External HDD not mounting

[MikeGreo]

I have an External HDD which was working without problems, however I say a Recycle Bin folder on the drive which seemed pretty useless and I deleted. Immediately after that, I was no longer able to mount it.

The External HDD may have been created on a Windows PC.

 

[GatorsFan]

Have a look here - https://linuxhint.com/mount_usb_drive_debian/

 

[Condobloke]

G'day Mike, Welcome to Linux.org

Tell us a bit more, please.

Which distro etc are you running?....and which version....eg Linux Mint 21.3...

Do you know what file format the external is running ?

Did you delete the folder completely...is it still in the recycle bin on your pc ?

if you unplug the external and then plug back in, is there any difference ?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

however I say a Recycle Bin folder on the drive which seemed pretty useless and I deleted. Immediately after that, I was no longer able to mount it.

Should be possible to fix it from windows because the OS should recreate the $RECYCLE.BIN automatically. (files that were in recycle bin are permanently lost though)

Alternatively if you have nothing valuable on that drive you can simply reformat the drive from within linux with fdisk or which ever other partitioner.

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

The HDD might have failed...How old is it ?

I doubt deleting a Folder would cause the HDD to stop working...I do that all the time...you can plug in a HDD that's always been running in windoze and it will work just fine in Linux but you can't do it the other way around...might be time to but an SSD.

 

[Condobloke]

@MikeGreo .....Was it one of these folders ?

 

[Condobloke]

If it was, follow the steps below

The lost+found Directory in Linux and UNIX

This article is here to unravel the mysteries behind the lost+found directory and its association with the Linux fsck utility.

www.ubuntumint.com

if not, leave the steps alone

Also, whichever linux OS you had installed, did you have Timeshift set up ?

 

[KGIII]

I wonder if this coincidence.

I'm pretty sure I used sudo to remove that directory in the past and that the system just recreated it the next time it was refreshed or mounted.

 

[Condobloke]

@KGIII, i have a memory of doing a similar thing, quite some time ago......it didn't really achieve anything that I could tell....so now I just leave them alone.

 

[KGIII]

@KGIII, i have a memory of doing a similar thing, quite some time ago......it didn't really achieve anything that I could tell....so now I just leave them alone.

Yup. That's what makes me think the two might not be related.

 

[MilesWeb.]

If your computer is having problems with a recently installed device or other hardware, try using the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter to fix the problem. It checks for common issues and makes sure that any new device or hardware attached to your computer was installed correctly.

Run the Hardware Troubleshooter and see if it helps.
a: Press the Windows logo to open the search box.
b: Type troubleshooting, and hit enter.
c: Now click Hardware and sound.
d: Now click Hardware and Devices and then click Next.

Moreover, you can try to run windows updates and then reboot the server once to mount HDD.

I have an External HDD which was working without problems, however I say a Recycle Bin folder on the drive which seemed pretty useless and I deleted. Immediately after that, I was no longer able to mount it.

The External HDD may have been created on a Windows PC.