Ubuntu
testdisk package

Can I access files on another drive that are NTFS format from Ubuntu?

Asked by TC

I'm trying to access and save files on a drive that is no longer bootable for some reason. I can see the drive and files in Knoppix 5.1, but cannot burn the files to a data DVD because of program limitations. Knoppix 5.3 is not an option because it uses my DVD drive. Only other option is Umuntu loaded on a different drive, but I cannot access the Windows drive because it's in NTFS format. I'm a newbie to Linux and trying to learn it's quirks and limitations.

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Bulat
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Bulat (bulatkjug) said : 		#1

Yes, you can access NTFS partitions (drives, disks or whatever you used to call them) from Ubuntu.
They are usually automatically listed in 'Places' menu as something like: '102.3 GB Media'.
Just click on it and Nautilus (Ubuntu file manager) window will pop-up showing you the contents of that partition. You'll be also able to copy, move, delete, alter files and directories on that partition, copy them to another partition, etc.

P.S. When you click them, they are automatically mounted somewhere into '/media' directory of your root file-system. After that you can access their contents from that directory. It is automatically unmounted when you reboot or shutdown your system.

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TC (tcforge) said : 		#2

12:08 12/28/08
 I can see the drive in "PLACES" but when I click on it, I get a pop-up error message: "CANNOT MOUNT VOLUME - THE VOLUME USES THE WINDOWS XP FILE SYSTEM WHICH IS NOT SUPPORTED BY YOUR SYSTEM". A second message pops up as well concerning the failed connection: " UNABLE TO MOUNT 160.0 Gb MEDIA - DBus error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken." I'm sure I've set the access rights to read/write. Is this telling me the drive is unaccessible? I've tried using Knoppix and transferring the folders I wanted to save to jump drives, but not all files are being copied, about 15% usually being the .db files associated with mp3, wma or other video/audio files. Some of the files have been sent to me by musicians and are not on the market - hate to lose them.
Thanks

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Best Bulat (bulatkjug) said : 		#3

>12:08 12/28/08
>Another issue - I can see the drive in "PLACES" but when I click on it, I get a pop-up error message: "CANNOT MOUNT
>VOLUME - THE VOLUME USES THE WINDOWS XP FILE SYSTEM WHICH IS NOT SUPPORTED BY YOUR SYSTEM". Is this telling
>me the drive is unaccessible? I've tried using Knoppix and transferring the folders I wanted to save to jump drives, but not
>all files are being copied, about 15% usually being the .db files associated with mp3, wma or other video/audio files. Some
>of the files sent to me by musicians and are not on the market - hate to lose them. Thanks for the help.

I think that the file-system of that drive became corrupt. So you'd use some recovery software that can handle broken file-systems in READ-ONLY MODE (!!!). I don't know whether there is any free data recovery software. But there are plenty of commercial ones - you can find them all on the web.

P.S. We have several companies that provide a data recovery service here at my place. So I suppose that there are similar companies at your location or nearby. I'd better go there in your case. But find the one that you are sure will not ruin your data completely. :) If, for that case or another, this isn't an option for you, then feel free to ask me for advices of how to manage data recovery by yourself. I used to work in such a company several years ago, so maybe I'll be of some help.

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TC (tcforge) said : 		#4

  I would appreciate any help I can get. There aren't to many companies close by that provide data recovery services in my area. The ones I found look like they're geared towards corporate accounts, but I could ask what they charge for the service. I'd prefer to do some things myself so I can understand them better. I'll look to see if there is any free data recovery software, but if there is, my experience with FREEWARE tells me that it would be very limited IF it exists. I will contact you.
Thanks again.

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#5

How many hard disk do you have on that pc...?

Can you add a new or used hard disk to your pc and install Ubuntu on it...?

if yes put the new or used hard disk as primary disk (unplug the damaged hard disk to be sure you don't touch it during Ubuntu installation)

Install Ubuntu telling at install step to use entire disk.
Shut down Ubuntu.
Then plug your damage hard disk as secondary disk.
Restart your Ubuntu system.

You will easily try by yourself to get data from damaged partition using Ubuntu you need simply to install and use
the powerful testdisk package...

Hope this helps

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#6

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk