Not able to access external drive

[heretical_1]

Good morning, everybody! I had an issue with the computer suddenly shutting off recently (running on a weak battery bank, can only do so when the sun is shining fully on the solar panel...one itty bitty cloud moves in front of the sun, and everything shuts off with no warning). Yesterday, the external hard drive that was plugged in when this happened began to give me an issue. It shows up in the directory, but when I click on it to open, I am not able to access it (and yes, I did use the search function with the title of this post before making this post!).
I had a different problem a couple of months or so back using an entirely different os (peppermint), and I have followed the same analytical procedures this time as were outlined for me when that event happened, and am including the screenshots of every step I took along with the results.
Running antiX on a stick.
Thanks!

 

[theLegionWithin]

you'll probably want someone more familiar with debian based distros to chime in but I think you need to repair the filesystem. https://www.baeldung.com/linux/fat32-file-system-repair has some details on that and remediation steps (fat16 should behave like fat32 in regards to fsck as far as I am aware).

 

[GatorsFan]

Pirated movies is a no no - YIFY Torrent file

But you may have a corrupted drive might want to go to the site below and get SeaTools for Linux to check your Seagate drive

SeaTools | Seagate US

SeaTools - Quick diagnostic tool that checks the health of your drive.

www.seagate.com

 

[Condobloke]

Pirated movies is a no no - YIFY Torrent file

Agreed. The chances of picking up whatever malevolent malware etc etc etc some clown wishes to attach to a pirated movie, are extremely high.

YiFy in 2026: Safety, Legality, and the Best Alternatives

This article answers all about YIFY (aka YTS). Its background, is it legal, how to access this movie torrent site's clones safely, and more.

privacysavvy.com

Torrent files are checked by the torrent client as the download progresses eg qbittorrent, utorrent etc
I use qbittorrent, and have done so for many, many years without mishap.

Sea tools will sort your drive problem.

 

[heretical_1]

you'll probably want someone more familiar with debian based distros to chime in but I think you need to repair the filesystem. https://www.baeldung.com/linux/fat32-file-system-repair has some details on that and remediation steps (fat16 should behave like fat32 in regards to fsck as far as I am aware).

the external hard drive says it is a ntfs, not fat16?

 

[Condobloke]

Was there/Is there, ....anything on that drive?.... if there was, did it come from a Linux operating system ?......or from a windows system ?

@GatorsFan link above to test the drive with sea tools is reliable

 

[heretical_1]

Was there/Is there, ....anything on that drive?.... if there was, did it come from a Linux operating system ?......or from a windows system ?

@GatorsFan link above to test the drive with sea tools is reliable

The videos and other stuff on it were initially downloaded onto my android phone, the one shown as being connected to this linux system, then onto this hard drive using a different computer (an old windows 7, I think), until I was able to find the instructions again from another thread I had on how to make the antiX recognize the phone. I was able to "see" the hard drive and work with it on the windows machine after the sudden shutoff, then when I refound the instructions for the phone yesterday, I was able to "see" and work with the seagate drive until clouds started moving in again. That time, I shut it down properly, and then when the sun came back out, I was able to see the seagate in the directory, but not able to work with it.

 

[theLegionWithin]

the external hard drive says it is a ntfs, not fat16?

sorry I thought I saw vfat/fat16 in one of the screenshots.

 

[heretical_1]

The videos and other stuff on it were initially downloaded onto my android phone, the one shown as being connected to this linux system, then onto this hard drive using a different computer (an old windows 7, I think), until I was able to find the instructions again from another thread I had on how to make the antiX recognize the phone. I was able to "see" the hard drive and work with it on the windows machine after the sudden shutoff, then when I refound the instructions for the phone yesterday, I was able to "see" and work with the seagate drive until clouds started moving in again. That time, I shut it down properly, and then when the sun came back out, I was able to see the seagate in the directory, but not able to work with

sorry I thought I saw vfat/fat16 in one of the screenshots.

yes, that is on one of the internal processes...the seagate is listed directly below that as sdb1, if I recall correctly, and that is the one that I need to try to repair.

 

[f33dm3bits]

the external hard drive says it is a ntfs, not fat16?

You can try using nftfs-fix, but do at your own risk. It's probably better to try and fix an ntfs partition from Windows.

How to Fix NTFS Partition Failed to Mount Error in Linux

How to fix “Failed to mount ‘/dev/sdax’: Input/output error, NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it’s a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware” error.

www.tecmint.com

 

[heretical_1]

You can try using nftfs-fix, but do at your own risk. It's probably better to try and fix an ntfs partition from Windows.

How to Fix NTFS Partition Failed to Mount Error in Linux

How to fix “Failed to mount ‘/dev/sdax’: Input/output error, NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it’s a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware” error.

www.tecmint.com

darn. The windows machine is a real power hog, but if the weather cooperates, I will give it a try.

 

[piorunz]

The chances of picking up whatever malevolent malware etc etc etc some clown wishes to attach to a pirated movie, are extremely high.

How a malware affects a mp4 file? It doesn't. Other files in a torrent? Don't open them. It's simple.

 

[GatorsFan]

link above to test the drive with sea tools is reliable

It is made by Seagate to test their own drives - so yes

 

[KGIII]

The malware torrents are executable files. They may have been legitimate executable files. Another way is that they'll have a really long file name followed by something like '.avi.exe'. Malware will need to be executed (not just opened).

This landscape can technically change. There could be a way to make a regular file contain an exploit that triggers when opened. It'd then need to bypass the inherent restrictions provided by Linux.

Some of the following borders on off-topic, but is relevant to a comment above:

That said, we don't condone piracy. I'm sure we all do it, even if unknowingly. We have a variety of music threads, and surely not all of those are uploaded by the copyright holders. I do remove copyright violations other than music. My reasoning is that sharing the music predates me, and that not even the RIAA would do anything about it.

We otherwise may mention things like torrents, which lets me think many of us sail the high seas to get our entertainment. Even I have torrented files. I just don't give explicit details.

 

[deb_user]

Debian specifically encourages using torrents for downloading its files. There is nothing inherently wrong with torrents, just in using them for bad things, and including malware is a bad thing.

 

[Condobloke]

Can an mp3 have a virus? - California Learning Resource Network

In the contemporary digital ecosystem, the term ‘virus’ is often used loosely to describe any form of malicious software. While technically an MP3 file, adhering to the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3 specifications, cannot be infected by a traditional, self-replicating computer...

www.clrn.org