A- The laptop was new. I never thought this will happen.
B- Because the laptop was new, I was using it as a backup machine for my files.
C- I never thought 'Hibernate' might be the cause behind this so I didn't do the backup.

I am not here to be blamed. I'm here seeking help.

Thank you in advance!

P.S.
Please note, I can't use that machine so posting some information, logs, etc is hard.

[dino99]

Have you tried to copy that faulty /home to an other device ? (do it from that other system device)
But keep in mind that the less done on that faulty hdd the better it is (despite you already have done a lot)

[amjjawad]

Hi and thank you for your post.

Have you tried to copy that faulty /home to an other device ? (do it from that other system device)
But keep in mind that the less done on that faulty hdd the better it is (despite you already have done a lot)

Perhaps I didn't explain myself very well.

Indeed, I have tried that.
However, it failed.

[amjjawad]

Here are some screenshots. It is getting worse!

[ActionParsnip]

"software bad sector" isn't a thing. A bad sector is on the physical drive, not software.
If your data is important then why do you not have regular backups? What if the drive totally fails? Where is your data?

[amjjawad]

"software bad sector" isn't a thing. A bad sector is on the physical drive, not software.

This:
https://www.datanumen.com/blogs/hard...ses-solutions/

If your data is important then why do you not have regular backups? What if the drive totally fails? Where is your data?

That did NOT solve my problem. Kindly read the last paragraph in my OP.

[dragonfly41]

Faced with these errors I would personally try a LiveUSB to fix bad sectors through command line.

https://www.amolak.net/fix-hard-disk...tors-in-linux/

[tea for one]

Have you considered Clonezilla?
https://clonezilla.org/

Prepare a USB stick with Clonezilla
Clone your /home partition
Beg, borrow, steal another PC
Restore your cloned partition to a different PC
Check your data for damage/corruption etc.

[amjjawad]

Hi and thank you for your reply.

Faced with these errors I would personally try a LiveUSB to fix bad sectors through command line.

https://www.amolak.net/fix-hard-disk...tors-in-linux/

  
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo e2fsck -cfpv /dev/sda1
/dev/sda1: Updating bad block inode.
Error reading block 9262 (Input/output error).  

/dev/sda1: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
    (i.e., without -a or -p options)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[TheFu]

If a LiveCD or Try Ubuntu environment running from a flash drive are failing, then the computer hardware is dying. Probably something inside the motherboard. Initially, it looked like it could just be the original HDD, but the alternate boot media having problems moved the issue.

To get data off a failing HDD,
a) stop using it for anything other than safe copying to a new disk.
b) use a different computer.
c) Take the HDD out that has the data you want and connect it to a different computer that supports 2 storage devices and can boot from a USB-flash Try Ubuntu environment.
d) install ddrescue - sudo apt install ddrescue
e) use ddrescue to perform a bit-for-bit copy FROM the source HDD to the target HDD. Don't get those backwards. ddrescue is designed to get as much data as possible from storage. The target drive will be completely wiped. The target drive needs to be at least as large as the source drive.

Let ddrescue run over night - perhaps longer. There is output showing progress of the copying and how the errors are being handled. Multiple passes can be used to attempt to get more data from difficult sectors copied.

Just because ddrescue can copy the data, that doesn't mean it is fully recovered. On really bad disks, the drive might fail. This was going to happen already. All storage devices fail. Our goal is to have good backups BEFORE that happens. For really important data, we need it stored in 3 different places.

If you do get a copy onto a new HDD, that is now the primary storage for that data and you need a new, fresh, backup ASAP. Cloning isn't really an efficient backup. It is a way to move from one disk to another, if you don't have a better option. There are many, many, better options than cloning, unless the source HDD is failing. Then the options are limited - or cost $3000.