Moving Data from old partitions to new failed 24.04 install

[wcalvert]

This is a follow on question from another post attempting to fix a failed install of 24.04. In the end there are two installations of 24.04 on my machine, along with an existing Windows boot option. The two 24.04 boot options exist on two different partitions, but one does not appear to be viable. Neither will access any data on the other partitions (data meaning documents, files, configurations, etc.), nor have I been able to determine if any data still exists on those partitions.

You can wade through all the painful details of the last post if you prefer, there is some useful information there: Corrupted Boot partition after upgrade to 24.04 (https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2502153). It's marked "solved" but not really!

I do have an image file of the entire drive in question, but unfortunately no backup I can return to. If we can't reproduce the system as it was, I would at least like access to the data that remains.

So my question is: how could I proceed to "connect" "link" (I'm a beginner) the old partitions to the new install in order to restore access to the data?


I appreciate the help, and am amazed at the willingness of the volunteers (OldFred, Yancek, grahammechanical and many others) to help a flailing beginner!
Ready to listen. Cheers

[oldfred]

File browser should let you click on partition and browse folders.
If an install you would need to drill down from / to /home to /home/$USER where that is your name in that system.

Part of reason I prefer to always label partitions. You can use Disks, Gparted, or terminal.
Then default mount by file browser is by label, not some very long UUID that may be confusing. I do not know one UUID from another, but labels let me know what partition I am temporarily mounting.

[wcalvert]

Just to be clear, "File browser" refers to the icon on the left (my screen) that looks like a file folder, correct? If that's so, I am unable to find any option to look at a partition, only the default options like downloads, documents, etc ...

I'm clearly missing something and need a low altitude explanation, maybe pictures. This could just be a matter of slang language, but I'm stuck from moving ahead.

Then you say:

"If an install you would need to .. "

You lost me on that comment too. Can you explain by what you mean by "install"?


Thanks

[oldfred]

I have not use Nautilus, the file browser for Ubuntu for ages, so it has lots of changes.
I now use Kubuntu which uses the Dolphin file browser. Functions are similar but details are different.
You should also have a way to open all other partitions.

Post this:
lsblk -e 7 -o name,fstype,size,fsused,label,UUID,mountpoint

[wcalvert]

Here it is ...

ID,mountpoint

NAME FSTYPE SIZE FSUSED LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda 931.5G
├─sda1
│ vfat 499M 54.2M ESP EEDC-1691 /boot/efi
├─sda3
│ ntfs 442.7G 36.7G OS 2E38DFD638DF9B63 /media/wil
├─sda5
│ ext4 196.1G 2e8a4205-058b-44bc-810a-910260e478f3
└─sda6
ext4 291.7G 11.8G 1aceb469-c683-41a0-81e3-ede8fe0ff4b4 /

[tea for one]

Just to be clear, "File browser" refers to the icon on the left (my screen) that looks like a file folder, correct? If that's so, I am unable to find any option to look at a partition, only the default options like downloads, documents, etc ...
I'm clearly missing something and need a low altitude explanation, maybe pictures. This could just be a matter of slang language, but I'm stuck from moving ahead.

Using Ubuntu 24.04 (either a live session or installed OS)
Open the file manager (Files also known as nautilus)
Do you see "+ Other Locations"?

[oldfred]

Your lsblk shows no sdb drive?

Is this an internal drive?
And is it shown in UEFI/BIOS settings. Under drives or similar settings somewhere should be a list of connected drives/devices.
If not shown, software will never find drive. Then check connections both power & signal.

[TheFu]

NAME FSTYPE SIZE FSUSED LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda 931.5G
├─sda1 │ vfat 499M 54.2M ESP EEDC-1691 /boot/efi
├─sda3 │ ntfs 442.7G 36.7G OS 2E38DFD638DF9B63 /media/wil
├─sda5 │ ext4 196.1G 2e8a4205-058b-44bc-810a-910260e478f3
└─sda6 ext4 291.7G 11.8G 1aceb469-c683-41a0-81e3-ede8fe0ff4b4 /

Looks to me like sda5 isn't mounted. Could that 196GB have the data you seek?
Because you didn't use forum code-tags, this looks ugly when it shouldn't.

[oldfred]

Sorry thought data was on separate drive, ignore that post.

Can you manually mount sda5 when booted in sda6?
from terminal
sudo mkdir /media/$USER/tempdata
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /media/$USER/tempdata -o umask=000

[wcalvert]

Yes, one internal drive, and I've tried mounting sda5 on Gparted and the option is not available. From you request:

$ sudo mount /dev/sda5 /media/$USER/tempdata -o umask=000
mount: /media/wilson/tempdata: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda5, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.
dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.