grub - Is this Hard Drive dead?

07
2014-07
  • Dee

    Okay, so I have a hard drive which I have run into problems with. I am dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04.

    Recently I have been getting random crashes in both Windows 7 and Ubuntu, but much more common with Ubuntu.

    Lately the crashes have become almost daily. And today when I tried to boot up I got a GRUB: Unknown File System error. I loaded up Ubuntu from USB, as Ubuntu is loading from USB I get lots of Time Out errors from the Hard drive. Once in Ubuntu I am unable to mount the hard drive, when ever I try to mount it, it just hangs (Not ubuntu, just what ever program is trying to mount, such as Gparted) and the HDD light stays lit, not blinking or anything. The file manager does detect the Windows 7 partition, but wont mount it. Doesn't detect the Ubuntu partition at all.

    So, I am unable to reinstall GRUB or reinstall Windows or Ubuntu.

    Am I right to assume it as failed? Or is it something else. :P

    • Answers
  • DragonLord

    Boot from a Parted Magic CD and use the supplied SMART tools to check for signs of drive failure. A large number of reallocated sectors is a common indicator of failure.

    Edit: Based on the screenshot you posted, the drive seems OK. More likely is some kind of data corruption. Try running fsck and report back with the results.

    Edit 2: You probably have a damaged partition table. Try using a utility like TestDisk to attempt to repair it.

    Edit 3: If TestDisk has hung, your hard drive probably has failed irrespective of the SMART data. Attempt to recover data, then replace the hard drive and restore the system from backups if available. Note that the fact that the Ubuntu partition is listed twice is a sign that the partition table is damaged. Since you noted that it's moving again, give it some time; TestDisk needs to scan the entire drive, so you'll need to give it several hours.

  • slhck

    TestDisk recovered the Windows partition, they became mountable after the scan and I could read and write from and to it.

    TestDisk reported it was unable to recover The Ubuntu Partition and ended up listing it 8 times. Since TestDisk made the drive mountable I was able to format the now unallocated/Ubuntu partition, reinstall Ubuntu and GRUB.

    It now all works fine.

    Any idea what could have caused this?

  • slhck

    Probably SMART, which is set in your BIOS.

    Uncheck it and load normally. You probably won't have problems again. Seems Ubuntu has SMART also and it conflicts — makes the drive really busy as well.


    • Related Question

    linux - Install grub on 2nd hard drive
  • jldupont

    I have 2 HDs in my machine:

    • Drive 1 with grub and my Windows XP OS
    • Drive 2 with only Ubuntu 9.04

    I would like to be able to boot directly from drive 2. I am missing grub on drive 2... how do I add it?

    EDIT: I ended up reinstalling the whole OS.


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  • quack quixote

    you must use Live ubuntu and boot your system with it or boot your system with ubuntu on your first drive. then install your second grub:

    $ sudo grub

    This will return a location. If you have more than one, select the installation that you want to provide the grub files. Next, THIS IS IMPORTANT, whatever was returned for the find command use it in the next line (you are still at grub>. when you enter the next 3 commands)

    grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

    Again use the value from the find command i.e. if find returned (hd0,1) then you would enter root (hd0,1)

    grub> root (hd?,?)

grub> setup (hd0)

grub> quit