Data Recovery help

[willard]

Re: Porteus-3.1-32bit
Hi,
Referenced LiveUSB just hiccuped for no apparent reason and suspect the data must have took a sudden hit!
Fresh Mode is the only thing that boots OK. Repair attempt generated this log:

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Phase 1 - find and verify superblock...
Cannot get host filesystem geometry.
Repair may fail if there is a sector size mismatch between
the image and the host filesystem.
Phase 2 - using internal log
        - zero log...
ERROR: The filesystem has valuable metadata changes in a log which needs to
be replayed.  Mount the filesystem to replay the log, and unmount it before
re-running xfs_repair.  If you are unable to mount the filesystem, then use
the -L option to destroy the log and attempt a repair.
Note that destroying the log may cause corruption -- please attempt a mount
of the filesystem before doing this.

Q: Can the data be recovered in the 512MB vault?
Yours,
willard

[donald]

Hello willard

Please make a copy of the save.dat file first.

Have you already tried the mloop command to get access to the Files?

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mloop /path/to/porteussave.dat
ls -lh /mnt/loop

or try the resize option (save file-manager), it would copy the Files. (if accessible)

Please do only work on a copy.

[willard]

Hello willard

Please make a copy of the save.dat file first.

Have you already tried the mloop command to get access to the Files?

Code: Select all

mloop /path/to/porteussave.dat
ls -lh /mnt/loop

or try the resize option (save file-manager), it would copy the Files. (if accessible)

Please do only work on a copy.

donald,
Completed steps as you stated and still boots 'fresh' only.
Log:

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INIT: cannot execute "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.S"
INIT: entering run level: 3
INIT: cannot execute "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc"

System freezes and must shut power OFF!
What's plan B?
Yours,
willard

[Ed_P]

Completed steps as you stated and still boots 'fresh' only.

When you completed donald's

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mloop /path/to/porteussave.dat
ls -lh /mnt/loop

what did the output of the ls command show? Can you post it?

[willard]

Completed steps as you stated and still boots 'fresh' only.

When you completed donald's

Code: Select all

mloop /path/to/porteussave.dat
ls -lh /mnt/loop

what did the output of the ls command show? Can you post it?

Ed_P,
Dope on original 512MB vault:

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guest@porteus:~$ mloop /mnt/sdb1/boot/porteussave.dat
 Please enter root's password below 
Password: 
using /dev/loop7

Please wait while i gather some info ....

 #################################
 Your data file has been mounted at: 
/mnt/loop

You can unmount it by typing uloop

Here is a list of the files:
dev  etc  home	mnt  root  tmp	usr  var

guest@porteus:~$ ls -lh /mnt/loop
total 8.0K
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   44 Jun 28 14:58 dev/
drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Jun 28 19:54 etc/
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root   18 May 22 21:17 home/
drwxr-xr-x  9 root root   83 Jun 28 14:57 mnt/
drwx------ 10 root root 4.0K Jun 28 19:54 root/
drwxrwxrwt  5 root root   94 Jun 28 19:54 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  7 root root   58 Sep 24  2015 usr/
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root  100 Sep 24  2015 var/
guest@porteus:~$ 

willard

[donald]

@ willard
mloop works, good -- so you should be able to copy your important Files out of the
save.dat File.

I'm not sure if the save.dat file itself or the underlying file-system (fat 32?)
is corrupted.
A (try and error) suggestion:
If possible install the same porteus version on a different, fresh formatted usb-flash,
copy over the save.dat and try to boot this one.

Welcome on the downside of using save.dat containers..

[Ed_P]

@ willard

To be clear as to what donald said"

@ willard
mloop works, good -- so you should be able to copy your important Files out of the
save.dat File.

After you have mlooped your porteussave.dat file execute this command:

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ls -lh /mnt/loop/home/guest/

It should show you your files and you should be able to copy them to a new location.

Welcome on the downside of using save.dat containers..

There is a problem and IMO it is tied to the updated changes in RAM exceeding the size of the save.dat file on disk and the system not informing the user of the problem when shutting down. An unfortunate shortcoming that should be fixed. In the interim the only option is to periodically backup the save.dat file so when the corruption occurs one has a recovery option.

[willard]

donald & Ed,
I reinstalled Porteus and NO change!
Reformatting vault from default to EXT4 restored function.
Thanks for prompt replies.
willard
*solved for now