subject: How To Recover Lost Data From Ext2 File System In Linux [print this page] The ext2 (second extended) is one of the file systems of Linux operating systems. It is used in several Linux distributions and is the first choice for flash-based storage media such as SD cards, pen drives, etc. This is due to lack of its support for journaling, which minimizes the number of writes as the flash-based devices provide limited number of write cycles. Though this file system renders fast performance, it is prone to corruption.
Due to this, system drive can become inaccessible thereby raising the chances of you losing the data. The corruption can happen due to various reasons such as virus infections, power outages, human errors, abrupt system shutdown, etc. To overcome such situation, you should use appropriate corrective measures. However, if you are unable to address the issue then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform Linux recovery.
Consider a scenario wherein you have lost data from your ext2-partitioned Linux system. The possible reasons behind this could be either of the following reasons:
Virus infections
Malfunctioning operating system
Inaccessible logical volume
Accidentally formatted or deleted logical drives
Unreadable files or folders
Corrupt or damaged Partition Table
Accidental deletion of files & folders
Resolution:
To resolve this issue and recover lost data, you can use the debugfs and e2undel commands. To begin with, first of all you need to unmount the file system from which you have lost the data. Dismounting the file system lessens the risk of data being overwritten by the two commands, which are:
debugfs: It is used when you are unable to dismount the file system. This utility is an interactive file system debugger that analyzes and changes, if necessary, the state of the ext2 file system.
e2undel: It is friendlier than debugfs utility, but does not exactly recover a file. Rather it recovers the content of a lost or deleted file and saves it in a new file. This utility provides more options to identify the files that are to be recovered.
However, if you are not able to recover lost data using the aforementioned methods then you should consider using a third-party Linux recovery tool to perform data recovery for Linux system. Such read-only tools are able to recover lost data from Linux systems using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms.
Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a Linux recovery tool that enables you to recover lost files, folders, and hard drive volumes from Linux systems. It helps you in performing Ext2 Recovery, ext3 recovery, and ext4 recovery. This Linux data recovery tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, 2003 Server, XP, and 2000.
