External hard drive not recognized?

[trelumoss]

Hello, I just installed Linux Mint 21.1 and I need to transfer files from an external hard drive to the computer itself. However, I cannot mount that drive.
When I plug the drive in, it makes the corresponding sound and it shows on Discs, but doesn't show anywhere else.

I tried the command ls /dev/ | grep sd with the drive unplugged/plugged and it shows up there (sdc), so I'm sure that it plugs in just fine.
But it just isn't there when I try commands like fdisk -l and blkid, nor does it show on GParted.
When I try to mount it, it says "can't read superblock on /dev/sdc".

How can I mount that drive?

 

[Brickwizard]

With mint the easy way, click on computer [desktop icon] it should show your ext drive, although it may not be mounted, right click and open, find the folder you want to transfer, reduce the size of your window then open files [icon in bottom left tray] open the folder you wish to transfer to, then drag and drop the files from the ext drive to the new location

 

[KGIII]

can't read superblock on /dev/sdc

Hmm... Scroll down on this page:

How to Fix "can't read superblock" Error on Linux (ext4 & Btrfs)

This tutorial shows you how to fix the can not read superblock error on Linux for ext4 and Btrfs file system.

www.linuxbabe.com

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

I'm running Cinnamon 21.1 and all Flash Drives and External Drives work.

In Disks ...select your External Drive...click the two cogs ...select...Repair Filesystem and wait.

This will not remove any files...once done...go to Computer...your Drive should be seen and double click it to open.

A few days ago I had a USB 3 Flash Drive that got an error and would not mount...did the above problem solved...you could also try...Check Filesystem too.
Note...if both Repair Filesystem and Check Filesystem are greyed out then this isn't the problem...Do Not click Format...all your files will be lost.

 

[trelumoss]

Okay, so I followed the advice you've given me, here's what I found.

For @Brickwizard I tried to open the drive through Computer, but it still says that the drive cannot be mounted and I can't browse the files.

Regarding @bob466 the Repair Filesystem and Check Filesystem are indeed greyed out, so it's a dead end.

Following the instructions in the article @KGIII linked I've found this.
I'm guessing that the filesystem is ext4 but I can't be sure, I'm new to this. I tried it both ways just in case.

1) ext4

• Command parted -l brought "Warning: error fsyncing/closing /dev/sdc1: I/O-error on device". Then it asks to retry/ignore. Retry leads to nothing, and ignore brought the message "/dev/sdc: unrecognised disk label". The partition table remains unknown.
• Command mke2fs -n /dev/sdc1 says this: "The file /dev/sdc1 does not exist and no size was specified". It doesn't provide information about UUDI and superblock backups, so I can't go further.

2) btrfs

• Command btrfs rescue super-recover -v /dev/sdc1 says "No valid Btrfs found on /dev/sdc" so I took it to mean that the filesystem is not btrfs.
• I did try the command dmesg to see the syslog, and it brought these errors:

[48523.377074] blk_update_request: critical target error, dev sdc, sector 128 op 0x0: (READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[48523.377245] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 128, async page read

• with the sector and block numbers varying. Another error message I found there was:

[43934.307055] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdc] Asking for cache data failed
[43934.307061] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through

Another thing: the HDD I'm using is WD Elements SE 25FE. On the package it says that it's compatible with Windows versions and MacOS, but I thought was silly and it should work with Linux fine (i mean, it a hard drive). But now I'm beginning to worry that that might be the case.
I tested the HDD on my relative's computer with Windows and it works perfectly fine there, so it's not damaged.
I do have an option here, which is to backup my files on the Windows computer, then (re-)format the drive in either Linux or Windows OS, and then put the files back to the drive and to my computer. I don't know if that's what needs to be done, though.

What can I do here?

 

[bob466]

The brand of External HDD/SSD or Flash Drive makes no difference...all work with Linux.

My Flash Drives are NTFS...my External HDDs are GUID and work well with Linux...so no need to re-format.

Has the HDD worked in Linux before ?

Once removed from relative's computer...plug it back in to Mint 21.1 without doing anything and see if it mounts and works.

If it doesn't work...plug in to Windows computer...remove eveything and re-format to NTFS...replace files and plug back in to Mint 21.1...sounds crazy but I had a problem something like this a few years ago.

