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This hard drive was previously used as an external hard drive to back up family photos and videos. I decided to move things to google photos and found the external hard drive would not power on, so I opened it and took the hard drive out and connected it via sata cable instead, but it won't show in nautilus. Here's what I have so far...

Gparted says:

"Unable to detect file system! Possible reasons are:
 - The file system is damaged
 - The file system is unknown to GParted
 - There is no file system available (unformatted)
 - The device entry /dev/sdb1 is missing"

fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sdb: 2.75 TiB, 3000592982016 bytes, 5860533168 sectors
Disk model: ST3000DM001-1E61
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x9093d163

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1        2048 732566641 732564594 349.3G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

sudo blkid: /dev/sda5: UUID="417fd8d7-89c9-407c-82f8-6ad369fe4be6" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0e370cb5-05" /dev/sda1: UUID="9AB9-FDD2" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="0e370cb5-01" /dev/sdb1: PARTUUID="9093d163-01"

Willis Todd
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  • Include the output of sudo blkid. There is certainly something wrong with either the partition table or the file system. I would probably repartition, reformat and try again. – vanadium Mar 12 '21 at 13:44
  • You have another problem. You show a 3TB drive but MBR(msdos) partitions. MBR maximum is 2TB, and then you really need to use gpt partitioning. http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/whatsgpt.html Back up all your data & then convert to gpt. http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html If NTFS partition, is it Windows has set hibernation flag with fast start up. It turns fast start up back on with updates, also. http://askubuntu.com/questions/843153/ubuntu-16-showing-windows-10-partitions & https://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation – oldfred Mar 12 '21 at 14:52
  • This hard drive was a pulled out of an external hard drive I was using to back up years of family videos and pictures, so reformating and losing all the data is not an option I can afford before getting the data off it and uploading it to google photos (why I tried to get on it). – Willis Todd Mar 12 '21 at 18:18
  • I tried sudo blkid, here's what I got:

    /dev/sda5: UUID="417fd8d7-89c9-407c-82f8-6ad369fe4be6" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0e370cb5-05" /dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop1: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop2: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop3: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop4: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop5: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop6: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop7: TYPE="squashfs"

     – Willis Todd Mar 12 '21 at 18:18
  • /dev/sda1: UUID="9AB9-FDD2" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="0e370cb5-01" /dev/loop8: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop9: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop10: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop11: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop12: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop13: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop14: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop15: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop16: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop17: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop18: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/sdb1: PARTUUID="9093d163-01" – Willis Todd Mar 12 '21 at 18:18
  • Loops do not matter as not real partitions, but used for snaps. Post above in question any terminal output to preserve formatting. UUID looks more like NTFS? Did you leave is hibernated (fast start up on) or does it need chkdsk which you can only run from Windows or Windows repair/recovery flash drive. http://askubuntu.com/questions/843153/ubuntu-16-showing-windows-10-partitions & https://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation – oldfred Mar 12 '21 at 19:45
  • okay, I added it to the original question and removed the loops.

    I don't remember the last time I used this drive, but it was always connected as a usb external drive. I had to open it and connected it with sata cable instead because the portable wouldn't power on. I mostly use Ubuntu computers, but in the past I used to use Windows more, but I don't think this hard drive would have been impacted by any hibernation, since it was not the main drive, just an external, or is that wrong? I only used it to back up files, not likely left connected going into hibernation, but possibly.

     – Willis Todd Mar 12 '21 at 22:07
  • From looking at those other links, it looks like related to dual boot systems. I don't do that. I usually have Ubuntu only, or Windows only on some less used computers, like old Windows XP. – Willis Todd Mar 12 '21 at 22:50
  • bump. I've tried connecting to a Windows 7 computer I have, but it also could not detect a file system and said to reformat it. I'm desperate to save those old family pictures and videos if anyone can help me access them please. – Willis Todd Mar 18 '21 at 14:59
  • is it possible that there is some issue with this hard drive previously being used as an external drive, that when I pull it out and directly connect it to the motherboard that it only works when used through the external case and chipboard? Should I try to find another power source and see if I can get it to work in the external case instead?

    Please give me suggestions on what to try!

     – Willis Todd Mar 19 '21 at 22:34
  • I found an option in gparted to attempt data recovery that says it takes a long time to search for a file system, and it's been searching for about the last 22 hours and is still searching. Is it normal to take that long? Does anyone else have any other ideas for me to try? Also, I did determine the power supply to the original portal hard drive case has voltage, so there must be something wrong with the chipboard that I don't hear the hard drive turn on, though I do hear it turn on when I take out the hard drive and connect it to a sata cable directly to the motherboard like is now. Thoughts? – Willis Todd Apr 01 '21 at 10:37
  • After days of running, gparted just told me there was no file system it could find. any other ideas for me to try again? – Willis Todd Apr 05 '21 at 01:06

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