RED LIGHT CONSTANTLY ON IOMEGA HOMENETWORK DRIVE

[jamuss]

My friend came over last week with another sata cable. Thats how we saw the partition. Will borrow again 2moz to see if we can post that cmd thigmy jig.

Tonight will chk to see if the bios will pick up the disc. Thanks for your help so far - You're a saint!!

[jamuss]

A friends had a second cable. If I connect both hard drives to the motherboard, with the Ubuntu CD in the drive. It will automatically load the CD at start up of the machine. How can I get into Windows to do what you say? I'm confused, or is it something you access from the CD?

[Mijzelf]

I'm confused

Me too.

If it isn't clear I suppose you're stuck in the boot menu on the CD? It's a while ago I used a Ubuntu CD, but I think you have several options:

• Start a live session
• Install Linux on harddisk
• Some sort of 'secure mode'

You should start a 'live session'.

[jamuss]

When the CD loads it asks if you want to try Ubuntu (running directly from the CD) or install onto HDD. I have been running it from the CD. It loads and I have access to the Ubuntu desktop, icons, settings, email etc. But I can't see on the OS where you can access the external drive. I have been through evey single menu, icon and settings to check and it is not being found. This is when the drive is in it's original caddy and when plugged directly into the motherboard. We are going to try the BIOS option you talked about earlier and see if it cab be picked up that way. In my last post I mean't to say, if the external HDD and the HDD (already in the PC with Windows 7) if I run Ubuntu from the CD, how do I then access both drives and both OS'? Do I need to load Ubuntu onto the HDD that already has Windows installed and then select the OS at boot up?

[Mijzelf]

No, you don't need to load Ubuntu on the HDD. 'try Ubuntu' is fine. Don't you get icons on the desktop for your Windows and NAS partitions? In that case just doubleclick them.
If not, can you open a terminal, and post the output of the command

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cat /proc/partitions

This is when the drive is in it's original caddy and when plugged directly into the motherboard

The original caddy is the Home Media, I suppose. Have you powered it? The disk isn't powered through the SATA cable.

[jamuss]

I get icons on the desktop for Ubuntu. From the home menu under devices (top right) you can see the Windows HDD and any other drives such as a USB Stick. This has been when I have run the CD from my laptop, plugging in the external drive (in it's caddy via Rthernet) it's not being picked up. When I did this on the PC, because I only had one SATA cabel the CD could not see the Windows HDD (because it was not plugged in) and it would not see the extnal hard drive (this was after it was taken out of it's caddy and plugged into the motherboard with the SATA cable and the power cable). The disc was spinning and power was reaching it but the OS could not recognise it. Would this be becasue the other HDD (running Windows) was unplugged? Would it be a different case if both drives were plugged in and powered up? I'm not sure what you mean about opening a terminal? How is this done? If I run CMD and type in
cat /proc/partitions it is not recognised as a command.

[Mijzelf]

I get icons on the desktop for Ubuntu.

OK. It's good to know my memory is still of service

plugging in the external drive (in it's caddy via Rthernet) it's not being picked up.

When the NAS doesn't boot, the ethernet connection is useless. Ethernet is a 'highlevel protocol', which needs a running OS on both sides, in contrast to SATA, which is lowlevel, and only need a running OS on one side. (Ubuntu or Windows, in this case)

Would this be becasue the other HDD (running Windows) was unplugged?

No. That shouldn't matter. The Ubuntu CD is taking it's role.

I'm not sure what you mean about opening a terminal?

In Ubuntu you can open a program called 'Terminal'. Somewhere in the 'Applications menu' I think. This is the Linux equivalent of cmd.
'cat /proc/partitions' shows all recognized partitions. This way you can know if the disk is recognized, if no icons pop up on the desktop.
It's still possible that the disk works, but the contents of the partitions are damaged in way they can't be mounted (and in that case no icons will show up)

/Edit: While it's not necessary to have both disk connected to be able to read the NAS disk, you'll need the second disk to copy the data to. Unless you can upload it somewhere, or it fits on a (number of) usb sticks.

[jamuss]

The BIOS recognised the HDD at boot up. Just trying to look for Terminal in Unbuntu.....

[jamuss]

Running Terminal this is what comes up in the dialogue box:

major minor #blocks name
7 0 683116 loop0
8 0 976762584 sda

No icons appear on the Unbunto desktop. How can we mount the disc as it is definatly there.

[Mijzelf]

You have no Windows disk connected, I hope? And you have a 1TB Home Media?

8 0 976762584 sda

This is a raw 1TB disk, but no partitions are recognized. The good news is that the disk is recognized, so it's not dead (well, not completely). The bad news is that the partition table is not recognized, so at least a part of the contents is screwed up.
This is why no icons are shown, a raw disk cannot be mounted.

If your data is really valuable, this should be the moment to stop tinkering with the disk, and hire a professional data recovery company. This will cost you several hundreds of euro's, at least.
If you don't want that, we'll continue.

There are several possibilities now. The disk is bad, and the partition table is lost by a hardware failure. In that case you should create a low-level copy to another disk, on which you can start your recovery.
Or the disk is fine, and the partition table is screwed up by a software failure, in that case you can recover the files from this disk.

A way to see if the disk is bad is the use of smartctl.
In a terminal type

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sudo smartctl --health /dev/sda

If that gives a 'unknown command' error, first install smartmontools (the PC needs internet access):

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install smartmontools

If smartctrl gives a failed, or something like that, I recommend you to first create a low-level backup. To do so you need a 2nd disk, which has at least the same size. In practice this means a 1.5TB disk. All contents will be destroyed, when copying. A low-level backup can last several days, depending on the damage of the disk. So you also need to have a computer available for that time.

If smartctl is content about your disk, you can either use PhotoRec to recover your files from the raw disk, or rearrange the partition table. Rearranging the partition table can be done by following this tutorial, steps 1 (Connecting the disk) to 6 (Change data partition size). Do *not* continue with the following steps.

[jamuss]

Thanks. I'm going to get proffessinal support as I don't want to mess around with it! It's a Seagate/Maxtor HDD 7200.12 and there are some firmware bugs connectted to it. I'll see what Seagate can do directly as I don't think I should pay if it's a fault on their part!

[Mijzelf]

I'll see what Seagate can do directly

Be careful. The warranty on disks never covers the data on it. When you give that disk to Seagate, it is possible that you just get a brand new disk in return, empty, and say bye to your data.
Besides, you bought an Iomega product, with an OEM disk inside. You have no contract with Seagate, unless the law in your land is different from the law in mine.

[jamuss]

Are you in the UK? I have looked again at the seriel and its 7200.12 not .11 so the bug may not affect my HD. I know the warrenty does not cover data, I was planning on sending it to a data recovery company for them to retrieve the data (if any) send it back and then send the damaged disc and caddy back to Iomega for a refund as it's under a 3 year warranty eventhou it broke within 18 months! Iomega charge between £400 -£1500 depending on the service you want. I have had many qoutes from orginsations so I suppose it's just a case of looking now. I have contacted Seagate data recovery to see what they quote.

[Mijzelf]

I'm flattered. Is my English good enough to be UK citizen? No, I'm not from the UK.

I wish you luck with your data recovery troubles, and hope you will have a backup in the future.

[bogdanhh]

Guys, I have the same issue - already discussed this topic in another forum. Anyhow, after trying mounting in different linux versions, os x, windows and so on, I had no luck so it's time for a professional. I live in Austria - is anyone having any idea of such a service provider within EU? The costs will be also nice to know. Recommendations are valuable also.