New install.. Cant find my backed up data

I have 3 drives in total. A 128gb ssd, a 750gb hd, and a 1tb hd. All SATA, not usb.
After installing opensuse on the ssd with thedrives attached, i logged in.

The 750gb had a bunch of data on it, which i copied over to the 1tb once inside the os
Opensuse wouldnt shut up about the bad sectors on the 750gb drive, so after it fiished copying to the 1 tb i restarted the pc without the 750 attached (after formatting it, etc didnt work) confident my data was safe on the 1 tb(after there being a ton of updates for the fresh install of course).

When I restarted disk utility says that the 1tb is not even formatted!!! The only option was to setup a partitin!!

Naturally i flipped and reinstalled on the ssd again, with no other drives attached to be sure. Now i’m ready to reboot with a fresh install already updated, this time with the 1tb attached but I’m horrified!! What do I do to see if my data hasnt been wiped clean from the 1tb?? And ensure i go about adding extra drives safely?

Start by giving output of
fdisk -l

so we can see the details

fdisk isn’t available as an install as far as i see… I see lspart as another option, but can’t find that in repos either.

You may have noticed this is my first post here… I’m an immigrant from Ubuntu land, so there’s probably some prerequisites I’m missing here…even though I’m updated

Hi
You need to be root user for fdisk, the command lsblk will work as your
user as an alternative;


su -
fdisk -l


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 3.0.34-0.7-default
up 1 day 3:20, 5 users, load average: 0.45, 0.44, 0.39
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

Now I have a 2tb hd (empty) the 128 sdd (os), and the 1tb drive that I loaded approx 200 gb of data onto.

In disk utility it only gives me the option to create a partition, but I was able to see the data on it before that fateful reboot…


Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0x00021e08

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 128.0 GB, 128035676160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15566 cylinders, total 250069680 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: 0x0000f834

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048     4208639     2103296   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc2   *     4208640    46153727    20972544   83  Linux
/dev/sdc3        46153728   250068991   101957632   83  Linux



testdisk has been known to help in situations like yours

TestDisk - CGSecurity

You said you copied data from a failing drive which is tricky. What did you ise to make the copy?

You mention a 750GB and 1 TB drive but I see a 1 TB and a 2TB???

It was a simple drag and drop of the files on the 750gb over to the 1tb drive.
After the data copied over successfully, I reformatted the 750gb in an attempt to salvage it since it had a lot of bad sectors (which Ubuntu never detected) to no avail, so it’s out of the picture now. The 2tb is another blank drive which will serve as backup drive.
What really matters is the 1tb drive…

I’ll try the testdisk now…

On 07/11/2012 07:16 AM, goltoof wrote:
>
> Now I have a 2tb hd (empty) the 128 sdd (os), and the 1tb drivehat I
> backed up about 200 gb of data onto. In disk utility it only gives me
> the option to create a partition, but I was able to see the data on it
> before that fateful reboot…
>
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
>
> Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0x00021e08
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
>
> Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x00000000
>
> Disk /dev/sdb doesn’t contain a valid partition table
>
> Disk /dev/sdc: 128.0 GB, 128035676160 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15566 cylinders, total 250069680 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: 0x0000f834
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sdc1 2048 4208639 2103296 82 Linux swap / Solaris
> /dev/sdc2 * 4208640 46153727 20972544 83 Linux
> /dev/sdc3 46153728 250068991 101957632 83 Linux
>
>
>
> --------------------
>
>

i’m totally confused!
your initial post says you have these:
128 GB SSD
750 GB
1 TB

and, you copied data from the 750 to the 1 TB

but the above fdisk output tells me you don’t have a 750, instead a 2000
GB (2TB)…so, lets give what you actually have a name:

sda 1TB
sdb 2TB (you called it 750GB)
sdc 128 SSD

so your story in the initial post was you “copied over” “a bunch of
data” from sdb onto sda after installing openSUSE on sdc

OR did you (in your initial post) name the actual 1TB as a 750GB and
the actual 2TB as a 1TB?? in that case the actual (from the fdisk) would be

sda 1TB (you called it 750GB)
sdb 2TB (you called it 1TB)
sdc 128 SSD

in which case your story in the first post would be you “copied over” “a
bunch of data” from sda onto sdb after installing openSUSE on sdc

so, questions:

  1. of the two possibilities above, which is correct?
    -copied b to a
    -or copied a to b?
    -and, you formatted either a OR b!

which is it?

-to me (looking at the fdisk output above) it looks like you formatted
sdb (the 2TB drive you called 750)… so, MAYBE after copying data from
sdb to sda you formatted sdb and then looked on the freshly formatted
sdb to find your data, but it is copied to sda–so, look there!

2.what was (is?) the file system in use on sda and sdb prior to
installing openSUSE?

  1. in your second post you write “In disk utility it only gives me the
    option to create a partition” and i wonder what “disk utility” you are
    using?

  2. what operating system(s) were this machine (and on what drives) prior
    to installing openSUSE?


dd

On 07/11/2012 07:16 AM, goltoof wrote:
> Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0x00021e08
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

by the way, this is not what i would expect from an fdisk -l, so i
wonder if you deleted some of the output

if so, do it again and show us what is there…


dd

None of the output is deleted “Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System” Is the very last line for that device, which I guess indicates that there it’s not seeing a partition table?

What other tests can I run to check data on that disk.

As I told gogalthorp
It was a simple drag and drop of the files on the 750gb over to the 1tb drive.
After the data copied over successfully, I reformatted the 750gb in an attempt to salvage it since it had a lot of bad sectors (which Ubuntu never detected) to no avail, so it’s out of the picture now. The 2tb is another blank drive which will serve as backup drive.
What really matters is the 1tb drive…

Am 11.07.2012 07:16, schrieb goltoof:
> In disk utility it only gives me
> the option to create a partition, but I was able to see the data on it
> before that fateful reboot…
You can look at that recovery program
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
(it is not only for photos its just a fancy name)
but before you try it follow what the other participants in this thread
tell you, they are more experienced than me here


PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

Am 11.07.2012 22:47, schrieb Martin Helm:
> You can look at that recovery program
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
in combination with this (referenced on the same page) of course
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk


PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

On 07/11/2012 08:56 PM, goltoof wrote:
> What other tests can I run to check data on that disk.

you have not told us what file system was in use on sda…
it it is a linux file system you might try fsck…

make sure the drive is not mounted when running fsck…

however! if the drive got scrambles somehow during the “simple drag and
drop of the files” then i’m not sure which way to go (fsck first or
attempt recovery first…but, i guess fsck might repair the drive and
then recovery wouldn’t be needed)…

hmmmm! i never done a simple drag and drop from one drive to another (i
always use the command line (and rsync)or, more often midnight
commander…so, i do not know the answer to this question:

is it actually possible for a user to (in Dolpin or similar) to a drag
and drop from sdb to sda when neither of those are owned by that user?

and/or: in what way did you give yourself the permissions needed to do
that drag and drop?? (chown or what?)

or: did you log into KDE as root so that you could make that drag and drop?

please show us the terminal input/output from


df -hlT
cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
mount
cat /etc/SuSE-release
sudo /sbin/fdisk -l

copy/paste the in/output back to this thread using the instructions
here: http://goo.gl/i3wnr

additionally, please tell us the desktop environment you are using…


dd

On 2012-07-11 22:49, Martin Helm wrote:
> Am 11.07.2012 22:47, schrieb Martin Helm:
>> You can look at that recovery program
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
> in combination with this (referenced on the same page) of course
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Yes, I would try testdisk first.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)