files have disappeared

[osprey]

that is helpful. Now I will go back and reread this a few times while I wait for the sun to come out again and hopefully be able to make enough sense of it to be able to follow these directions properly.
Here are the results:

(clouds coming back.in, gotta shut the puter down for the rest of the day now)

Okay, the investigation is creeping along. Unfortunately, you didn't quite follow the suggestions in post #17.

First you needed to run the command: lsblk -f, to find out what the filesystem was, which in that case was ext4. As mentioned there, it was an example of the use of the command to discover what the filesystem was. Then an explanation was provided for that particular result, not a result for the drive from your machine. In your case, you needed to run that command to discover which filesystem is in use on your external drive.

The result shown by that lsblk -f command on your machine would likely have shown what the filesystem on your external drive actually is, which according to the output in post #20 is exfat. The command needs to be run to see the output.

For repair on the exfat filesystem the following command for your external disk: /dev/sdb2 would usually be:

fsck.exfat -p /dev/sdb2

Check the manual page for that command on your machine with the command: man fsck.exfat. The following information is usually available for that command for the -p option:

-p     Repair the filesystem without user interaction if it can be done safely.

It may be the case that the version of fsck on your machine does not have that option. If by chance it doesn't, you can perhaps upgrade to the latest version of fsck which hopefully does cover it. By the way, which distro are you running?

 

[heretical_1]

Okay, the investigation is creeping along. Unfortunately, you didn't quite follow the suggestions in post #17.

First you needed to run the command: lsblk -f, to find out what the filesystem was, which in that case was ext4. As mentioned there, it was an example of the use of the command to discover what the filesystem was. Then an explanation was provided for that particular result, not a result for the drive from your machine. In your case, you needed to run that command to discover which filesystem is in use on your external drive.

The result shown by that lsblk -f command on your machine would likely have shown what the filesystem on your external drive actually is, which according to the output in post #20 is exfat. The command needs to be run to see the output.

For repair on the exfat filesystem the following command for your external disk: /dev/sdb2 would usually be:

fsck.exfat -p /dev/sdb2

Check the manual page for that command on your machine with the command: man fsck.exfat. The following information is usually available for that command for the -p option:

-p     Repair the filesystem without user interaction if it can be done safely.

It may be the case that the version of fsck on your machine does not have that option. If by chance it doesn't, you can perhaps upgrade to the latest version of fsck which hopefully does cover it. By the way, which distro are you running?

darn. Ok, will go through the instructions a few more times and try to get it right.
Running Peppermint (I think it is version 10), and there is literally no way for me to upgrade it until a friend who visits me once a year can come out in june or july and bring a thumb drive with a new version on it. My phone is my only connection to society, and the computer will not hook up to the bluetooth. Tried a few weeks ago to solve that issue, and after everything else failed, the last suggestion was to delete the bluetooth manager and then try to reinstall it. Apparently the person giving that advice didn't realize that without any way to connect the computer to the internet, reinstalling after using those particular commands was not possible. Am over 150 miles from nearest wifi site or library, with no transportation.

 

[heretical_1]

darn. Ok, will go through the instructions a few more times and try to get it right.
Running Peppermint (I think it is version 10), and there is literally no way for me to upgrade it until a friend who visits me once a year can come out in june or july and bring a thumb drive with a new version on it. My phone is my only connection to society, and the computer will not hook up to the bluetooth. Tried a few weeks ago to solve that issue, and after everything else failed, the last suggestion was to delete the bluetooth manager and then try to reinstall it. Apparently the person giving that advice didn't realize that without any way to connect the computer to the internet, reinstalling after using those particular commands was not possible. Am over 150 miles from nearest wifi site or library, with no transportation.

ok, this time I am reasonably sure that I have followed all of the steps properly, and screenshots are included. Apparently, I do not have the ability to repair, according to the results from the manual. Sounds like I am going to have to get another program to do it. So my question now becomes "how do I download one onto my phone, so that I can then either plug the phone into the computer and run it, or then offload it onto the computer in order to run it?"

 

[heretical_1]

oops. Forgot to "attach".

 

[osprey]

oops. Forgot to "attach".

Thanks for the outputs. They are again revealing.

The exfatfsck command has been deprecated and replaced. It was in an old package, but the new package that replaces it is: exfatprogs. In the new package exfatprogs, there is a command: fsck.exfat which checks and repairs exfat filesystems, so that's the command that needs to be tried, and exfatprogs is the package that needs to be installed.

The package exfatrprogs has no dependencies other than the main library which will already be installed (libc), so it should be possible to just download that package alone, and install it on the system.

Looking at the manual page of the command: fsck.exfat, the -p option does exist, so one would just replace the above fsck commands with fsck.exfat.

