Linux Community Magazine

fstab (also referred as file system table) is an important system configuration file in Linux. Located at /etc/fstab, this file lists all available disk and disk partitions. This file is used to determine disk initialization information and is usually used by mount command. Generally, while booting if system prompts that it cannot open fstab file, it indicates that the file system is corrupt. As its result, you lose data accessibility and to restore lost information, you require using your recent data backup. To get required results, data backup should be updated and healthy. In any case where data backup violates restoration, you are recommended to scan your drive using Linux Data Recovery software. You might receive the below error message while trying to boot a Linux based system:"Checking root filesystemWARNING: couldn't open /etc/fstab: Input/output error"The error message further describes fsck results that the superblock cannot be read and is corrupt.* uperblock is the data structure that describes a Linux file system itself. It contains file system metadata like file system type, size, status and generic information about other metadata structuresCauseThe most prominent cause of the above error message to occur is file system corruption. It can occur due to unexpected shutdown, incorrect use of terminal commands, virus infection and other similar reasons.SolutionThe fstab error could be corrected by following these methods:* Boot your system using Linux Live CD* After ensuring that the affected file system is not mounted, you should run fsck* Mount the partition and check if the same issue exists * If these steps cannot resolve the existing behavior, you should format and install. You need to restore lost data using your last data backup that should be valid and recently updated to offer desired results. While no backup availability or its invalid state, use Linux Recovery applications.Linux Data Recovery software are comprehensive a pplications that are equipped with powerful data recovery technology for Linux based drives. They can scan a logically crashed drive and offer safe and efficient lost data recovery in any case.Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is an advanced recovery tool for Ext2, Ext3 and ReiserFS file systems. It efficiently recovers and restores lost data at a safe location. A read-only application that supports complete Data Recovery Linux for all Linux distributions like Sorcerer, SUSE, Mandrake, Red Hat, Turbo Linux, SlackWare etc.