I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
(abbreviated) story:

I have a 200GB Westernal Digital drive inside an external USB 2.0 case
connected to RedHat 9.0 (latest patches).

Earlier this week I used fdisk /dev/sdc (that's where the drive was, I
actually have 3 external drives), and created a Linux partition.
I then 'w' wrote the changes and exited back to the shell.
Then I entered 'mkfs -j /dev/sdc' which formatted the drive (I assume) and
set up the inodes.

I then mounted the drive with 'mount /dev/sdc /mnt/storage'.   Everything
ok.   lost+found dir existed, etc...

I then proceeded to copy a lot of data (close to filling the drive) to
/mnt/storage, with everything still working fine.    I actually was 'moving'
the data because the drive was brand new and I thought things would be ok,
and I needed to get it off the other machine (I know, but I'm sure others
have done the same thing)...

Anyway, once I was done, I rebooted my machine and went to mount the drive
again,but got an error (like invalid block device or something like that).

I immediately went into fdisk /dev/sdc and it reported something about the
partition being out of whack (so-to-speak) and 'w' would fix it, so I
entered 'w' and it dropped back to the shell.  when I went back in,I didn't
get any error messages, but was shocked to see that no partition existed
either!!!!

Is there anyway I can get this back!   I have no idea why it did this and
this data is really import (last 5 years of my life for school).   I am
trying a program called gpart which is supposed to guess parititions, but it
just says "Begin scan" and I guess it's going through the entire drive
(albeit slowly because it's been running for about 5 hours).

I tried dumpefs /dev/sdc and "get dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in super-block
while trying to open"

Since there was just one big partition, is there a way I can set it up
again.

Please help, I am desparate!

Thanks!

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

I dont know much about linux, but i've been in a similar situation. The best
advise I can give is don't panic. Stay calm and dont enter commands in the
slight hope it might help - cos it may even make things worse. The current
configuration is not gonna change unless you do something to it, so you have
all the time in the world to make a good plan. Gather all the information
you can with a cool head, not skipping ahead to find the 1 line command that
will fix everything.

Oh and lastly, good luck 
-Mun

"Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdWdnYzLVr0BbdKiRVn-tw@giganews.com...
quote:

> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:
>
> I have a 200GB Westernal Digital drive inside an external USB 2.0 case
> connected to RedHat 9.0 (latest patches).
>
> Earlier this week I used fdisk /dev/sdc (that's where the drive was, I
> actually have 3 external drives), and created a Linux partition.
> I then 'w' wrote the changes and exited back to the shell.
> Then I entered 'mkfs -j /dev/sdc' which formatted the drive (I assume) and
> set up the inodes.
>
> I then mounted the drive with 'mount /dev/sdc /mnt/storage'.   Everything
> ok.   lost+found dir existed, etc...
>
> I then proceeded to copy a lot of data (close to filling the drive) to
> /mnt/storage, with everything still working fine.    I actually was

'moving'
quote:

> the data because the drive was brand new and I thought things would be ok,
> and I needed to get it off the other machine (I know, but I'm sure others
> have done the same thing)...
>
> Anyway, once I was done, I rebooted my machine and went to mount the drive
> again,but got an error (like invalid block device or something like that).
>
> I immediately went into fdisk /dev/sdc and it reported something about the
> partition being out of whack (so-to-speak) and 'w' would fix it, so I
> entered 'w' and it dropped back to the shell.  when I went back in,I

didn't
quote:

> get any error messages, but was shocked to see that no partition existed
> either!!!!
>
> Is there anyway I can get this back!   I have no idea why it did this and
> this data is really import (last 5 years of my life for school).   I am
> trying a program called gpart which is supposed to guess parititions, but

it
quote:

> just says "Begin scan" and I guess it's going through the entire drive
> (albeit slowly because it's been running for about 5 hours).
>
> I tried dumpefs /dev/sdc and "get dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in

super-block
quote:

> while trying to open"
>
> Since there was just one big partition, is there a way I can set it up
> again.
>
> Please help, I am desparate!
>
> Thanks!
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

I dont know much about linux, but i've been in a similar situation. The best
advise I can give is don't panic. Stay calm and dont enter commands in the
slight hope it might help - cos it may even make things worse. The current
configuration is not gonna change unless you do something to it, so you have
all the time in the world to make a good plan. Gather all the information
you can with a cool head, not skipping ahead to find the 1 line command that
will fix everything.

Oh and lastly, good luck 
-Mun

"Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdWdnYzLVr0BbdKiRVn-tw@giganews.com...
quote:

> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:
>
> I have a 200GB Westernal Digital drive inside an external USB 2.0 case
> connected to RedHat 9.0 (latest patches).
>
> Earlier this week I used fdisk /dev/sdc (that's where the drive was, I
> actually have 3 external drives), and created a Linux partition.
> I then 'w' wrote the changes and exited back to the shell.
> Then I entered 'mkfs -j /dev/sdc' which formatted the drive (I assume) and
> set up the inodes.
>
> I then mounted the drive with 'mount /dev/sdc /mnt/storage'.   Everything
> ok.   lost+found dir existed, etc...
>
> I then proceeded to copy a lot of data (close to filling the drive) to
> /mnt/storage, with everything still working fine.    I actually was

'moving'
quote:

> the data because the drive was brand new and I thought things would be ok,
> and I needed to get it off the other machine (I know, but I'm sure others
> have done the same thing)...
>
> Anyway, once I was done, I rebooted my machine and went to mount the drive
> again,but got an error (like invalid block device or something like that).
>
> I immediately went into fdisk /dev/sdc and it reported something about the
> partition being out of whack (so-to-speak) and 'w' would fix it, so I
> entered 'w' and it dropped back to the shell.  when I went back in,I

didn't
quote:

