Linux partitions are basically of three types: swap, root, and home. The swap partition is used for Linux swap space, root partition for Linux and the installed applications, and home partitions for holding /home directory i.e. data. When it comes to data accessibility, the latter two partitions are comparatively more vital for uninterrupted data access. Thus corruption of these partitions can lead to data loss and requires a Linux user to look for Linux Data Recovery solutions.

Let’s elucidate these data loss issues using a corresponding example of Ext4 partition and the associated solutions. Consider the following realistic instance observed by a Linux user:

• When trying the boot a Linux computer, the user faces a set of error messages multiple times, but with different numbers:

exception Emask 0×0 SAct 0×1 SErr 0×0 action 0×0

irq_stat 0×40000008

cmd 60/00:00:1f:94:88/01:00:06:00:00/40 tag 0 ncq 131072 in

res 41/40:00:1b:95:88/87:01:06:00:00/00 Emask 0×409 (media error) <F>

status: { DRDY ERR }

error: { UNC }

• The following error also pops up:

end_request: I/O errir, dev sda, sector 109614363

JBD: Failed to read block at offset 1541

EXT4-fs (sda5): error loading journal

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda5,

missing codepage or helper program, or other error

• So, the user tries to boot the computer using installation disk. But it starts an unending loop of error messages that prompts to repair the disk. Even clicking ‘Yes’ to repair each time gives the same error.

Cause

The Ext4 root and/or home partition of Linux is corrupted. This generally occurs due to power failure.

Solution:

• Try running fsck while making sure that the partition is not mounted. Alternatively, you can also perform force check using touch /forcefsck command

• Delete the corrupted partition(s), reinstall Linux, and restore data from backup

• Use an Ext4 Recovery utility to recover lost data. A Linux Data Recovery utility can scan a crashed Linux disk and extract data using safe algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a comprehensive Linux recovery utility, that has been specially designed to restore lost and missing data from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, and FAT disks. Incorporated with high-end, yet safe, algorithms, this Ext4 Recovery tool features advanced options like, SMART, Disk Imaging, Save Scan, and more. The tool supports almost all Linux distributions including SlackWare, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Mandrake, and SUSE.