This may be hopeless but I thought I would ask anyway. I'm hoping someone on the list can point me in the right direction. Here's the story.

Micro SD card in my BlackBerry was working fine yesterday. Last night the BlackBerry tells me there's something wrong with the card. This morning I used a USB adapter to connect it to my laptop. The plan was to "dd" the bits off the card. No luck.

After several tries I was able to get 6 megabytes of bits off the card. I can do this if I run "dd" just after I connect the card.

Here's what dmesg says.

[53769.148120] usb 7-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[53769.292106] usb 7-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[53769.317243] scsi25 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[53769.327733] usb-storage: device found at 7
[53769.327745] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[53774.324746] usb-storage: device scan complete
[53774.325668] scsi 25:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic STORAGE DEVICE 9407 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[53774.477508] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] 15954944 512-byte hardware sectors (8169 MB)
[53774.478649] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[53774.478654] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[53774.478657] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[53774.481643] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] 15954944 512-byte hardware sectors (8169 MB)
[53774.482759] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[53774.482765] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[53774.482769] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[53774.482779] sdb: sdb1
[53774.484365] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[53774.484540] sd 25:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[53778.934622] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[53778.934639] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: Add. Sense: Medium not present
[53778.934649] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 12496
[53778.934659] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 538
[53778.934673] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 539
[53778.934679] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 540
[53778.934685] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 541
[53778.934691] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 542
[53778.934698] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 543
[53778.934704] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 544
[53778.934710] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 545
[53778.938230] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[53778.938247] sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: Add. Sense: Medium not present
[53778.938257] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 12496
[53778.938265] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 538


Seems to me the block device sdb is created at some point. I'm only guessing but I think the system doesn't see the card. All I know is that dmesg says "sdb" but dd can't access it.

root@dhull-dell-laptop:/tmp/SDCARD# dd if=/dev/sdb of=data2
dd: opening `/dev/sdb': No medium found

Any suggestions? I just need the bits.



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Damien Hull wrote:
> This may be hopeless but I thought I would ask anyway. I'm hoping someone on the list can point me in the right direction. Here's the story.
<cut>

Google testdisk. I think there are companion applications that may be
sdcard specific, but it may help in recovering data.

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Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see the card. Something like that.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bart Silverstrim" <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 8:49:34 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska
Subject: Re: Trying to rescue data from a bad SD card

Damien Hull wrote:
> This may be hopeless but I thought I would ask anyway. I'm hoping someone on the list can point me in the right direction. Here's the story.
<cut>

Google testdisk. I think there are companion applications that may be
sdcard specific, but it may help in recovering data.

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Damien Hull wrote:
> Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see the card. Something like that.

If the *device* is seen, you can try creating an image with dd or
dd_rescue. Then you can run testdisk against the disk image.

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That's my problem. I can't use "dd" cause the device isn't there. I think the system tries to create /dev/sdb but dd can't access it.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bart Silverstrim" <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 9:09:45 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska
Subject: Re: Trying to rescue data from a bad SD card

Damien Hull wrote:
> Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see the card. Something like that.

If the *device* is seen, you can try creating an image with dd or
dd_rescue. Then you can run testdisk against the disk image.

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On Wed, 4 Mar 2009 08:44:36 -0900 (AKST)
Damien Hull <dhull@digital-overload.net> wrote:

<big snip>

> root@dhull-dell-laptop:/tmp/SDCARD# dd if=/dev/sdb of=data2
> dd: opening `/dev/sdb': No medium found
>
> Any suggestions? I just need the bits.

I think your sol. But just in case, wouldn't it be /dev/sdb1? I'm saying this with no experience whatsoever with dd.

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Damien Hull wrote:
> That's my problem. I can't use "dd" cause the device isn't there. I think the system tries to create /dev/sdb but dd can't access it.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bart Silverstrim" <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
> To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 9:09:45 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska
> Subject: Re: Trying to rescue data from a bad SD card
>
> Damien Hull wrote:
>> Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see the card. Something like that.
>
> If the *device* is seen, you can try creating an image with dd or
> dd_rescue. Then you can run testdisk against the disk image.
>
I would google for "free photo recovery" and then use windows if you
fail on Linux. Sometimes this other OS also has its merits, although
some Linux people will not want to know this.

