Linux Community Magazine

Though, recent versions of various LINUX flavors come with attractive and friendly graphical user interfaces, basically LINUX is a command based operating system. In LINUX, there lies a command for everything and these commands enable you to carry out actions on any files and directories stored on your computer. However, improper execution of these commands can result in complete or partial data loss from LINUX based systems. As, we all know, data loss is inevitable, it is better to be prepared with latest backup. However, if the backup is not there or due to some unresolvable reason, failed to restore the lost data, you are badly in need of any efficient Linux Data Recovery software.

Taking a real life problem into consideration, suppose, there are four users for a single account on a LINUX system. The user IDs for the users are dba2adm, dba2adm1, dba2adm2 and dba2adm3 respectively. If you want to drop the Net Search Extender instance of user dba2adm, using nxidrop command, it will remove the Net Search Extender instance of db2adm along with the content of home directories of all the other users with prefix dba2adm.

Prime causes behind data loss in the above condition:

Creation of multiple user IDs on a LINUX system that share a common prefix.

This common prefix is also an user ID.

The nxidrop command is applied to the user ID, which is the prefix for other IDs.

Resolution:

If we believe in precaution, then we should avoid using 'nxidrop' command for a LINUX based system, where there are multiple user IDs present with the same prefix and the prefix itself is an user ID. However, if the problem has already occurred, there is no possible solution with LINUX, that can get back your data. Hence, to recover the lost content inside home directories of other users, you need to use any LINUX data recovery utility.

Such LINUX Recovery tools have effective scanning methods to recover and restore the lost files, folders, directories with their original structure. These powerful recovery utilities come with interactive user interfaces that make them easy to use without any prior technical knowledge on the same.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is one of the reliable as yet efficient Linux file recovery software in the market. It is the advanced of all applications in it's category and compatible with Ext2, Ext3 file system based Linux volumes. This power packed Linux data recovery software gets installed on Windows (Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000) and you can recover your lost data from the LINUX based drive by connecting the LINUX drive as the slave.

Today, the Linux operating system has carved a niche of its own. It has got a dedicated category of users who will happily pay for it if it ever comes with a price tag. The Linux system is secure, reliable, fast, and does not require hardware/software drivers to install them on the system. Having said that, even such a robust operating system can face corruption. Corruption can occur due to various reasons such as power outages, corrupt file system, human errors, damaged operating system, etc. In such cases, you should try performing appropriate corrective measures to sort out the issue. However, if you are unable to do so then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to perform Linux recovery.

Consider a scenario wherein you are working on a Red Hat Linux system. Suddenly, there is a power outage and the system shuts down unexpectedly. When you try to switch on the system, you fail to do so.

Cause:The cause of this situation is that the Linux system has corrupted because of power outage.

Resolution:If the problem is because of having a faulty hardware like bad hard drive or memory chip, the file system check may not be sufficient to resolve this problem. This happens particularly when the file system is corrupted. In such cases, the Red Hat boot process will produce an error message and guide you into a shell so that you can perform the file system repair yourself.

When the recovery shell dismounts all the file systems to mount the root file system in a read-only mode, you can perform full checks on it. To do this, you should run the e2fsck utility on the corrupted file system that will be able to resolve all the inconsistencies. Exit the shell and restart the system. The system will function normally now.

However, if you still are unable to recover the system then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to do the needful. Such read-only tools are able to recover the data safely without overwriting the existing data.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a Linux recovery software that enables you to recover data from the corrupted Linux systems. It is supported by various Linux distributions such as Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Sorcerer, TurboLinux, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. This Linux data recovery software is able to perform Ext2 Recovery, Ext3 recovery, and Ext4 recovery. In addition, it can recover data from FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 file systems as well. This Linux recovery software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

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.