My External HDD wouldn't mount in Mint 19.1...I could feel the Drive working...I didn't want to loose any files...what happens if I plug it in to a windows computer...when I did it worked fine...without doing anything I plugged it back in to Mint and in mounted and worked and still does...what caused the problem...who knows.

When things like this happen...we should try anything that might fix the problem even if it sounds stupid because it just might work.

 

[Condobloke]

If what @bob466 has led you top do works...then good !

If not: what is on that ext hdd?...did you used to use it on windows?....did you format it at some stage?

Please describe its journey/history

 

[bob466]

Any help no matter if it sounds silly is better than none but saying my advice is a "Dead End" is very rude indeed.

 

[KGIII]

Did your drive come with software and are you trying to use it? If so, that's not gonna work. When it says it works with Windows and MacOS, it might be referring to any software that comes with it.

You should be able to just format it Ext4 with GParted or Gnome Disks. Gnome Disks is more user friendly, I think.

 

[bob466]

Not only do Flash Drives...External HDDs and SSDs work...Phones and my Navman work too...

 

[osprey]

trelumoss wrote:

I tried the command ls /dev/ | grep sd with the drive unplugged/plugged and it shows up there (sdc), so I'm sure that it plugs in just fine.
But it just isn't there when I try commands like fdisk -l

That is a real conundrum because it suggests that the kernel sees the disk, but no software can get to it.
Given it works in MS, one assumes the disk is good. I assume it plugs it via usb.
These thoughts come to mind:

1. Try plugging the disk in progressively on every usb on the machine to see if there's any difference in behaviour. Not all usb sockets are the same.
2. Run: blkid, as root. Sometimes it won't output as user. Run: lsblk -f, as user or root. You can do these as checks for each plug in.
3. Run: dmesg -w, in a terminal and watch the output on that terminal as you plug the disk in and out and see what it says.

 

[trelumoss]

So, I did manage to back up my files on a Windows laptop. However, it wouldn't let me transfer the files right away — there was an error. I unplugged and plugged the external hard drive again and Windows detected an issues that it fixed automatically.
After transferring the files I tried to format the drive, but it wouldn't let me.
I did find out that the hdd's filesystem is exFAT.

I then tried to install the drivers for exFAT filesystem (they were already there) and mount the hdd through them, but it still didn't help.

As for your questions:

(@Condobloke) The drive's history is very short. I plugged the drive in my laptop (then run on Windows) transferred the files, made sure they are all intact (they were). Shortly after I plugged the drive on my newly installed Linux, and that's where the problems began. I didn't try to format it until after I posted on the forum.
The files themselves are nothing fancy: music, some videos and images, documents etc. Just personal basics.

(@KGIII) As far as I'm aware, there's no software that came with the drive, unless it installed automatically without my notice, and I am not trying to use it now, not to my knowledge.
For some reason I can't format the drive, not through Windows nor Linux.

And here are my findings as advised by @osprey.

1. USB ports are roughly the same. There's a slight difference in the 3rd one (plugs in faster), but it's not any more helpful in solving all this.

2. blkid as root doesn't show the drive at all. There's only the internal hard drive and nothing else.
lsblk -f shows the drive (sdb) and its partition (sdb1) but doesn't provide any more information, the table is simply blank.
It's the same for all the USB ports.

3. The hdd takes some time to fully plug in and be visible to the system (about 20s). The command dmesg -w looks something like this (I'm not sure what to put here exactly, so sorry it's long):

