[plug] Help needed ...

[Peter]

On 15/07/10 21:35, Richard Meyer wrote:
> Advice, I have plenty of, AND AT NO EXTRA charge...  ;-)
>
> I would check the bios startup messages for any SMART info about the WD
> disk.
>
> If there were messages about how broken it was, I'd weep.
>
> What I would then do (regardless of SMART results), is lash out for a
> USB disk cage/enclosure for about $20 and put the disk in there.
>
> I would then boot without it and plug it in, and see whether Linux can
> see it ....
>
> I would also run smartmon against it .. (Hmmm, I don't have smartmon any
> more) I'm sure others will have better ideas for disk diagnostics
> anyway ...
>
> If I could access the disk, I'd back up what I needed and
> destroy/reformat the disk as indicated by the SMART status.
>
> HTH
>
>    

Following on from what Richard said, if you can get the machine running 
either with the disk in place or in a USB enclosure, you can try some of 
the following:

In a console do "fdisk -l" and/or "cfdisk /dev/???" where ??? is the 
drive in question (eg.  sdc) to see if Linux can find the disk, even if 
it doesn't recognise any partitions.

If the above works,

Run 'testdisk' (eg:  'sudo testdisk /dev/sdc' if using a ubuntu live 
disk) in a console to see if there are any recoverable partitions. You 
may have to install testdisk first as it is not included on a standard 
ubuntu installation.     If testdisk finds any info on the drive (there 
is a "view files" option that sometimes works even if the partitions are 
corrupt.  You will need another disk (mounted partition) to copy files 
to if it finds any.

I'm three hours out of Perth, so can't offer much in the way of hands on 
assistance, but may be able to talk you though some stuff if required....

If none of the above works....  If Linux can not see the drive at 
all....  the disk may be dead, however if you can hear it spin up when 
powered on and there is no significant noise (ticking?) then you may 
have a faulty PCB.  The drive may be recoverable but requires specialist 
knowledge.....  I can put you in touch with someone who may be able to 
help, if the above options fail.  I recently recovered a Drive with a 
fried PCB.  It took weeks to recover the data (long story) but only cost 
me $50.00 in parts.

Cheers,
Peter


> On Thu, 2010-07-15 at 21:08 +0800, David Dartnall wrote:
>    
>> Now that the plug server's up again, below is the third of three emails
>> which didn't get through. Perhaps someone could advise/help.
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I need a linux/hardware guru. My system suddenly refused to boot, and I
>> took it to the Windows bloke who sold it to me and who has been keeping
>> it going over a number of years, and he got Windows running.
>>
>> It has XP as well as Lucid on it, and the Windows drive now boots into
>> Windows, (very slow if the Lucid disk is connected) but Windows systems
>> can't see Linux disks, so I tried a Jaunty CD disk that I had but it
>> would only fully boot into a live session if the drive holding the Lucid
>> system is disconnected.
>>
>> With it connected, (it's a relatively new WD 500 gig drive), the Jaunty
>> live session boot stops after selection of the language 'English' and
>> drops into a initramfs root prompt.
>>
>> Running the live session with WD 500 unplugged, gparted found the
>> Windows disk and also my third disk which was formatted ext3 but without
>> any OS on it.
>>
>> I installed Jaunty on this and plugged the 500GB Lucid disk in and
>> rebooted. After a _very long_ boot time, the Jaunty system comes up but
>> all it can see is the Windows disk... Jaunty boots quickly with the
>> 500Gb disk disconnected.
>>
>> It's obviously going to cost money but I need to get the Lucid system
>> going - I'll take the box anywhere Perth Metro area...
>>
>> Regards and advice please.
>> I am unable to access the WD 500GB Lucid disk - can not see it.
>> No I have not backed up - I'll never learn!  I sure will now tho'.
>>
>> Regards
>> Dave Dartnall
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
>> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
>> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>>      
>