An unbootable Linux system can be a result of superblock corruption. A superblock is a an integral part of Linux file system, which saves information related to file system. Corruption in superblock primarily occurs due to improper system shutdown, virus infection, and file system damage. In such cases, the data saved in the hard drive becomes inaccessible. To overcome such situations, the user needs to use a valid backup to restore data or perform repair using e2fsck function. However, if the measures fail to resolve corruption, then only third-party Linux Data Recovery application can help.

Consider a practical case, where you try to reboot your system after it shuts down due to power failure. While doing so, you encounter:

“Checking Filesystems [BUSY]

/dev/sda4:

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:

e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[FAIL]

FILESYSTEM CHECK FAILED

Please repair manually and reboot. Note that the root file system is currently mounted read-only. To remount it read-write type: mount -n -o remount,rw /

When you exit the maintenance shell the system will reboot automatically

Give root password for maintenance

(or type Control-D to continue)”

This error message does not allow the system to boot, leading to inaccessibility of hard drive data.

Cause:

The error message clearly informs that the superblock is corrupt or damaged.

Resolution:

To isolate the above error message and to access the hard drive data:

• Try to run e2fsck using an alternate superblock (as suggested in the error message).

• If the resolution does not works, then format your system and re-install Linux operating system.

While the latter fails to resolve superblock corruption to make your system bootable, it also deletes the data from the hard drive. If you wish to recover your lost data from a formatted hard drive, then you will need to opt for a commercial Linux Data Recovery application. Such Linux Recovery tools are incorporated with powerful scanning algorithms which provide maximum recovery of all formatted files and folders.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is safe Linux Recovery application that is used to recover lost files after formatting. Compatible with Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, and FAT file systems, the read only software is compatible with almost all kinds of hard drives, including IDE, EIDE, SATA, and more.