A Layman’s Guide to Recover Lost Data in Linux

Data loss is a terrible situation, which may occur to any system, irrespective of the operating system and hardware platform. Sometimes, you may find that your Linux computer does not boot properly or you can not find stored data on your Linux hard drive. This behavior leads to data loss. Data loss occurs due to numerous reasons, related to system errors and user errors.

In such situations, a complete backup of your significant data proves to be of great help. However, if the backup is either not available or not updated, you have to opt for Linux Data Recovery solutions to get your precious data recovered.

Your precious data from Linux hard drive may get lost because of a number of reasons, which include:

• Accidental deletion of important data files or unintentional hard drive formatting.

• Virus has infected your system and damaged its significant data structures.

• File system is corrupted due to virus attack or improper system shutdown.

• Operating system has malfunctioned.

The list of data loss reasons can be very long. When you face data loss due to any reason, the very first thing that you need to take into consideration, is to find out an appropriate solution. Below are some common Linux Recovery solutions, which can be used even by a layman to retrieve lost data:

• Restore data from backup- A backup is a copy of your original data on Linux hard drive, which can be used to restore data in case of data loss.

• Use Ext3grep utility- Is an inbuilt utility of Linux operating system that helps you recover deleted files from Ext3 file system volume.

• Use Extundelete tool- It helps you retrieve lost files from Ext4 and Ext3 file system volumes of Linux hard drive.

• Use third-party Ext4 Recovery software- These are advanced and powerful applications, which methodically scan entire hard drive and extract as much data as possible from it.

These applications perform absolute and effective Data Recovery Linux in all cases of data loss. They come equipped with interactive and simple graphical user interface to ensure easy recovery in all data loss situations. With read-only and non-destructive conduct, the software are totally safe to use.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software recovers lost, deleted, missing, and inaccessible data from all types of storage devices. It can be used with all major distributions of Linux operating systems, including SUSE, Debian, Red Hat, Fedora, and more. The software supports recovery from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12 file system volumes.

Recovering Lost Data from ext2 Linux File System

The Linux system is an open sourced operating system that is used by people all over the world. Unlike Windows and Apple operating systems, it is not a sole proprietary of a single organization. In fact, over 1,000 developers from at least 100 different companies have contributed to its each update. On a lighter note, it is created by the people, for the people, and of the people a la democracy. The most notable thing about Linux is that it can be used absolutely anywhere, from wristwatches to supercomputers.

However, Linux systems too can get corrupted. Corruption can occur due to various reasons such as human errors, virus infections, abrupt system shutdown, damaged file system, faulty hardware components, etc. To resolve this issue, you should take appropriate corrective measures. However, if you are unable to do so then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform data recovery of Linux system.

Consider a scenario wherein you are not able to boot your Linux-based system having ext2 file system.

Cause:

It may be possible that the file system of your Linux system has corrupted and, thus, has become inaccessible. There could be following reasons for this behavior:

• Virus infections

• Bad sectors

• Corruption in the Inode table, group descriptor, or super block

Resolution:

To resolve this error message, you should perform either of the following methods:

• Use the e2fsck command to check for errors in file system and repair damaged Linux file system.

• If e2fsck is not able to resolve the issue, then format the system and reinstall Linux.

Formatting the system and reinstalling Linux would solve the problem. But then, you would lose all the valuable data. In such cases, you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform Linux recovery. Such read-only tools perform Linux recovery using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms. These tools have a highly interactive user interface that enables you to perform Ext2 Recovery very easily.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a Linux data recovery tool that enables you to perform Linux recovery for lost, corrupted, or formatted file systems. The software is able to recover data from ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32 file system volumes. It is supported by various Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. This tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Recovering File System in Linux 4

The Linux system is one of the most used operating systems in the world. It is an open source operating system that is much more secure than other operating systems. It is also very economical as it can be set up even with obsolete hardware components such as i386 or i486 processor. The Linux system also provides you the freedom to administer your system by taking care of the look & feel and also the applications that need to be installed, etc.

However, at times the Linux system gets corrupted because of various reasons such as corrupt file system, power surges, human errors, virus infections, etc. In such cases, you should take appropriate measures to overcome this issue. However, if you are unable to do so then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform Linux recovery.

Consider a scenario wherein you have a Linux 4 system, which you have restarted. But the system fails to boot and an error message is displayed, that is:

“ext2fs partition type 0×83. …. ext3-fs: journal inode is deleted…. mount: error 22 mounting ext3 error 2 mounting name switchroot: mountfailed:22 umount/initrd/dev failed:2 kernal panic - not syncing”

Cause:
The most possible cause of this error message is that the hard disk has crashed. Some bad blocks must have occurred in the inode table making the file system unrecoverable.

