Re: I need the exact command line structure to do a fsck on an external usb HDD with a NTFS file system (BTW the system can't mount the drive, says there's MFT issue)

On 06/15/2012 09:47 AM, jimmckenzie <at> earthlink.net wrote:
> Sorry for the long header.

You mean this one?
"I need the exact command line structure to do a fsck on an external usb"

It would have been considerably better, and more considerate to others
if you had put your question, plea, whatever, in the body of the message
instead of writing a novel in the subject line.

Here is what you asked for:
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man8/fsck.8.html
fsck [-sAVRTMNP] [-C [fd]] [-t fstype] [filesys...]  [--]
[fs-specific-options]

> 
> Let me just say this up front. I HATE COMMAND LINE INTERFACE! Having
> to this this way is not my first choice, it is my last.

Ok.

> 
> The exact message (which I can't seem to cut and paste) basically
> says there is an issue with the MFT and that I need to run CHKDSK/F
> from Window$. That's not an option, I don't have anything MS makes
> nor do I want anything they make. I ditched them about 9 months ago
> and haven't missed them one damned bit.
> 
> The external drive I'm trying to access is a Seagate GOFLEX 3TB USB
> my computer lists it as dev/sdb.

That is probably due to the drive having be preformated NTFS with
preinstalled backup software on it:

<http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/goflex-desk/>
o Pre-loaded backup and encryption software

If the drive is encrypted, then you won't be able to mount the encrypted
partition(s) it - unless have the software it was encrypted with, and
have the key/passphrase. You can reformat it however in that state as it
is showing up as dev/sdb.

> 
> I've tried going on line and have found tons of remarkably
> informative/unfortunately useless info. Reams actually.  The pages
> come in two categories, {1} they don't tell you much of anything {2}
> the info is more rambling than my posts to this list including this
> one.

This may be of help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountingWindowsPartitions

Going to the hated command line 
Open a terminal and provide the output from ($ is a prompt, not a command):

$ sudo fdisk -l
$ sudo fdisk -l | grep NTFS | awk '{print $1}'
$ lsusb
$ apt-cache policy ntfs-3g
$ apt-cache policy ntfs-config

Going back to the GUI:
What does it show for the drive in the Disk Utility? Note: you don't say
which version or flavor of Ubuntu you are using; for 12.04 Unity - click
on the Dash & enter 'Disk' and you should see the icon for the Disk
Utility'.

This makes for entertaining reading:
<https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/cannot-mount-3tb-freeagent-goflex-usb-drive-942725/>

...