Can't find old HDD

[Monkeyman]

I have an old HDD that has some data I'd like to access.  I've installed it in an external enclosure but I can't find it on the computer.  (Yes.  I've plugged it in.  )  Where do I find it?  In Windows, I could look under "Computer" but I don't see anything like that here.  I'm sure there's a simple answer but like my brother Forrest said, "I'm not a smart man.".

TIA

[Valtam]

Moved to Hard Drives and SSD's Section.

[rokytnji]

Plug in USB enclosure.

Give it few seconds/minutes to load (my 3TB external takes some time to load)

Then open terminal and post back

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

Code:

sudo blkid

If this drive was ever dropped (I have done this also on a 1TB external) It is toast probably , because the platters are made of glass and shatter.

Hopefully, this is not the case here. I broke mine right after purchasing it. The cord (external cord enclosure) got tangled in my feet and I dropped kicked it to hell. I fought that drive for a while using software but you can't fix broke hardware with software.

I am surprised Thunar is not auto mounting yours in the left hand pane is why I am jaw jacking.

[Scott(0)]

Hi Monkeyman,

Maybe this will help or at least give some additional information for troubleshooting:

Before you plugin the drive look at the listing of these locations:

ls /media/
ls /media/<user_name>

then, plug the drive in and look at the locations above again with the list command. Does anything additional appear?

If you see something additinal, it could be your drive and Thunar just isn't mounting it. Trying using the CD command with the device listing to see if you can access the information.

For example, on my laptop:

Code:

ls /media/scott
a4c8db24-948a-461d-8914-3749fe512d04
USB_Kingwin
ec86edb2-2c86-4f29-b69a-51daf462b491

and

Code:

cd USB_Kingwin

will put me in the USB_Kingwin drive

[Monkeyman]

Scott --- I don't know what to use after the "cd" command to identify the drive.  I tried "cd (plus the disk identifier)" but that showed "No such file or directory".  I don't see any other specific identifiers on that HDD.  All the rest of the info is basically the same on all HDDs (although the bytes show slightly different for each since they don't have the same amount of data on them).

rokytnji --- Never been dropped but I'm thinking about doing it now. 

Apparently, the computer sees the drive.  After the first fdisk command (with the external enclosure OFF), I show my (3) 1TB drives, the 320GB drive (OS) and the 16GB thumb drive.  AFTER I turn on the external enclosure and try the fdisk command again, I get the original text PLUS this:

Disk /dev/sdf: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5fdf7d9c

That would be the 500GB HDD in the enclosure.

When I run the blkid (what does that mean?) command, it shows the (3) HDDs and "USB DISK" (aka thumb drive) but doesn't show the external HDD (maybe).  It DOESN'T show the 320GB drive the OS is on unless the lines starting with "UUID" include that.  I see that the (3) HDDs are NTFS and the thumb drive is VFAT (dunno what the V stands for).  One of the other lines shows "ext4" which (I think) is a Linux partition (? probably got the word wrong...like FAT or NTFS) and the other shows "swap".  Maybe the line labeled "swap" is the external?

dev/sda1: LABEL="Old HDD Copy" UUID="6CCE7DABCE7D6E68" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Media 3" UUID="7AE47313E472D0BD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="21d126a6-85b3-4d1d-a080-22af862874d6" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc5: UUID="ad6e624e-5e55-4aa8-b6f9-fa723c39d271" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdd1: LABEL="TV" UUID="F8389B5D389B1A28" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sde1: LABEL="USB DISK" UUID="BC59-8351" TYPE="vfat"

[rokytnji]

I am posting from my Chromebook right now. So I cannot post pictures on how my thunar preferences are set.
Under advanced settings.
Volume Management.
Configure.
Maybe poke around in there.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/thu...figuration
So

Code:

/dev/sdf

is the external enclosure.
Funny that blkid does not show it.
Funny that thunar does not automount it.

Since the command line "cd" is and "ls" is giving no joy.
Just open thunar and look in media and hopefully a folder saying sdf is in there?

[gold_finger]

As others have said, USB's and external drives usually get mounted to /media/your-username when they are plugged in.

Let's start from square one.

*  Shutdown computer and disconnect external drive.

*  Reboot computer without external drive connected.

*  Go to Menu -> Settings -> Settings Manager -> Desktop -> Icons (tab) -> Default Icons (category) -> put check mark on Removable Devices.  Expand sub-menu under Removable Devices by clicking triangle to right of it.  Make sure all sub-categories have been checked.

*  Click "All Settings" at bottom to get back to main Settings Manager window.

*  Click Removable Drives and Media -> Storage (tab) -> Removable Storage (category) -> make sure first two items are checked off to mount removable drives and media when they are plugged in.

*  Close out of Settings Manager when done.

Now when you plug in your external drive this is what should happen:

1. It should be automatically mounted when plugged in.
   
2. It should produce an icon on the desktop that you can click to access it.
   
3. When you open Thunar file manager, it should show up in list of places on left-hand side.  You should also be able to navigate to it by opening File System -> media -> your-username directory and it will be listed there.  (Substitute your real username.)
   
4. When you open a terminal and enter ls /media/your-username, it should be listed.  (Substitute your real username.)

Report back results of above.

[Monkeyman]

I am posting from my Chromebook right now. So I cannot post pictures on how my thunar preferences are set.
Under advanced settings.
Volume Management.
Configure.
Maybe poke around in there.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/thu...figuration
So

Code:

/dev/sdf

is the external enclosure.
Funny that blkid does not show it.
Funny that thunar does not automount it.

Since the command line "cd" is and "ls" is giving no joy.
Just open thunar and look in media and hopefully a folder saying sdf is in there?

Nope.  Nothing.  If I type "/dev/sdf" in Terminal, I get "Permission Denied".

Now that I think about it (and it may not make any difference), this has been run on both Ubuntu and Windows.  I wonder if something could have become corrupted as I swapped systems?  Maybe that doesn't even matter as the rest of the HDDs have been run under both OSs.

[Monkeyman]

gold_finger --- Nope.  None of that worked and I'm not knowledgable enough to expand on it.  Linux can "see" that there's a drive and it can "see" that there's data on the drive.  It just can't show me the data.

I know (or think I know) that "ext4" is a Linux extention/format (I don't know the right word).  What if that's somehow been corrupted, being run in both Linux and Windows?  Does that matter and is it even possible?  If so, how can I fix that?  (I feel like Forrest Gump trying to talk astrophysics with Stephen Hawking.)

[anon222]

What is the output of:

Code:

sudo lshw -class disk