Resolution:
To resolve this issue, you should try the following methods:

• Boot the system from the disaster recovery boot media or installation media and run e2fsk on the damaged file system.
• If the data is stored on some other file system, then try to mount it and transfer the data to some other media such as pen drive or tape.

Either of the aforementioned methods may be able to either rectify the file system or transfer the data to some other safe location. However, if you are unable to do so then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to recover Linux file system. Such read-only tools are able to recover lost data and file systems using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is a Linux data recovery tool that performs data recovery of Linux file systems such as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. It is capable of recovering data from various hard drives such as SCSI, SATA, EIDE, and IDE. This Linux recovery tool supports various Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo etc. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

SCSI CRC Boot Errors May Cause Data Loss in Linux

Booting errors are very common in Linux operating system, which makes your system unbootable and unusable. The errors prevent your system from booting and render it totally inaccessible. They prove to be a big threat to your precious data. Such errors usually occur after unexpected system shutdown and hard drive data structure corruption.

Losing data from hard drive in such situations creates big problems for your business. So, you need to restore data from the latest backup to prevent data loss. However, in case backup is not updated or available, Linux Recovery solutions come to your help.

When you face boot errors, your Linux system refuses to boot properly. There are various types of boot errors, depending upon the type and cause of failure. One such error is SCSI CRC error. You may come across the below error message when your Linux operating system loads:

“Creating Root Device

mounting root filesystem

(scsi:0:0:0:0) CRC error during data-in phase

(scsi:0:0:0:0) CRC error in intermediate CRC packet

scsi: aborting command due to timeout: pid 0, scsi 0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 read (10) ……”

The above error halts Linux boot process, making your hard drive inaccessible. To retrieve lost data in such cases, identify the problem and perform Data Recovery Linux by resolving it.

Cause

On the first appearance, this issue seems to be associated with hardware problems, but this is not the case. You may face this behavior due to any of the below reasons:

• Damaged or missing /boot directory from Linux operating system installation.

• File system error or corruption.

• Missing or corrupted initrd.

/boot directory is a major component of Linux operating system, which contains critical information about booting parameters and process. While initrd is a temporary data structure, which makes preparations before mounting of root file system.

Resolution

Use Rescue CD of Linux operating system to overcome this problem by restoring damaged /boot directory and initrd. When it fails, go for Linux Data Recovery software to retrieve lost data.

The Linux Data Recovery applications are able to scan damaged Linux hard drive and extract all lost data from it. They have read-only conduct on the drive to ensure safe recovery, without modifying original data on the disk.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is the most comprehensive and advanced utility to ensures absolute recovery of lost data. The software works well with all major distributions of Linux operating systems, such as SUSE, Debian, Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Fedora. It recovers data from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12 file system volumes.

Recovering lost files from ext3 file system in Linux

The ext3 (third extended file system) is a file system used by Linux kernel. It is a journaled file system, which is a default file system for many Linux distributions. Its major advantage over the ext2 file system, its predecessor, is journaling that improves the reliability of the file system. It also minimizes the need to check the file system after an abrupt shutdown. Also, because of journaling there are no fragments in the file system. So, ext3 is a very efficient and smart file system. However, there is a chink in its armoury.

The files that you delete are deleted permanently. This file system does not support recovery for files that have been deleted accidentally. But, you can recover the deleted files using appropriate method in ext3 file system. However, if you are unable to recover the deleted files then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery tool for ext3 recovery.

Actually what happens is that the file, once deleted, remains in the file system. When you access a particular file, its access time is changed and its inode is written to the disk. At the same time, a copy of that block is written to the journal. Hence, there are chances that you may be able to recover the block pointers from the journal, which, in turn, will recover the deleted files.

However, you should make sure that you do not create a new file as it may overwrite the deleted file. In fact, most of the file systems do have some in-built utilities to recover the deleted files.

Likewise the ext3 file system has the ext3grep utility that enables you to recover the deleted files even if it is deleted using the “rm-rf” command. However, you should make sure that you dismount the hard drive as Linux is a multiuser and multitasking system and other processes or users can overwrite the disk space of the deleted file.

Although it is a safe tool that is able to recover the files without overwriting the disk it cannot recover the files that are larger than 2 GB. In such cases, you should use a third-party Linux recovery tool. Such tools are able to retrieve the deleted files from the ext3 file system.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software enables you to perform ext2 recovery and ext4 recovery as well. It is able to recover data from various hard drives such as SCSI, SATA, EIDE, and IDE. It is used to recover data from various Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

‘Mount Error…’ After Power Down in RedHat Computer

Similar to all other operating systems, Linux can also become unbootable at next start after an unexpected power outage. The reason for such a behavior is that such events can directly affect the metadata of your root partition and damage it eventually. During such situations, if the user loses data because of unavailability of proper data backup, Linux Recovery utilities can help.

