Sfdwhf

I've just fixed my USB drive using "testdisk", a Linux command line (yet friendly) utility. My drive was not even mounting in Windows and Windows 8 discovered like 6 partitions (when the drive had only one).

To use the utility, install it:

sudo apt-get install testdisk

Then run it:

sudo testdisk

and follow the instructions. You must search for partitions and then write the changes.

Hope this help anyone.

Just to clear some of your points up.

My attempt to run fsck results in the following :

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sda



...



fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda

Now, thats not wonder, because you are trying to fsck the disk, and not its partition.
What fsck does is, it tries to recognize the FS type. Because you have given it raw disk surface, it fails to recognize and resorts to default type - ext, calling fsck.ext.

fsck.ext does not find any FS signature in the location and tries to find superblocks. Ultimately it fails, because its disk with only NTFS partition type.

This is why you have this error.

The correct command would be:

sudo fsck /dev/sda1

That would feed the FIRST partition of first sata hard drive, not the first sata disk itself.

Your disk is toast. Check the SMART diagnostics in the disk utility to confirm; it should say you have a ton of bad sectors and need to replace the drive.

I agree with @psusi: the disk needs replacing, see my comment under accepted answer. Doing an ntfsfix will not help at all, and just delays the essential action of:

1. backing up all data on the disk ASAP


2. replacing the disk with a new one

There's no need really to check the SMART diagnostics - they only pick up a percentage of errors anyway. The red flags are the two lines:

[ 1019.726558] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]  Add. Sense: **Unrecovered read error** - auto reallocate failed

[ 1019.726602] JBD: **Failed to read block** at offset 462

As soon as a disk starts giving unrecoverable read errors (UREs), it should be replaced immediately and only used for data recovery. (An excessive level of non-UREs also indicates replacement is needed.)

Disks should be viewed as consumables that must be replaced every few years, hence having really good backups (automated, daily, complete, and at least to an external drive) is crucial.

In Ubuntu 14.04 Just try this

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdXY

Where XY is your partition. (/dev/sda2 in your case)

As the other answers have said, in this case it's probably a bad disk..

But for the benefit of others facing actual NTFS corruption - unfortunately the ntfsfix tool is very limited compared to Microsoft's chkdsk. Try to get a Windows install going - preferably with the newest version of Windows as Microsoft is presumably constantly improving chkdsk (I hope..) Newer versions of Windows are often available for free as trials. If the problem is in a USB disk you can try installing Windows in something like VirtualBox and give the VM control of the USB device.

Unfortunately the free tools available on Linux are very limited with regards to fixing NTFS partitions.

Most likely you can still recover your data by using the secondary MFT stored at the end of the disk. It is usually not used, but it should contain an up-to-date version of your directory structure. There is a good chance it was not affected by the disk errors.

In the past, I have used Runtime Software's (commercial, 79$) product GetDataBack NTFS with great success for this. It is one of the few NTFS tools (the only?) that runs in WINE and as a Linux LiveCD, and the free demo should be enough to see if your data is still there. If it is, your data might just be worth buying the tool.

The LiveCD runs Knoppix Linux and has all their tools preinstalled. Note that you'll still need a license key to actually use the tools, but it should be enough to see if it works on your computer.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Runtime software other than having bought their product a few years ago.

This answer will probably just work for 10.04 (lucid) and later versions of Ubuntu!

Try sudo ntfsfix -b /dev/sda2.

• 
  

  You need ntfs-3g installed. If you don't have it, you can install it in the Software Center by clicking that link, or from the Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) by running these commands:

  
  
  

  sudo apt-get update
  
  sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g
  
  

  
  

I just had the same problem on a 3TB NTFS USB. Big drama, as you can imagine.

I first tried to fix it on my wife's Windows box. No joy.

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdcx extremely quickly fixed it.

Hooray! Back in business. Really must get a new disk and promptly re-format it to a proper, adult filesystem.