Kind regards
Eberhard


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On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:21:43 +0100
Eberhard Roloff <tuxebi@gmx.de> wrote:

ER> Damien Hull wrote:
ER> > That's my problem. I can't use "dd" cause the device isn't there.
ER> > I think the system tries to create /dev/sdb but dd can't access
ER> > it.
ER> >
ER> >
ER> > ----- Original Message -----
ER> > From: "Bart Silverstrim" <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
ER> > To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions"
ER> > <ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
ER> > 9:09:45 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska Subject: Re: Trying to rescue data
ER> > from a bad SD card
ER> >
ER> > Damien Hull wrote:
ER> >> Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It
ER> >can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see
ER> >the card. Something like that.
ER> >
ER> > If the *device* is seen, you can try creating an image with dd or
ER> > dd_rescue. Then you can run testdisk against the disk image.
ER> >
ER> I would google for "free photo recovery" and then use windows if you
ER>
ER> fail on Linux. Sometimes this other OS also has its merits, although
ER>
ER> some Linux people will not want to know this.

I missed the start of the thread, so I may be repeating some things, but
I think there are a few things worth trying here:
1) Have you at some time previously been able to read the SD card on the
machine you are now trying? (there are two types SD and SDHC (High
capacity) which are externally identical and the latter cannot be read
in an SD only slot).

2) What do you see if you have "tail -f /var/log/messages" running in a
terminal while you plug the card in.

3) You could try a different machine or a USB reader.

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| James Tappin | School of Physics & Astronomy | O__ |
| sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk | University of Birmingham | -- /` |
| Ph: 0121-414-6462. Fax: 0121-414-3722 | |
+--------------------------------------------------------+---------+

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David Curtis wrote:
> On Wed, 4 Mar 2009 08:44:36 -0900 (AKST)
> Damien Hull <dhull@digital-overload.net> wrote:
> > root@dhull-dell-laptop:/tmp/SDCARD# dd if=/dev/sdb of=data2
> > dd: opening `/dev/sdb': No medium found
>
> I think your sol. But just in case, wouldn't it be /dev/sdb1? I'm
> saying this with no experience whatsoever with dd.

If the device sdb1 exists it is the first partition on the entire disk
sdb. You can use both devices but with sdb you will get an image of the
entire disk while sdb1 would get you only that particular partition.
The advantage of using sdb would be that you could recover some more
data if the partition table was faulty.


Nils

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> On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:21:43 +0100
> Eberhard Roloff <tuxebi@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> ER> Damien Hull wrote:
> ER> > That's my problem. I can't use "dd" cause the device
> isn't there.
> ER> > I think the system tries to create /dev/sdb but dd can't access
> ER> > it.
> ER> >
> ER> >
> ER> > ----- Original Message -----
> ER> > From: "Bart Silverstrim" <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
> ER> > To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions"
> ER> > <ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
> ER> > 9:09:45 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska Subject: Re: Trying to rescue data
> ER> > from a bad SD card
> ER> >
> ER> > Damien Hull wrote:
> ER> >> Thanks for the info. I installed and ran testdisk. No luck. It
> ER> >can't see the SD card. I think /dev/sdb is there but it can't see
> ER> >the card. Something like that.
> ER> >
> ER> > If the *device* is seen, you can try creating an image
> with dd or
> ER> > dd_rescue. Then you can run testdisk against the disk image.
> ER> >
> ER> I would google for "free photo recovery" and then use
> windows if you
> ER>
> ER> fail on Linux. Sometimes this other OS also has its
> merits, although
> ER>
> ER> some Linux people will not want to know this.
>
> I missed the start of the thread, so I may be repeating some
> things, but
> I think there are a few things worth trying here:
> 1) Have you at some time previously been able to read the SD
> card on the
> machine you are now trying? (there are two types SD and SDHC (High
> capacity) which are externally identical and the latter cannot be read
> in an SD only slot).
>
> 2) What do you see if you have "tail -f /var/log/messages"
> running in a
> terminal while you plug the card in.
>
> 3) You could try a different machine or a USB reader.
>
> --
> +------------------------+-------------------------------+---------+
> | James Tappin | School of Physics & Astronomy | O__ |
> | sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk | University of Birmingham | -- /` |
> | Ph: 0121-414-6462. Fax: 0121-414-3722 | |
> +--------------------------------------------------------+---------+
>
Another thing to try after inserting the card is to run lsusb and see what it shows. I know there is also a way using udevinfo to figure out what is being seen by the OS, but I don't remember how to do that part :-)

hth

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