On downloading issues mentioned in post #22:
You mentioned trouble with bluetooth phone connection to your computer. It may be worth trying to use a usb cable from phone to computer, and then setting the tethering configuration in the phone. If that's possible, you would be able to use the computer online with the phone as the wifi access point. When doing this, it's worth plugging the computer into the mains because the power usage for the phone can be quite high, but if the computer is plugged into the mains, it will charge the phone keeping it online. Note however, that the computer will need to be configured to see the wifi as the access point. You may need to research that. I'm not familiar with how Peppermint does that. There are generic means which work on any linux system if the correct packages are installed. If tethering works, you just need to download the exfatprogs package with a command like: apt install exfatprogs.

 

[heretical_1]

Thanks for the outputs. They are again revealing.

The exfatfsck command has been deprecated and replaced. It was in an old package, but the new package that replaces it is: exfatprogs. In the new package exfatprogs, there is a command: fsck.exfat which checks and repairs exfat filesystems, so that's the command that needs to be tried, and exfatprogs is the package that needs to be installed.

The package exfatrprogs has no dependencies other than the main library which will already be installed (libc), so it should be possible to just download that package alone, and install it on the system.

Looking at the manual page of the command: fsck.exfat, the -p option does exist, so one would just replace the above fsck commands with fsck.exfat.

On downloading issues mentioned in post #22:
You mentioned trouble with bluetooth phone connection to your computer. It may be worth trying to use a usb cable from phone to computer, and then setting the tethering configuration in the phone. If that's possible, you would be able to use the computer online with the phone as the wifi access point. When doing this, it's worth plugging the computer into the mains because the power usage for the phone can be quite high, but if the computer is plugged into the mains, it will charge the phone keeping it online. Note however, that the computer will need to be configured to see the wifi as the access point. You may need to research that. I'm not familiar with how Peppermint does that. There are generic means which work on any linux system if the correct packages are installed. If tethering works, you just need to download the exfatprogs package with a command like: apt install exfatprogs.

phone is not able to be used as a wifì point for 2 reasons: first, I get źero reception inside, and the cables are not long enough to enable the phone to be outside far enough to get that reception, and second, when trying to fix an issue with the bluetooth manager, someone suggested deleting it and then reinstalling it, but apparently didn't realize that without the bluetooth manager or a way to physically connect the puter to the internet in any way at all, reinstalling the bluetooth manager was an impossibility. That is why I am asking if there is a way to download from the repository, or to download repair programs onto my phone, then go back inside and connect the phone to the puter and proceed from there.
I do have an old windows xp computer that I could hook up, but I have no idea if xp would have similar repair programs as part of the os.

 

[osprey]

phone is not able to be used as a wifì point for 2 reasons: first, I get źero reception inside, and the cables are not long enough to enable the phone to be outside far enough to get that reception, and second, when trying to fix an issue with the bluetooth manager, someone suggested deleting it and then reinstalling it, but apparently didn't realize that without the bluetooth manager or a way to physically connect the puter to the internet in any way at all, reinstalling the bluetooth manager was an impossibility. That is why I am asking if there is a way to download from the repository, or to download repair programs onto my phone, then go back inside and connect the phone to the puter and proceed from there.
I do have an old windows xp computer that I could hook up, but I have no idea if xp would have similar repair programs as part of the os.

Okay. Not so good situation. I guess one way of acquiring the package is to have it sent to you by mail on a usb. Other than that, I think I may be out of suggestions on this one. On the XP option, I'm ignorant.

Just a thought: if you are able to have some software sent on a usb, you could have the whole peppermint repository sent on a suitably sized usb so all packages are available to you.

 

[heretical_1]

where I am at, there is not even the chance of getting mail. Remote doesn't even begin to describe my living situation. I will just have to set that drive aside until I get my yearly visitors in june and have them bring out a thumb drive with a new os on it.
Thank you so much for all the help!

 

[heretical_1]

where I am at, there is not even the chance of getting mail. Remote doesn't even begin to describe my living situation. I will just have to set that drive aside until I get my yearly visitors in june and have them bring out a thumb drive with a new os on it.
Thank you so much for all the help!

there is a dropdown menu on the main page of this forum. Following the links, I donwloaded the zorin.iso and the etcher balen program, then loaded them from the phone to the puter via cable. When I went to install the iso onto the flash drive, when I clicked on the etcher program to activate it, I got "inknown file type". Tried a couple of the other programs suggested, and they each had various issues that kept them from working. Not sure if this now needs to become another thread, but under my conditions of only having access to the internet via the phone, and with no ability to use that phone as an internet source for the puter, is there anything that could help me get the etcher program working?

 

[heretical_1]

there is a dropdown menu on the main page of this forum. Following the links, I donwloaded the zorin.iso and the etcher balen program, then loaded them from the phone to the puter via cable. When I went to install the iso onto the flash drive, when I clicked on the etcher program to activate it, I got "inknown file type". Tried a couple of the other programs suggested, and they each had various issues that kept them from working. Not sure if this now needs to become another thread, but under my conditions of only having access to the internet via the phone, and with no ability to use that phone as an internet source for the puter, is there anything that could help me get the etcher program working?

omg...just found an earlier thread by @osprey describing exactly what I was asking about here! Yessss!!!!!