The generic boot loader in Linux operating systems is the LiLo (short for LInux LOader). Using LiLo as the boot loader, you can boot the Linux system using any boot device such as hard disk, USB, etc. It is a very useful component that can either be placed in the MBR (Master Boot Record) or in the boot partition of your system. At times, you find that your system is unable to start displaying random error messages. There is quite a possibility that corruption in LiLo is the most prominent reason behind this. In such cases, you should take every suitable step to perform data recovery of Linux system. If none of the methods succeed, then you should use a third-party Linux data recovery software to do so.

Let us assume a scenario in which you have a Linux system, which is not starting when you do so. The following error message is displayed on the screen:

"The BIOS failed to properly initialize the disk controller. You should control the BIOS setup parameters. A warm boot might help too. (Boot a rescue disc and rerun LILO.)"

Cause:

The most possible cause of this erroneous situation is that the descriptor table is corrupt or damaged.

A Linux-based hard disk is divided into different blocks that is further managed into block groups. The description of these group blocks is contained by a group block descriptor. In short, the descriptor table contains the index table of all the group block descriptors.

Resolution:

To resolve this problem, you can try out the following methods:

* Check and verify the disk parameters in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output Section) of your Linux system.* After this, you should reinstall the LiLo after formatting the Linux system. Having said that, you should make sure that you have the updated backup of all your valuable data, before reinstalling the Linux system.* Run fsck to fix any file system related errors.

However, if the backup is not updated you would not want to risk the existing files by formatting the system. In such cases, Linux Recovery tool comes for your rescue that recovers data from Linux systems. Such Linux recovery tools are very simple to use that require few clicks to recover the inaccessible data without damaging the existing contents.

The best Linux recovery tool in the business is Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery that recovers lost or inaccessible data from Linux systems. Capable of extracting data from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12 file systems, this ext2 recovery software works on several kinds of hard disks such as SATA, EIDE, SCSI, IDE, etc. This ext3 recovery utility performs data recovery of Linux systems on Windows systems including Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Technology and fashion; these two things are seems to be getting rise at the exponential rate. With the due time, many new things have come-up in respect of technology in order to meet the ever changing needs and requirements of glamorous world. Prior IT was not so much advance as compared to today's IT sector. In these days, information technology is based on based on free and open systems Including linux or UNIX. These two systems have proved to be worthy and valuable for various big organizations and advance professionalisms. Linux is one of the secure operating systems being held under the systems of free and open source software.

Linux is based on the kernel operating system, where the linux hardware is capable enough to allocate memory in order to enable the application to run under the behavior of multiuser functionality. This raises the curiosity among the IT professionals in order to keep update with latest technology and enhance their knowledge while learn about the linux system administration. Linux internals include shell programming and knowledge of kernel internals that only be understandable by those who dedicate their life towards kernel programming system. It needs a complete attention and logical mind in order to learn about linux working system.

On analyzing the emerging needs of the IT sector, today numbers of institutes are operated around the world that offer quality and career oriented education in the field of Linux system programming. These institutes have really worked out for promoting and certifying the skills required enhancing the behavior of open source technologies in on order to raise their implementation in the corporate sector. Here, you would find comprehensive and high quality of education related to all types of Linux concepts in respect of how to achieve desirable results while implementing Linux device drivers. Linux is one of the high demandable operating systems being used by 90% of supercomputers till date. Besides these capabilities, linux is amongst the highly compatible operating system being worked with mainframes, tablet computers, video game consoles, mobile phones and many more network routers.

The usability of linux operating system on the high advisor-able level, have made the world curious about to learn the internal capabilities of linux. On finding this inquisitiveness among the young IT professionals; numbers of institutes like Emblogic has launched various training and development segments of linux system administration. Here under training department, candidates are able to learn about Embedded training, embedded linux with ARM, industrial training, linux system programming including shell scripting, linux device drivers, linux with c, c++ and lots more that hold you with all types of advance linux topologies. Under the development department, numbers of hardware and software along with customized software products are being designed and developed by the professional engineering. This would add an extra potential and distinct image to your business waves. All these stuffs of education, development and training in respect of linux operating system would re ally make you with your dream world and colorful remarkable career paths.