You know, I’ve been there before – that sinking feeling when your beloved external hard drive just won’t mount, and you’re staring at a perfectly good partition that’s stubbornly refusing to show you its contents. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned computer repair tech want to pull their hair out. But fear not, my friends, because I’m here to walk you through the steps to (hopefully) recover that precious data, no matter how uncooperative your partition may be.
Diagnosing the Problem
First things first, let’s figure out what exactly is going on with that pesky partition. As our friends over at MacPowerUsers.com described, [1] it could be as simple as a corrupted journal entry in the file system, or as complex as a full-blown hardware failure. The key is to gather as much information as possible before diving in.
One of the first things I like to do is run Disk Utility’s First Aid on the drive and each individual partition. If that fails, as it did for our MacPowerUser friend, then we’re likely dealing with something a bit more serious. The MiniTool free Mac data recovery software is supposed to be able to handle these kinds of tricky situations, [1] but if that doesn’t work, you might need to break out the big guns – tools like Alsoft’s Disk Warrior or Prosoft’s Data Rescue.
As our AskUbuntu.com friend discovered, [2] the issue could be related to a stuck transaction in the journal log, causing a mismatch between the disk and the file system metadata. In that case, a simple “btrfs-zero-log” command might be all it takes to get things back on track. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on the file system and the severity of the problem.
Trying the Basics
Now, before we go nuclear with the data recovery tools, let’s see if we can’t coax that stubborn partition into cooperating. One thing to try is the old “turn it off and on again” approach – or in this case, unmount and remount the drive. As our Microsoft Answers friend learned, [3] sometimes a simple restart or re-plugging the drive can be enough to unstick things.
If that doesn’t work, you could also try manually mounting the drive using some low-level commands. As the Level1Techs forum poster discovered, [4] the syntax for using the ddrescue tool is pretty straightforward:
sudo gddrescue if=/dev/failingdrive of=/dev/destinationdrive_or_imagefile
This will create a bit-for-bit clone of the failing drive, which you can then try to mount or analyze further. Just be sure to use the correct device names for your setup!
Cracking Open the Tool Box
Alright, so the basics didn’t cut it. Time to bring in the big guns. As our Linux Questions friend noted, [5] tools like testdisk and photorec can be absolute lifesavers when dealing with uncooperative partitions.
Testdisk is particularly handy for trying to repair damaged file system structures, while photorec is more of a last resort – it’ll scan the drive and recover files individually, without regard for the original directory structure. It’s not the prettiest solution, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers when your data is on the line.
And let’s not forget about good old ddrescue – as the Reddit and SuperUser folks discussed, [4][7] this tool can be a real workhorse when it comes to cloning failing drives. Just be sure to take your time, be patient, and don’t be afraid to run multiple passes if needed.
When All Else Fails…
Alright, so you’ve tried everything in your arsenal, and that partition still won’t budge. At this point, you may need to face the reality that the drive itself could be physically failing. As our Backblaze-quoting MacPowerUser friend pointed out, [1] modern high-density drives do have a finite lifespan, and when they start going, there’s often no happy ending.
In a case like this, your best bet may be to try and recover as much data as possible using a tool like ddrescue or Disk Warrior, and then start planning your transition to a new drive. It’s not the ideal scenario, but sometimes we have to accept that technology just can’t last forever.
Of course, the silver lining here is that this could be the perfect excuse to finally upgrade to that shiny new terabyte drive you’ve been eyeing. And who knows, maybe you’ll even find some long-lost digital treasure buried in the depths of your failing partition. Stranger things have happened, right?
So there you have it, folks – a comprehensive guide to tackling those pesky unmountable partitions. Armed with the right tools and a healthy dose of persistence, you just might be able to recover that precious data and save the day. Happy hunting, and may the tech gods be ever in your favor!
[1] https://talk.macpowerusers.com/t/partition-on-external-hdd-wont-mount/16760
[2] https://askubuntu.com/questions/157917/how-do-i-recover-a-btrfs-partition-that-will-not-mount
[3] https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/partition-wont-mount-after-windows-10-anniversary/eff0ea6f-4c2c-4991-817e-4123d933e81e
[4] https://forum.level1techs.com/t/ddrescue-on-a-drive-that-wont-mount/116347
[5] https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/how-to-recover-files-from-a-hd-linux-can-not-mount-4175452352/
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/editors/comments/oln12b/solutions_for_an_exfat_drive_not_mounted_on_mac/
[7] https://superuser.com/questions/518634/running-chkdsk-on-a-disk-partition-without-a-drive-letter
[8] https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/10hs2fb/recovering_a_lost_partition_need_advice_on/
