How to recover bad partition or superblock on Ext3 partition ?

How to recover bad partition or superblock on Ext3 partition ?

What if you are getting below two errors ?

1. /dev/sdb2: Input/output error
2. mount: /dev/sdb2: can't read superblock


Steps :

1. If you can go to Emergency Mode in the Linux and it directely asking for password or else Go to rescue mode, by booting with 1st Linux cd or a DVD then on "boot:" prompt "linux rescue" and press enter.

2. Unmount the partition first on which you getting the error.

3. Next find out bad superblock to recover,

#dumpe2fs /dev/sdb2 | grep superblock


Sample Output :

------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary superblock at 0, Group descriptors at 1-6
  Backup superblock at 32768, Group descriptors at 32769-32774
  Backup superblock at 98304, Group descriptors at 98305-98310
  Backup superblock at 163840, Group descriptors at 163841-163846


  Backup superblock at 229376, Group descriptors at 229377-229382
  Backup superblock at 294912, Group descriptors at 294913-294918
  Backup superblock at 819200, Group descriptors at 819201-819206
  Backup superblock at 884736, Group descriptors at 884737-884742


  Backup superblock at 1605632, Group descriptors at 1605633-1605638
  Backup superblock at 2654208, Group descriptors at 2654209-2654214
  Backup superblock at 4096000, Group descriptors at 4096001-4096006
  Backup superblock at 7962624, Group descriptors at 7962625-7962630


  Backup superblock at 11239424, Group descriptors at 11239425-11239430
  Backup superblock at 20480000, Group descriptors at 20480001-20480006
  Backup superblock at 23887872, Group descriptors at 23887873-23887878
-------------------------------------------------------------------


4. Check & repair a Linux file system using alternet superblock #32768#,

#fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdb2

Sample Output :

-------------------------------------------------------------------
fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
e2fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
/dev/sda2 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity


Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Free blocks count wrong for group #241 (32254, counted=32253).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #362 (32254, counted=32248).


Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #368 (32254, counted=27774).
Fix? yes
..........
/dev/sda2: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda2: 59586/30539776 files (0.6% non-contiguous), 3604682/61059048 blocks

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


5. Next we try to mount /dev/sdb2 file system;

#mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

Note : We can also use superblock stored at #32768# to mount the partition,

#mount sb=32768 /dev/sdb2 /mnt


6. Now check if it worked for you & copy all its recovered file on another safe location.


-Enjoy :)