In order to particularize the unexpected power outage problems, here is a realistic problem. Suppose you use a RedHat installed computer that stores important data required for critical operations. An unexpected power failure occurs and after this, you cannot boot your computer. Each time you attempt to start your RedHat, the Linux Kernel loads, but the boot process cannot proceed further. In addition, you receive the below or similar error messages appearing on the screen:

mount error 15 mounting ext3

mount error 2 mounting none

switchroot mount failed 22

umount /initrd/dev/

In some cases, on trying to mount the same disk on another computer and using fdisk command shows that the partition table has gone corrupted.

Explanation

‘Mount error’ is most likely to occur because of issues like, file system corruption and partition table damage.

Useful Suggestion

Users who encounter problems such as above, should first check ‘/proc/partitions’ file to check whether or not any of the partitions is detectable. In this specific case, root partition has become inaccessible, due to which chances of complete data loss are high.

If the hard disk has not been partitioned, all your data is lost. However, to isolate the behavior, you can boot your computer using RedHat install disc, enter in its ‘Rescue Mode’, and access its command prompt to run commands like, fsck. In case, the issue persists, you need to repartition the hard disk and reinstall RedHat. But if the hard disk has been partitioned, data stored on other partitions can be rescued if they can be detected on another computer.

To restore lost data, two possible solutions are ‘Data Backup’ and Linux Data Recovery software. Linux Recovery utilities are efficient programs that have competency to scan and restore lost data after instances like, file system corruption, partition reformatting, and others.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a high-end tool that can locate, recover, and restore lost Linux partitions with just a few simple clicks. Incorporated with advanced scanning algorithms, this Linux Recovery utility supports Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, and FAT file system volumes and is compatible with all Linux distributions, including RedHat.

How to Perform Ext4 File Recovery in Linux

The Ext4 (Fourth Extended File System) is an advanced journaling file system, developed for Linux operating system. It is successor of Ext3 file system. Ext4 has removed the 64-bit limits of Ext3 file system as it was developed as series of the backward compatible extensions. It has great stability and performance features, which make it more powerful than earlier file system of Linux operating system.

The journaling feature of Ext4 file system prevents file loss and need of Linux Data Recovery solutions, in case of system crash and unexpected system shutdown.

Under some circumstances, you may lose your valuable files from the Ext4 file system volume due to numerous reasons. The reason could be anything like-

• Accidental deletion of the important files.

• Formatting of Ext4 file system volumes unintentionally or intentionally.

• File system corruption.

• Virus infection or damage caused by other malicious programs.

In such cases, you must have an absolute backup of your valuable files. However, if the backup is not available, you face serious file loss situations and need Data Recovery Linux to work around the problem.

Recover Lost Linux Files Using Extundelete Utility

The extundelete is a command-line utility in Linux operating system, which helps you to recover lost or deleted files from Ext4 file system volumes. This utility uses the significant information stored in journal of Linux hard drive volume for retrieving the lost or deleted files. It works only on the Ext4 and Ext3 file system volumes.

This command-line tool is capable of recovering both the file names and contents of the deleted files. It is able to retrieve a deleted file just after parsing journal file. The utility is developed to perform in a fast way when you have to recover the files from large Ext4 file system volumes.

Although, extundelete utility works pretty effectively in various file loss situations, but it cannot handle situations like file system corruption and hard drive formatting. At this point, Ext4 Recovery software come for your help.

These are powerful and advanced third-party tools, which carry out in-depth scan of entire hard drive and extract all lost, missing, and inaccessible data from it. They perform quick, easy, and safe Linux Recovery in all data loss situations, with interactive user interface and read-only behavior.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software recovers lost Linux files from hard drive, USB drive, and network mapped volumes. It supports recovery from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12 file system volumes. The software works well with all major distributions of Linux operating system, including Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Mandriva, and Ubuntu.

Resolving “Make Says, Error 139” Error in Linux Computer

Like other computer operating systems, Linux also indicates system problems in the form of error messages. The problems may occur at startup or while working on your system. In some error messages, the actual cause of the problem and possible solution is provided. However, some errors do not contain any suggestions. They just include some codes.

The error messages generally occur due to problems with system data structures, system files, and other resources, which make your system and data inaccessible. This behavior leads to significant data loss from your Linux hard drive and requires Data Recovery Linux to be sorted out.

In a practical scenario, you may come across the below error message while working on your Linux machine:

“Make Says, Error 139”

After the above error, Linux system does not work properly and shuts down. The problem occurs every time when you boot your system or perform a specific set of operations. This error renders your system inaccessible and causes serious data loss. In order to get your business-critical data recovered, identify the cause of this problem and perform Linux Data Recovery by resolving it.