 

[KGIII]

just found an earlier thread by @osprey describing exactly what I was asking about here!

He's one of our prized regulars and amazingly proficient with Linux.

 

[heretical_1]

He is amazing. Am making the bootable usb right now, although I found an easier method..."right clicking" on the iso gives an option to make a bootable drive with nothing else needed.

 

[KGIII]

although I found an easier method..."right clicking" on the iso gives an option to make a bootable drive with nothing else needed.

Some distros have that built in, but it is not universal. It's really up to the distro maintainer to decide if they want to include the extra stuff or not. Many distros assume that you want to start with just the basics, assuming that you want to build up the software when you need it.

 

[deb_user]

The OP should be able to download packages using the phone's browser, save them on the phone, and then transfer them to the PC either by USB cable or by using a USB flash drive, given the proper cables/adapters. Downloading to the phone's Download folder should be easy, transferring to the PC would depend on the cables and adapters available. The standard charge cable for the phone might work, but not all charge cables can pass data. It would be prudent to get someone to deliver the appropriate cables and USB drives at the next opportunity.

 

[heretical_1]

Some distros have that built in, but it is not universal. It's really up to the distro maintainer to decide if they want to include the extra stuff or not. Many distros assume that you want to start with just the basics, assuming that you want to build up the software when you need it.

I would have never thought to right click on it, since such wasn't mentioned in anything I have come across so far. Feeling lucky, and I WILL get this all worked out!

The OP should be able to download packages using the phone's browser, save them on the phone, and then transfer them to the PC either by USB cable or by using a USB flash drive, given the proper cables/adapters. Downloading to the phone's Download folder should be easy, transferring to the PC would depend on the cables and adapters available. The standard charge cable for the phone might work, but not all charge cables can pass data. It would be prudent to get someone to deliver the appropriate cables and USB drives at the next opportunity.

Thank you. I did not know if such would be possible at all, until I was forced to try. Tomorrow, I will hopefully be able to take that newly formed usb drive and see if the new distro (zorin) will be able to actually run the puter and then hopefully fix the original problem (no bluetooth) as well as the secondary problem of a file missing in the external drive. Gods, it feels good to know that I might not have to wait until june or july to have a delivery made that can solve these 2 issues!

 

[heretical_1]

Update: Successfully managed to upgrade os to Zorin. It does seem to make the computer run VERY slowly, though. When I tried to connect to bluetooth or tethering, it said "no connection found", so apparently my initial issue was that the computer itself does not have the appropriate hardware, and I will have to wait until june or july to get a dongle for it.
Clouds have moved in again, so hopefully tomorrow I can hook up the external drive and follow the direction from earlier in this thread to see if the problematic file can be recovered.

 

[KGIII]

Successfully managed to upgrade os to Zorin.

This thread is a bit of a rollercoaster. You originally had issues because of some missing files. Now, you've moved on to a new version of Zorin. I have skimmed the thread, and I don't see any comments about your hardware.

What is the make and model of your computer?

What are the specs of your computer?

If you're unfamiliar with this, you may have inxi installed by default. If you do, you can try running this command: inxi -v 5

If that spits out a bunch of text, you have inxi installed. Copy and paste that into a comment, and be sure to wrap it with code tags to ensure readability.

Also, as you've moved on from one issue to another, it's usually best to just start a new thread with that new issue. It helps to keep things tidy, but it also helps to keep people aware of the subject -- and thus more likely to help.

 

[heretical_1]

This thread is a bit of a rollercoaster. You originally had issues because of some missing files. Now, you've moved on to a new version of Zorin. I have skimmed the thread, and I don't see any comments about your hardware.

What is the make and model of your computer?

What are the specs of your computer?

If you're unfamiliar with this, you may have inxi installed by default. If you do, you can try running this command: inxi -v 5

If that spits out a bunch of text, you have inxi installed. Copy and paste that into a comment, and be sure to wrap it with code tags to ensure readability.

Also, as you've moved on from one issue to another, it's usually best to just start a new thread with that new issue. It helps to keep things tidy, but it also helps to keep people aware of the subject -- and thus more likely to help.

My apologies. Wasn't intending to turn this into another thread (concerning the now slow-running computer...I was just going to live with it until the missing files issue was resolved). Had to install zorin to see if it (a) had the means for me to connect to wifi or bluetooth, since the original peppermint 10 was not able to do that (that was another thread), and (b) to access the ability to use the terminal to hopefully fix the problematic folder, since the original OS did not have that ability, apparently. Will look at the innards tomorrow if the sun is out and report back.

 

[heretical_1]

omg, omg, omfg!!! After installing Zorin, I plugged in the external hard drive, then clicked on it and then clicked on the folder that had been giving me trouble. IT IS ALL THERE!!!! No repair needed! YESSSS!!!!
(now I get to go back to one of my threads from about 6 years ago and see how I put "solved" in the header of this thread!)
Thank you all Soooo very much!