(Arch) Linux Sees and Can Write to HDD's NTFS Partitions but Windows Can't

Operating Systems & Open Source Windows
1

I have 3 NTFS partitions on my 2TB Seagate HDD. Only recently, my drives have stopped being recognised in windows.

I can look in device manager with hidden devices turned on and see that the device is installing when I boot. I uninstall it and reboot and the device is installed again. but not shown as connected.

I can boot into Arch Linux and can mount the drive with read and write access fine. I even ran ntfsfix to see if that did anything..

The drive shouldn't be dying. I have heard no clicking/loud noises and have only had it for a couple of years with minimal use.

Does anyone have any advice? As Windows cannot even see the drive I cannot run a check disk. I have already ran sfc with no results.

2

are you in windows 10 or windows 7?

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3

If you right click and select properties what does it say? It might say disconnected, which would be odd, but if it does; disconnect, shutdown, swap cables with one of the other drives and reboot.

Also, does the drive show up in Disk Management at all - even offline?

4

Windows 10

5

It says disconnected. I've already tried swapping cables with another drive which I know works and Windows still cant see the drive.

I even have a SATA to USB3 cable which I've tried and it still can't see the drive

6

Windows is not going to see any Linux Filesystems. However it will detect the hard drive. that's all a Microsoft thing, not really a Linux problem. HOWEVER you will know if the drive is dying from just the terrible performance from the drives.

7

eh? The drive has NTFS partitions. Your phrase suits :-)

8

All 3 partitions are NTFS, as the first sentence states

9

did you update Windows recently?

10

Not to anniversary, I managed to block that for now. I have also tried uninstalling my latest updates

11

go in to the start menu go into computer management, then click on Disk Management, what does it say there?

it should look like this.

BRUH.png1394x842 44.8 KB

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12

The disk is not there. my other drives are all there, except for that one.

Pasted image3840x2115 392 KB

This is even true in MiniTool:
Pasted image3840x2114 1.05 MB

13

Try using Diskpart in Windows and run a CHKDISK from command prompt.

14

I'm running chkdsk /f on my C: drive now. Not sure this will do anything but I'll try anything at this point...

I might have to copy my data to my nas on a temporary ntfs partition, rebuild the gpt table and reformat....

15

So that didn't work..

I've just booted into windows installer and ran diskpart. The disk shows with all partitions and even their assigned drive letters... Hmm..

16

try uninstalling(the driver) and tell windows to reinstall the driver for the drive, it really sounds like a software problem rather then the drive it self.

17

if you are trying to access ext partitions on windows, heres a handy tool
Ext2Fsd
just select the drive you want to mount and hit F4

18

It's not. It's standard NTFS partitions created by Windows

19

I would back up the data, reformat and partition under Windows. You can always mount it with Linux if you need to. If at all possible, running badblocks and other native Linux tools can check for bad sectors on the drive before you repartition...

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20

Did you run any tools, on either the Arch Linux or Windows side related to modifying disk structures? A poorly coded utility or malware could be the culprit.

The only thing I can really think of is the configuration information that Windows keeps in the registry related to specific disks. Something misconfigured there in exactly the wrong/right way could cause weird issues you are experiencing and be unique to that Windows instance. It should be possible to create a new entry for the disk by linking it up using a different controller (e.g. disassemble the enclosure and use the drive via a SATA interface instead of USB).

What does diskpart say while booted normally in Windows? Can you run the following commands in a command prompt and paste the output here please?

diskpart
list disk
sel disk 3
detail disk
list part

Random info:

  • System File Checker (SFC) checks core Windows OS files for corruption, not file systems or user files.
  • Chkdsk does not check disks, as odd as that sounds, it only checks mounted Fat32 or NTFS file systems.
  • That Windows instance can see the drive but is not mounting the partitions on the drive specified by the partition table as volumes correctly at the moment.
  • If all else fails, run spinrite and hope for the best.