Root of the problem

This error occurs when your compiler dumps the core. You have a damaged, old, or buggy version of the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection). The compiler corruption may occur due to numerous reasons, such as unexpected system shutdown, operating system malfunction, virus infection, file system corruption, and more.

You may also face this situations due to problems with the disk or memory corruption. The disk corruption is resulted when metadata structure of the hard drive become faulty. In such cases, operating system can not locate and access data from the hard drive.

Resolution

Go through any of the below steps to sort out this issue:

•    Install latest release of Linux compiler or EGCS (Experimental/Enhanced GNU Compiler System).

•    Check wait states, clock rate, and the refresh timing for SIMMS and cache. Use fsck command-line utility to scan the disk and fix errors.

•    Use powerful and advanced third-party Linux Recovery software to recover lost, missing, deleted, and inaccessible data from Linux hard drive.

Linux Data Recovery tools employ high-end scanning techniques to methodically scan whole hard drive and extract all data from it. With simple user interface and read-only behavior, they perform easy and safe recovery in all cases of data loss.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software recovers lost data from Linux hard drive, USB drive, and network mapped drive. The software works well with all major distributions of Linux operating system, including Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, and Mandriva. It supports recovery from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12 file system volumes.

Recovering Linux file system after superblock corruption

A Linux file system is a collection of various files and folders, which is stored in a separate disk partition. The entire disk partition is then divided into various file system blocks. These blocks are further used for storing the user data or the metadata. The metadata can be referred as the repository that contains the information of the file system. This information could either be the type, size, status, or any other information of the file system.

One such metadata structure is the superblock, which is very essential for the health of the Linux system. A file system cannot be mounted if you are not able to access the superblock. This case arises if the superblock is corrupted. Corruption can happen because of various reasons such as virus infections, file system corruption, human errors, etc. In such cases, you should consider taking appropriate measures to perform data recovery of Linux system.

Consider a scenario wherein you have a Linux system having ext3 partition. When you try to access the  partition, you are not able to do so. An error message is displayed, that is:

“/dev/sda2: Input/output error
mount: /dev/sda2: can’t read superblock”

Cause:
The cause of this error message is that the superblock has corrupted because of the aforementioned reasons.

Resolution:
You can restore the primary superblock from the various backup copies that the Linux system maintains for such situations. To do this, you need to:

•    Find out superblock location for /dev/sda2
•    Check and repair Linux file system using alternate superblock # xyz, where xyz is the location of alternate superblock.
•    Mount file system using mount command viz, # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
•    Try to browse and access the file system.

However, if you still are unable to solve the issue, then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software that will enable you to perform Linux recovery. Such read-only tools are highly interactive and do not overwrite the original data while scanning the damaged area.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is an efficient tool that enables you to perform Linux data recovery for various file system volumes such as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. It is capable of recovering data from various types of hard drives such as SCSI, SATA, EIDE, and IDE. It is specifically designed to support different Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo etc. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Recovering deleted files from an ext2 file system

Ext2 (second extended) file system is a file system designed to be used in Linux kernel. It  facilitates high-level security, reliability, and data management options to the system. Although, it is a highly secure system, it does sometimes get affected by virus infections, which in some cases can delete the files. In such cases, you should try to restore the files by their updated backup if you have one.

The Linux system provides some in-built methods to retrieve deleted files from the system. You should consider using these methods. However, if you are not able to recover the deleted files with these methods, then you should perform Linux Data Recovery of your ext2 system using a third-party Ext2 Recovery software.

Listed below are some in-built data recovery utilities, that Linux provides:

•    E2undel: This utility recovers deleted files from the Linux systems having ext2 file system by interacting with its console.

•    Ext3undel: This utility recovers deleted files from the Linux systems having ext2 or ext3 file system. It uses a set of scripts to help you in retrieving the deleted files by automating the recovery jobs.

•    Extundelete: This utility recovers deleted files from Linux systems having ext3 or ext4  file system. It uses the information saved in the ext3/ext4 file systems to recover deleted files. It is able to preserve both the file name as well as its content.

The aforementioned utilities can help you in recovering deleted files from the Linux system. However, these utilities cannot guarantee safe Linux data recovery. In such cases, you should use a third-party Linux recovery software for Linux systems that can guarantee safe recovery of lost files. Such tools employ fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms to recover lost data without overwriting anything on the corrupted area.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software recovers lost files, directories, and hard drive volumes from Linux systems having ext2, ext3, or ext3 file system volumes. It can support various Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo etc. This Linux Recovery software also allows to preview specific lost files such as MS office files, video files, audio files, and BKF files, etc. The tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, 2003 Server, XP, and 2000.