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

Question

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!

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

Sorry for the necropost. Actually, it looks like this user may have mounted the wrong partition because I get the same result when I mount the FIRST partition of a Windows drive, which is, in fact, the boot partition for Windows. In order to get to the C: Drive, you will have to type the following into your terminal emulator:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o ro /dev/sda2 /media/c

The location of your C drive may vary. You might want to look for the largest partition of the drive by typing

sudo fdisk -l

Then, you can replace the "sda2" in the command above with the C drive partition and find the files you were looking for. Windows might not boot, but you will be able to access the files you intended to access earlier.