Ubuntu – Unable to load Windows(8.x) Partition in Ubuntu

dual-bootmountntfswindows

I have a HP Laptop with Windows 8.1 installed and there seems to be some problem with the hard disk, due to which Windows never boots up. It just hangs at start up. I'm trying to recover some important files in my hard disk. I booted up my laptop using an Ubuntu Image. I was initially unable to mount the NTFS partition in Ubuntu. I got some error stating the partition is not clean. I ran the command 'ntfsfix' and it seemed to resolve some problems. After this, I was able to mount it using the following commands

sudo mkdir /media/c

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/c

Now the NTFS filesystem is mounted, but it shows only two directories – "recovery" and "System Volume Information". Any idea why the other files in my NTFS filesystem are not shown?

I read that there is a problem mounting NTFS filesystems when Windows Fast-Boot/Hybrid shutdown mode is enabled(which is the default in Windows 8). Is this causing all the directories not being displayed? Any idea how I can recover other files from my hard disk?

I tried the solutions listed in Unable to mount Windows (NTFS) filesystem due to hibernation, and I can mount the disk, but as mentioned above, it shows only 2 directories: "recovery" and "System Volume Information". How can I access the other files in the NTFS disk?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Best Answer

You've probably followed this answer and that's a dangerous thing to do.

Ubuntu can easily recover data from a crashed Windows provided you don't have any hardware or Windows file system (NTFS) errors.

To get rid of NTFS errors you need to have Windows check your drive with chkdsk /f before attempting recovery under Ubuntu.

The "best" thing you can do under the circumstances you now have is to:

  1. Stop working on the original disk

  2. Make a full sector-by-sector copy of your disk onto a new disk using ddrescue

    After you've booted from the Ubuntu Live CD (the newest stable version is recommended) type the following commands:

    sudo apt-get install gddrescue
sudo ddrescue --binary-prefixes --cluster-size=64 --sparse --timeout=20s /dev/XdY /dev/AdB /media/ubuntu/ddrescue.log

    where XdY and AdB are the drive letters for the source and target drive. Ensure you don't copy the empty disk on the full disk. Examples are sda, sdb, hd0, hd1, ... Ubuntu doesn't work with Windows drive letters but with disks and partitions. If you're unsure, ask!

    If the copy doesn't give you the data you need, continue to the next step.

  3. Use testdisk on the copy to recover some files

    If you cannot recover enough, execute Step 2 again and continue to step 4.

  4. use photorec on the fresh copy to recover some more files.

That's it! You will not be able to recover everything but let's hope that 87.5% is enough.

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