Error mounting HDD

Question

Today I bought and mounted my new HDD that I plan to use solely as a storage device. I started with formatting the drive to NTFS filesystem and then proceeded with transferring a couple of GB from an older drive to this new one. Up to this point it all worked without any glitches. But when I disconnected the drive and then connected it again I got this error msg: Error mounting /dev/sdb2 at /media/fz/Red 1TB: Command-line `mount -t "ntfs" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077,fmask=0177" "/dev/sdb2" "/media/fz/Red 1TB"' exited with non-zero exit status 12: NTFS signature is missing.Failed to mount '/dev/sdb2': Invalid argumentThe device '/dev/sdb2' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of apartition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

My questions:

Why did this happen first of all? I safely removed the disk like I have done a million times, so this can't be the reason. But I did start with a slow formatting and aborted it right away when I realized it would take so long and did a quick formatting instead. Could this be the reason? I also changed the name of the disk and then quickly changed it back.
Error mounting /dev/sda2 at /media According to the above page I should be able to resolve this by typing in mount -o ro /dev/sdb2 /media/fz/Red 1TB in the Terminal (ctrl+alt+T). Is this correct? And what should I expect when I enter that command? Do I have to do enter this command every time I disconnect and mount the disk (I use an external HDD reader so I do disconnect/connect disks all the time)?
If I use this command as recommended, what does it mean for my data? Do I have to format the disk and start all over again again or does it just fix it and I can go on as normal?
If I fix this and get access to my data again, what says that I won't run in to the same problem again? Right now I only transferred a couple of GB to the new disk, but if I transferred the intended 1 TB and run in to the same issue later down the line... the hassle with saving so much data will be too hard. So this goes back to the first question posed I guess. Not knowing what caused this issue in the first place is what worries me, I'm not asking for a seer.

I saw some threads/posts from others with the same issue but it seemed to be connected to Windows installations - I have Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. And they don't go in to detail to answer my questions above.

Clarification: I have two disks: a SSD 120 GB with Ext4 filesystem with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS OS and a HDD 1 TB with NTFS (the disk I have issue with now) that I use solely for storing data.

Before going deeper on your questions: did you try to fix the NTFS partition (e.g. using ntfsfix)? I remember NTFS is not native (limited only) on Linux, thus issues are around the corner... — mattia.b89, Jan 13 '19 at 11:27
@OrganicMarble NTFS partitions are normally used in dual-boot Windows/Ubuntu so that files can be shared. Another example would be to store... say... movie/picture files on a NTFS partition, and then the drive could be disconnected, and connected to a Windows only machine and be used there. — heynnema, Jan 14 '19 at 01:21
@heynnema, I know, I've done it (but got rid of it as quick as I could). I just wanted to pull at the possibility of using an ext filesystem which, at least in my experience, works a lot better. — Organic Marble, Jan 14 '19 at 01:40
@FuriousUser if you don't anticipate using this disk in a Windows system I would highly recommend you use ext4 instead. — Organic Marble, Jan 14 '19 at 01:41
Yes, I will do that, but now the mistake has been done. My main objective now is to save the data I managed to transfer to this new disk before it crashed. Kindly also read my answer to Compatico below for more information. — FuriousUser, Jan 14 '19 at 02:10

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 14 '19 at 00:30

0

Reading your issue, it's not clear what you did, and since it's just a "storage drive" why are there 2 partitions on it? If you used the drive as a single storage location, it should be /dev/sdb1 for the partition (or similar depending on devices).

If you have no need for Windows, then yes EXT4 is a more robust file system and should be used with Ubuntu - it's the default file system and should be more stable.

Having said that errors do happen. Is the new drive external? You mentioned you "safely removed"...perhaps something you tried to do something in the midst of the removal process like change names, change mount point, etc.?

answered Jan 14 '19 at 00:30

Compatico

154

I have no idea why there are two partitions. That is part of the mystery of what went wrong. I did not create two partitions.
Yes, the 3.5" drive is external. I use a HDD docking station like this one: https://www.deltaco.se/sites/cdn/PublishingImages/Products/IB-117-U31.png?width=500

My main objective and concern is saving the stored data on this drive. So that is what I want help with. I have started Gparted and wonder if I can fix the disk, change label or set new UUID to help with this issue? Without risking my objective.
– FuriousUser Jan 14 '19 at 02:07
Is the storage drive critical data? If so, make a backup before you do anything to make sure you don't lose anything. Then try fixing the file table. If it works, great. If not, then wipe the partition and create a new one, and copy the data back onto the disk. If you don't need it to be readable by Windows, go with EXT4 file system. – Compatico Jan 19 '19 at 01:02

Error mounting HDD

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