NTFS drive wont mount - "unknown filesystem"?

[Dave Woyciesjes]

***David - Please note, standard here is to put your reply text at the 
bottom of messages. I've fixed it, so it's easier to follow along... Thanks.

David McNally wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 1:19 PM, Dave Woyciesjes
> <woyciesjes at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> David McNally wrote:
>>> On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 7:10 PM, sdavmor <sdavmor at systemstheory.net> wrote:
>>>> David McNally wrote:
>>>>> >From what sdavmor and Preston said, it seems as though I should plug
>>>>> it into a Windows machine and run chkdsk on it. I do have an old XP
>>>>> machine that still works properly, so I suppose I'll try it on that. I
>>>>> suppose I need to go into Start - Accessories and find chkdsk in there
>>>>> somewhere. Probably not too hard.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I do that, about how long should the chkdsk take? It's a 700 GB
>>>>> hard drive, with about 600 GB used. Will it need to run overnight?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
>>>> Open a Windows DOS box (the cmd program). Then you can run:
>>>>
>>>> chkdsk driveletter /flags
>>>>
>>>> i.e. chkdsk z: /f
>>>>
>>>> I think you'll want /? to see what flags are available to you.
>>  >
>>  > If I log in as administrator, will I get all of the rights that I want?
>>  >
>>
>>        Yep, you'll be good to go. Preston also described how to do it via the GUI:
>> "...going to My Computer, right-clicking the drive, go to Properties,
>> then the Tools tab, then Check Now in the error checking section (that
>> is for Win XP, it may be some where a little different for Vista or 7).
>>  Make sure to check the "Automatically fix file system errors"  Once
>> you are done, make sure to either shut Windows down completely, or
>> right-click the drive in My Computer and click Eject to before removing
>> it..."
>>
>>        I'm not sure if there is a difference between doing it via the GUI or
>> doing chkdsk <driveletter> /f at the command line. You could always
>> hedge your bets and do both...;-)
>>
> 
 > OK, I'm having a bit of a problem. When I plug the drive into the XP
 > computer, it does not appear in My Computer. Windows doesn't show any
 > sign of noticing it. There isn't even the little "installing device
 > drivers" balloon by the taskbar.
 >
 > I tried using the command line and using chkdsk, but I didn't know
 > what drive letter to use. I decided to try "chkdsk A: /f", and then
 > "chkdsk B: /f" and so on with every letter in the alphabet (except for
 > C). However, each letter returned with the same error message, telling
 > me that the drive could not be found or accessed. There were only two
 > disks in the computer (the 40 GB internal hard drive, and my broken
 > 700 GB external hard drive).
 >
 > Also, this windows computer needs to be used by other people during
 > the day, and I'm afraid that this drive might take longer than one
 > overnight to finish. However, I have a VirtualBox VM of windows vista
 > (which I haven't used in months), and I know that USB devices can be
 > plugged into VMs, so could I do it that way?
 >

	Hmm, now we're getting in to Windows support, which isn't relevant here 
completely. But it is, sort of, in your quest to get this drive running 
with Ubuntu... Plus, other Ubuntu users may find this helpful...
	On the Windows computer, the chkdsk command only works if it is seen 
and assigned a drive letter. Quick way, open the My Computer icon on the 
desktop, and see what drive letters are there.
	To check if WindowsXP can see the drive at all: click on Start, choose 
Run... and in the Open dialog box, type compmgmt.msc. In the Computer 
Management window, choose the Disk Management category in the list on 
the left. On the right side, you should (hopefully) see both HDDs 
listed. The C: drive, and you 700GB external. In the bottom right, 
assuming Windows can see the drive at all, it will give some info, kinda 
like gparted does. Let us know what this shows...

	The Windows Vista in VirtualBox should see the drive, assuming it has 
USB support on. you can do the smae diagnostics in Vista as XP.

-- 
--- Dave Woyciesjes
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             Registered Linux user number 464583
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