Cannot determine filesystem type when trying to recover data

**AlanDavidson** · 06-02-2007, 12:27 PM

I'm using Knoppix to try to get my neighbour's data from failed hard drive on his Sony laptop (Windows XP Home).

I can browse the hard drive with his Sony applications. I can browse the memory stick that I want to copy his data to.

We can't see his data. There are two other drives that I can't enter, because of the error: "mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was specified.

Can anyone tell me how to specify the filesystem type.

I have very basic (and old) Unix knowledge.

If I type cat /etc/fstab

I get:

# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 ntfs noauto, users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda2 /media/hda2 auto noauto, users,exec 0 0

I typed:

sudo mount -t ntfs -o uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix /dev/hda2 /media/hda2

I got the message:

NTFS signature is missing.

**SiKing** · 06-02-2007, 08:46 PM

This isn't going to be of much help to you, but this is just too creepy.

I have had my disk crash today. My situation is slightly more complicated, in that it is one member of a RAID0 disk. I was going to try and recover something using Knoppix, but I am getting the same errors as you and no idea how to continue.

I was going to write a post to the group: Does anyone know of any kind of a guide or something on the net, or even a book, or anything, that would tell me what I can do / try to recover data on a failed drive? Especially drives that have had their MBR, FAT, and / or other critical stuff crash.

TIA, SiKing.

**TopFarmer** · 06-03-2007, 03:33 AM

AlanDavidson-- run FDISK -L , if you can, post display other wise post what is listed under Id.
Can you find out what is the last thing the neighbor did?

SiKing- you should start your own post and not hijack a post , it gets to confussing on just who is talking to who.

**AlanDavidson** · 06-03-2007, 05:57 AM

TopFarmer wrote:

> run FDISK -L , if you can

About 3 seconds after the disk is booted, the following (famous?) error message is displayed:

Disk Read Error Occured. Press CTRL ALT DEL to restart

Therefore, CHKDSK cannot be run.

The Windows XP system CD gives the same message as above.

The manufacturer's recovery disk can be read, but it sounds like a disk image. It will restore the PC to the programs and data that was on the machine when bought. All his own data would be overwritten. Knoppix of course can be read.

TopFarmer wrote:

> Can you find out what is the last thing the neighbor did?

The machine gave the above error at boot. Pressing CTRL ALT DEL solved the problem. Same again at next reboot. This happened for a few days. On the last day, the machine would not start.

He should probably have taken it back to the shop sooner. (The shop says that he needs a new hard drive. They said nothing can be done. They have obviously never heard of stuff like Knoppix.)

**SiKing** · 06-07-2007, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by TopFarmer

SiKing- you should start your own post and not hijack a post , it gets to confussing on just who is talking to who.

Sorry, I thought it was on topic. As for the confusion, this forum does allow quoting ...

**TopFarmer** · 06-07-2007, 01:36 PM

SiKing-You are on the same type of problem but it can create problems when trying to remember just who has wrote what. ( My be just my opinion only )
My knowledge of RAID is zero , so any suggestions could make things worse.

For both- would use the hdd's manufacture's test program and verify if the hdd is good or bad. Only if it tests good then one can try methods for recovery with out a waste of time.

AlanDavidson- if you are running FDISK -L under linux and get that error , would say bad hdd, IDE cable,bios battery (if laptop has one). Does the post screen or if you enter bios, is the hdd identified correctly ?

**sakiZ** · 06-08-2007, 10:02 PM

I have used the application TestDisk to resurrect a trashed hard disk with good success. It had multiple partitions and they were all gone. Just a scrambled egg kinda mess. It restored all but one of the partitions. I was able to restore that one from a backup. I was impressed.

You can get here:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

It's available in almost any platform.

It's free too!

Good luck.

sakiZ