> get any error messages, but was shocked to see that no partition existed
> either!!!!
>
> Is there anyway I can get this back!   I have no idea why it did this and
> this data is really import (last 5 years of my life for school).   I am
> trying a program called gpart which is supposed to guess parititions, but

it
quote:

> just says "Begin scan" and I guess it's going through the entire drive
> (albeit slowly because it's been running for about 5 hours).
>
> I tried dumpefs /dev/sdc and "get dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in

super-block
quote:

> while trying to open"
>
> Since there was just one big partition, is there a way I can set it up
> again.
>
> Please help, I am desparate!
>
> Thanks!
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

I dont know much about linux, but i've been in a similar situation. The best
advise I can give is don't panic. Stay calm and dont enter commands in the
slight hope it might help - cos it may even make things worse. The current
configuration is not gonna change unless you do something to it, so you have
all the time in the world to make a good plan. Gather all the information
you can with a cool head, not skipping ahead to find the 1 line command that
will fix everything.

Oh and lastly, good luck 
-Mun

"Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdWdnYzLVr0BbdKiRVn-tw@giganews.com...
quote:

> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:
>
> I have a 200GB Westernal Digital drive inside an external USB 2.0 case
> connected to RedHat 9.0 (latest patches).
>
> Earlier this week I used fdisk /dev/sdc (that's where the drive was, I
> actually have 3 external drives), and created a Linux partition.
> I then 'w' wrote the changes and exited back to the shell.
> Then I entered 'mkfs -j /dev/sdc' which formatted the drive (I assume) and
> set up the inodes.
>
> I then mounted the drive with 'mount /dev/sdc /mnt/storage'.   Everything
> ok.   lost+found dir existed, etc...
>
> I then proceeded to copy a lot of data (close to filling the drive) to
> /mnt/storage, with everything still working fine.    I actually was

'moving'
quote:

> the data because the drive was brand new and I thought things would be ok,
> and I needed to get it off the other machine (I know, but I'm sure others
> have done the same thing)...
>
> Anyway, once I was done, I rebooted my machine and went to mount the drive
> again,but got an error (like invalid block device or something like that).
>
> I immediately went into fdisk /dev/sdc and it reported something about the
> partition being out of whack (so-to-speak) and 'w' would fix it, so I
> entered 'w' and it dropped back to the shell.  when I went back in,I

didn't
quote:

> get any error messages, but was shocked to see that no partition existed
> either!!!!
>
> Is there anyway I can get this back!   I have no idea why it did this and
> this data is really import (last 5 years of my life for school).   I am
> trying a program called gpart which is supposed to guess parititions, but

it
quote:

> just says "Begin scan" and I guess it's going through the entire drive
> (albeit slowly because it's been running for about 5 hours).
>
> I tried dumpefs /dev/sdc and "get dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in

super-block
quote:

> while trying to open"
>
> Since there was just one big partition, is there a way I can set it up
> again.
>
> Please help, I am desparate!
>
> Thanks!
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400, Tim Mavers wrote:
quote:

> Subject:      PLEASE HELP!   LOST ALL DATA ON EXTERNAL DRIVE
> From:         "Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com>
> Newsgroups:   comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.redhat,l
inux.redhat,redhat.general
> Date:         Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400
>
> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:


I think Explorefs2 for Win32 will do the job if you can get your drive on
a Win-doze box.

ttp://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400, Tim Mavers wrote:
quote:

> Subject:      PLEASE HELP!   LOST ALL DATA ON EXTERNAL DRIVE
> From:         "Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com>
> Newsgroups:   comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.redhat,l
inux.redhat,redhat.general
> Date:         Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400
>
> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:


I think Explorefs2 for Win32 will do the job if you can get your drive on
a Win-doze box.

ttp://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400, Tim Mavers wrote:
quote:

> Subject:      PLEASE HELP!   LOST ALL DATA ON EXTERNAL DRIVE
> From:         "Tim Mavers" <webview@hotmail.com>
> Newsgroups:   comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.redhat,l
inux.redhat,redhat.general
> Date:         Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:32:39 -0400
>
> I hope someone can help me recover my data, I don't think I did anything
> wrong, but I must have, since all the data is lost.   Here is the
> (abbreviated) story:


I think Explorefs2 for Win32 will do the job if you can get your drive on
a Win-doze box.

ttp://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Is there a way to convert from ext3 to ext2?  I found a list of where I
believe my backup superblocks are, but when I try restoring them with
something like:

fsck /dev/sdc -b 884736

which replied with:

fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
e2fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

---cut---

It says not describe a correct _ext2_ drive, but this drive is ext3... Is
there a way I can convert back.  I didn't see a way for fsck to use ext3
types (I tried added the -t ext3).

I think I am on to something...

Thanks.....

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Is there a way to convert from ext3 to ext2?  I found a list of where I
believe my backup superblocks are, but when I try restoring them with
something like:

fsck /dev/sdc -b 884736

which replied with:

fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
e2fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

---cut---

It says not describe a correct _ext2_ drive, but this drive is ext3... Is
there a way I can convert back.  I didn't see a way for fsck to use ext3
types (I tried added the -t ext3).

I think I am on to something...

Thanks.....

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Is there a way to convert from ext3 to ext2?  I found a list of where I
believe my backup superblocks are, but when I try restoring them with
something like:

fsck /dev/sdc -b 884736

which replied with:

fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
e2fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

---cut---

It says not describe a correct _ext2_ drive, but this drive is ext3... Is
there a way I can convert back.  I didn't see a way for fsck to use ext3
types (I tried added the -t ext3).

I think I am on to something...

Thanks.....

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]