Hi Andrew, What I was trying to say before is that Photorec( don't know what it does )  does not try to mount ( not that I can see anyway ) so if you have problems with sda3, this may be a way around the mount problem. I fired up photorec and selected my BTRFS usb disk; after that I asked it to go and recover the files, it copies them back to my nominated destination directory. But I don't see any mount at least from the user space anyway . by watching syslog or dmesg. Regards, Ed Chan On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 1:32 PM ed chan &lt;echan64(a)gmail.com <mailto:echan64@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Andrew, If you have the photorec program ( apt-get install testdisk ) you could fire it up and access /dev/sda3  ( let it access /dev/sda3 , don't try to mount it. . It doesn't mount /dev/sda3.  If that doesn't work , then I agree with you that the disk is stuff.  or at least the partition is stuff.  You may not ne able to mount but photorec could get to it. Unless you have tried all this already, which means commiserations. Ed On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 1:25 PM Andrew Greig &lt;pushin.linux(a)gmail.com <mailto:pushin.linux@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Ed, Thanks for your efforts on my behalf, I enlisted the support of an experienced tech and we were unable to get anything  working. So I shot down to MSY and 30 minutes later I had hooked up the SSD with an adapter to my laptop. It cannot access the drive. Here is the message: An error occurred while accessing 'root', the system responded: The requested operation has failed: Error mounting /dev/sdc3 at /media/andrewlg/root: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdc3, missing codepage or helper program, or other error I think it is stuffed. Kind regards Andrew On 16/1/20 11:07 am, ed chan wrote: > Hi Andrew, > > I setup a BTRFS system on a USB key and a "play laptop" and > tried to retrieved files using photorec . It works.  I used a > copy of gparted iso .  This may yield results for getting > your data off sda3 Fingers crossed. > > Ed Chan > > On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 7:55 AM ed chan &lt;echan64(a)gmail.com > <mailto:echan64@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Hi Andrew, > > I tried installed testdisk, and ran photorec against a > USB key ( not corrupt mind you ) and it seems pretty > straightforward.  Perhaps you should see if you can get > the data off sda3 this way. > > ed > > On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 7:08 AM ed chan > &lt;echan64(a)gmail.com <mailto:echan64@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Hi Andrew, > > From an earlier post, Photorec may be the go.  Does > the rescue disk that you got the output to pastebin > have Photorec ? All may not be lost. > > https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step > > ps. I learn something new everyday ( thanks Bob )- > this seems to be a tool well worth getting a good > understanding of. > > Regards, > > Ed Chan > > On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 11:11 PM Andrew Greig via > luv-main &lt;luv-main(a)luv.asn.au > <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au>> wrote: > > Hi Ed, > > I use grsync. I have a few saved processes, so I > just fire it up and hit "go".  Each backup is > around 10Gb. > > I have a little bit of time up my sleeve but soon > the pregnant lady will want her special shot. > > Thanks > > Andrew > > On 15/1/20 10:12 pm, ed chan wrote: >> Hi Andrew, >> >> Getting slightly off topic here , looks like you >> copy and move files from devices to devices ; Do >> you do that manually or is there a script that >> does it for you ? >> >> Ed >> >> On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 10:03 PM ed chan >> &lt;echan64(a)gmail.com <mailto:echan64@gmail.com>> >> wrote: >> >> Hi Andrew, >> >> You could take it to a commercial Linux org >> that knows BTFS and get them to >> rescue /dev/sda3.  It may cost a few hundred >> dollars but ... >> >> Ed Chan >> >> On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 9:31 PM pushin.linux >> via luv-main &lt;luv-main(a)luv.asn.au >> <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au>> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> Sent from Samsung tablet. >> >> >> -------- Original message -------- >> From: ed chan &lt;echan64(a)gmail.com >> <mailto:echan64@gmail.com>> >> Date: 15/1/20 9:18 pm (GMT+10:00) >> To: "pushin.linux" >> &lt;pushin.linux(a)gmail.com >> <mailto:pushin.linux@gmail.com>> >> Cc: Andrew Greig via luv-main >> &lt;luv-main(a)luv.asn.au >> <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au>> >> Subject: Re: Grub 2 Issues - was Weird Boot >> >> Hi Andrew, >> >> Silly question from me: do you have a >> backup of sda ? Can you mount sda >> readonly ? . Another idea - outside this >> technical sphere is that perhaps you >> could ask some commercial Linux support >> org that may be able to provide >> support.  Obtaining support from a list >> ( a very good one at that - I learnt a >> lot from the posting of this list ) can >> sometimes be stressful. >> >> Sorry I can't offer too much help - I >> don't know BTFS or RAID , I am a luddite >> , I only know ext3/4. >> >> ed >> >> Hi Ed, >> I use my SSD for quicker processing and >> then when my work is done I move the RAW >> files to my RAID drives and make copy to >> an external 3TB, my images once exported >> as proofs and full size images are >> copied to the RAID drives and Google >> Drive, and the external hard drive. But >> I was in the middle of a project when it >> went down. My RAW files are still on sda3.. >> Bugger. Its a pregnancy shoot, too late >> now to reshoot. >> Andrew >> >> _______________________________________________ >> luv-main mailing list >> luv-main(a)luv.asn.au >> <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au> >> https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-main >> > _______________________________________________ > luv-main mailing list > luv-main(a)luv.asn.au <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au> > https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-main >