[69675.257158] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[69675.303317] logitech-djreceiver 0003:046D:C534.000B: device of type eQUAD nano Lite (0x0a) connected on slot 2
[69675.315327] input: Logitech Wireless Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.0/usb2/2-3/2-3:1.1/0003:046D:C534.000B/0003:046D:4054.000C/input/input29
[69675.319685] logitech-hidpp-device 0003:046D:4054.000C: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech Wireless Mouse] on usb-0000:00:10.0-3/input1:2
[69676.011279] logitech-hidpp-device 0003:046D:4054.000C: HID++ 4.5 device connected.
[69678.020578] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 3907029169 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.82 TiB)
[69678.020590] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 4096-byte physical blocks
[69678.020773] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[69678.020779] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 53 00 00 08
[69678.021822] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Disabling FUA
[69678.021835] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[69678.022575] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (4096 bytes)
[69678.050006] sdb: sdb1
[69678.054052] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[69708.548953] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#20 uas_eh_abort_handler 0 uas-tag 1 inflight: CMD IN
[69708.548970] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#20 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 e8 e0 88 00 00 00 08 00
[69708.564817] scsi host1: uas_eh_device_reset_handler start
[69708.698838] usb 3-2: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[69708.724113] scsi host1: uas_eh_device_reset_handler success
[69709.531981] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#14 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=31s
[69709.532026] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#14 Sense Key : Aborted Command [current]
[69709.532036] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#14 Add. Sense: Data phase CRC error detected
[69709.532046] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#14 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 e8 e0 88 00 00 00 08 00
[69709.532053] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3907028992 op 0x0: (READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[69709.532935] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#15 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s
[69709.532944] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#15 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
[69709.532959] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#15 ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
[69709.532964] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#15 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 e8 e0 88 00 00 00 01 00
[69709.532967] blk_update_request: critical target error, dev sdb, sector 3907028992 op 0x0: (READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
[69709.532978] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 3907028992, async page read
[69709.532993] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#12 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s
[69709.532998] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#12 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
[69709.533006] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#12 ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
[69709.533018] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#12 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 e8 e0 88 01 00 00 01 00

There's also occasionally something about "suppressed callbacks" (usually 4 or 2).

 

[Brickwizard]

For some reason I can't format the drive, not through Windows nor Linux.

you say the ext drive is usb and you have installed mint 21, then try
open menu
all applications and scroll right down to USB formatter
open
try and format the drive from here
I always use xfats for external/USB drives Destin just as storage or ext4 if I am making a live plug/play portable linux OS

 

[trelumoss]

all applications and scroll right down to USB formatter
try and format the drive from here

Tried that — it worked! But I still can't mount it.

 

[osprey]

trelumoss wrote:

I can't format the drive, not through Windows nor Linux.

That is ominous. Assuming the formatting commands were appropriate in both MS and linux, this failure is suggestive of a problem with the disk.


The dmesg output is also ominous. The kernel is detecting an input/output error repeatedly at the same particular sector on the drive. The CRC error is also ominious. CRCs are checks on data going in and out, and record an error if there is a difference ... and that is happening in this case when it shouldn't.

I did manage to back up my files on a Windows laptop. However, it wouldn't let me transfer the files right away — there was an error. I unplugged and plugged the external hard drive again and Windows detected an issues that it fixed automatically.

That is fortunate you were able to get data from the disk on MS. But you are reporting an error there as well, though it "fixed itself".


My sense is that you are looking at an unreliable disk at the moment that can't be made reliable. It's a Western Digital disk "WD Elements SE 25FE". Western Digital do have drive utilities that work in MS, so these may be useful in diagnosing and repairing of the disk in an MS context. I have no experience with those tools, rather I've used Seagate. Perhaps have a look here: https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=171, but perhaps also research it. I found this: https://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/clone-resource/western-hdd-bad-sector-repair-tool.html, but cannot vouch for it.


Perhaps if you can repair it in the MS context, linux will then be able to use it reliably. A hope at least.

 

[Condobloke]

Assuming you are still in Linux?.....if so, open disks (menu type in disks)....select the drive there?/....on the LHS...?

If it is there.....select it....then at the pic of the drive there will be two little gears/cogs....click on that and select edit mount options.

let me know.

 

[Brickwizard]

Try @Condobloke instructions above,
if that doesn't work, there may be a dependency missing
you could try running

sudo apt update && apt-get install --fix-missing

 

[KGIII]

Is the drive previously encrypted or anything like that? 'Cause this one is a mystery.

 

[ML_113]

Make a new Partition Table for the drive (that will wipe it).
Make 2 new partitions, one ntfs for Windows and one ext4 for Linux, and don't ever let Linux write anything on the ntfs partition. $M never play nice with Linux.

I'd rather use an USB pendrive to transfer files between Windows and Linux.

 

[bob466]

Even when I installed Cinnamon 21.1 from a shoddy ISO...I could transfer files...folders and anything else from Flash Drives or External HDDs to it.