Linux Community Magazine

A Linux file system is a collection of various files and folders, which is stored in a separate disk partition. The entire disk partition is divided into various file system blocks, which are used for storing either the user data or the metadata. The metadata can be referred as the repository that contains the information of the file system. One such metadata structure is the superblock, which is very essential for the health of the Linux system. A file system cannot be mounted if you are not able to access the superblock. This case arises if the superblock is corrupted that can happen because of various reasons such as virus infections, power outages, file system corruption, human errors, etc. In such cases, you should take appropriate corrective measures to recover the file system. If you are not able to resolve the issue, then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform data recovery of Linux system.

Consider a scenario wherein you have an ext3-partitioned Linux system. When you try to access the partition, you are not able to do so. An error message is displayed, that is:

"/dev/sda2: Input/output error

mount: /dev/sda2: can't read superblock"

Cause:

The cause of this error message is that the superblock has corrupted because of the aforementioned reasons.

Resolution:

You can restore the primary superblock from the various backup copies that the Linux system maintains for such situations. To do this, you need to perform the following steps:

Find out superblock location for /dev/sda2

Check and repair the Linux file system using alternate superblock # xyz, where xyz is the location of the alternate superblock.

Mount file system using mount command viz, # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

Try to browse and access the file system.

However, if you still are unable to address the situation, then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform Linux recovery. Such tools are read-only in nature and perform Ext3 Recovery without overwriting the original data.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is a Data Recovery for Linux software that enables you to perform Linux data recovery for various file system volumes. Apart from ext3 recovery, it is capable of performing Ext2 Recovery and ext4 recovery. In addition, this Linux recovery tool recovers data from various types of hard drives such as SCSI, SATA, EIDE, and IDE. It supports different Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.

Linux is one of the most stable operating system in industry. Being open source it is free to use and deploy on large enterprise level.

Following are some important and useful features of Linux.

Cost Effective Solution:

One of the biggest advantages of Linux is its cost effectiveness. As an open source product, you don't have to pay high license fee to run your on-line venture.

Choosing a Linux web hosting can set you free from worries of high cost.

Stability:

Linux is most stable operating system, it offers durability and stability. Web hosting servers running Linux stay on line for months or upto year without rebooting the machines.

With Linux web hosting you are more secure and stable in technology.

Support:

As linux is widely used on web, it has strong community and support mechanism to make it stable and long lasting.There are many experts out there to help you out in case of any trouble. Furthermore, it is highly customizable, you can customize the kernel of linux according to your own needs.

Light Weight:

Linux is a light weight operating system, which means you can use hardware more efficiently than any other operating system.Linux uses less resources to save your hardware cost.

Linux in Web hosting:

May web hosting are running Linux based servers to entertain their customers. Many mega projects are using open source tools using Linux as primary interface.i.e twitter, facebook, google etc.

Mostly startups and small business are using open source technology to multiply their profit. They are not saving the cost only, but they are experiencing the quality with affordability.

Normally, a Linux web hosting package will cost you from $3 to $9 depending on hosting provider and package features.

The big web hosts running Linux on their servers are Hostgator, Bluehost, Arvixe and Site5 etc.