Ais..2025 11 19..cmp.dvc..defunct.hd

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User prompt 1 of 2 - 11/19/2025, 9:53:00 PM: sata 2.5" disk fallen down. i have it in external usb enclosure and wanna make checkdisk or what the linux repair app?

dmesg after connecting:

[127841.899983] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdh] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 08 00
[127841.899986] I/O error, dev sdh, sector 2048 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[127841.899994] Buffer I/O error on dev sdh, logical block 256, async page read
[127843.144253] usb 2-1.1.4: reset high-speed USB device number 26 using ehci-pci
[127843.807612] usb 2-1.1.4: reset high-speed USB device number 26 using ehci-pci
[127844.080082] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdh] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s
[127844.080091] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdh] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 08 00
[127844.080094] I/O error, dev sdh, sector 2048 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2

GPT-OSS 120B:

Diagnose the drive first #

The I/O errors you see (I/O error, dev sdh, sector 2048) mean the SATA platter is having trouble reading the first few sectors.
Before trying any filesystem repair, check the hardware health and see whether any data can be rescued.

If SMART reports many reallocated sectors, pending sectors, or the long self‑test fails, the drive is mechanically damaged and you should treat it as a failing device rather than a simple filesystem problem.

If the drive is still readable enough to mount #

1. Create a read‑only image (optional but recommended)

   1sudo mkdir -p /mnt/recovery
   2sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdh /mnt/recovery/sdh.img /mnt/recovery/ddrescue.log
   

   -n tells ddrescue to avoid retrying bad blocks on the first pass; you can later run a second pass with -r3 to retry a few times.

2. Run a filesystem check on the image

   Identify the filesystem type first:

   1file -s /mnt/recovery/sdh.img
   

   • ext4/ext3/ext2 → fsck.ext4 -n /mnt/recovery/sdh.img
   • NTFS → ntfsfix -n /mnt/recovery/sdh.img (or use ntfs-3g’s ntfsfix)
   • exFAT → fsck.exfat -n /mnt/recovery/sdh.img

   The -n (no‑modify) flag lets you see what would be fixed without actually writing to the image. If the report looks reasonable, run the fix without -n:

   1sudo fsck.ext4 -y /mnt/recovery/sdh.img
   

3. Mount the repaired image (or the original device if you skipped imaging)

   1sudo mkdir /mnt/drive
   2sudo mount -o ro /dev/sdh1 /mnt/drive   # replace sdh1 with the correct partition
   

   Use ro (read‑only) until you’re sure the data is stable.

If the drive is too damaged for normal reads #

1. Aggressive ddrescue pass

   1sudo ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdh /mnt/recovery/sdh.img /mnt/recovery/ddrescue.log
   

   • -d uses direct I/O, bypassing the kernel cache.
   • -r3 retries each bad block up to three times.

2. After the image is as complete as possible, run the filesystem check (as shown above) on the image.

3. Recover files with tools that work on raw images, e.g.:

   • photorec / testdisk (both can operate on /mnt/recovery/sdh.img)
   • extundelete for ext* filesystems (extundelete /mnt/recovery/sdh.img --restore-all)

Quick checklist #

1. Check SMART – smartctl -a /dev/sdh
2. Run a read‑only scan – badblocks -sv /dev/sdh (optional)
3. Create an image – ddrescue (preferable)
4. Run fsck on the image (or directly on the device if you accept the risk)
5. Mount read‑only and copy needed data.

If the drive continues to produce I/O errors even after several ddrescue passes, the hardware is likely beyond repair and you should consider professional data‑recovery services.

User prompt 2 of 2 - 11/19/2025, 9:57:27 PM: dont wanna install sth atm. hence i tried: sudo fsck.vfat -y /dev/sdh1 #=> fsck.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31) #=> Read 512 bytes at 0:Input/output error

GPT-OSS 120B: fsck.vfat is failing because the kernel cannot even read the first sector of the partition – the drive is already returning an I/O error at the hardware level.
When that happens the only thing you can do without installing extra software is work around the bad sectors and try to read whatever is still accessible.

1. Try a raw read with dd (no extra packages) #

1# create a small image of the first few megabytes
2sudo dd if=/dev/sdh of=/tmp/sdh_head.img bs=1M count=10 conv=noerror,sync

• conv=noerror,sync tells dd to keep going when it hits a bad block and to pad the output with zeros, so you still get an image file.
• If this command also stops with “Input/output error”, the drive is unreadable even for the first megabyte and further recovery will require a tool that can skip bad blocks (e.g., ddrescue), which would need to be installed.

2. Mount the device read‑only (may succeed if only a few sectors are bad) #

1sudo mkdir -p /mnt/sdh
2sudo mount -o ro /dev/sdh1 /mnt/sdh

• If the mount succeeds, copy the files you need immediately:

1cp -a /mnt/sdh/* /path/to/backup/

• If the mount aborts with the same I/O error, the kernel cannot read the filesystem at all, so mounting won’t work.

3. Use the kernel’s built‑in retry mechanism #

Linux will automatically retry a failing read a few times before giving up. You can increase the number of retries with a sysctl before trying again:

1# increase retry count (default is 5)
2echo 30 | sudo tee /proc/sys/dev/scsi/mod_use_blk_mq

Then repeat the mount or dd command. This sometimes lets the drive finish a pending seek and return data.

4. If those steps still fail… #

• The drive is delivering hard I/O errors on the very first sectors, which means the firmware cannot locate the start of the partition table.
• Without installing a specialized recovery tool (e.g., ddrescue, testdisk, photorec) you have little more you can do from the command line.

Bottom line: With only the tools already present in a typical Linux installation you can:

1. Attempt a raw dd read with noerror,sync to salvage whatever early data exists.
2. Try a read‑only mount and copy whatever files appear.

If both fail, the next step will inevitably involve installing a dedicated recovery utility or sending the disk to a professional data‑recovery service.