Getting "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock" error on a ntfs drive that comes back as clean/fine in window's chkdsk

General system Newbie
1

tldr/(title+): when trying to mount one of my hdds that I used with windows with the command mount /dev/sda2 /mnt I get the error/response:

mount: /mnt: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.
dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

but when I dual boot back into windows to run a chkdsk command, the drive comes back as clean/nothing wrong with it. I’ve turned off fast boot and hibernation in windows, even went as far as to use the command powercfg -h off to be extra through that it was off, plus a few power cycles to really make sure it was in effect (as those were also suggestions for making sure fast boot was off). I am not sure where to go from here in the terms of getting the drive to mount in linux fully.

short story longish:

So I’m still pretty new to linux, installed around the 1st of the month, and have been mainly troubleshooting. which I was expecting, to be fair, since this is my 1st major interaction with linux in general out side of following steps for a couple of my classes like a year or two ago. all that is to say, very new to this environment coming in with half a decade of data I’d like to try and keep with me in my daily use. I do plan to dual boot windows, or at least have the option to boot into windows when/if I ever need it, so its not like the drive is “lost” but is still needed to work on win10 as the few things I would need on win10 I plan to put on that drive.

either way, I’m not sure what to do to try and fix the drive not being able to be mounted in eos since it comes back as “clean” from win10s chkdsk scans and fast boot has been long off. and, if I looked correctly, fast boot may have even been off before the fiddling I had to do to get windows onto uefi, though I have little memory of turning it off (even if it sounds like something I’d do).

if I’m not able to get the drive to mount in eos I think I can live with it, though it will be interesting to get files I will need over here. on that same note, only a slightly related question, but is it possible to have one single physical drive be partitioned so that one partition is nfts and the other is ext4? I was thinking about turning my other hdd (sdb) to have some storage for both operating systems. I do plan to look into this more next, partitioning in general too as I’m still new to the idea so tips or resources are welcome

not fully sure what all info is needed, but I know at least lsblk -fis so heres that:

NAME        FSTYPE FSVER LABEL           UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                          
├─sda1                                                                                       
└─sda2                                                                                       
sdb                                                                                          
├─sdb1                                                                                       
└─sdb2      ntfs         games plus      E6A4D277A4D24A27                        6.6T     9% /run/media/arqzion/games plus
sdc                                                                                          
├─sdc1      ntfs         System Reserved E6469091469063D9                                    
├─sdc2      ntfs                         9662927562925A37                      185.4G    60% /run/media/arqzion/9662927562925A37
├─sdc3      vfat   FAT32                 62A3-38C4                                           
└─sdc4      ntfs                         FE24F33D24F2F78B                                    
nvme0n1                                                                                      
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32                 38FD-9BAC                                 2G     0% /boot/efi
└─nvme0n1p2 ext4   1.0   endeavouros     5fc74687-548a-48ca-8bf1-b027631cee46  847.3G     2% /

sda is the drive in question that isnt monting/showing up and gives the error I mentioned before. sdb is a newer more storage hdd I added not too long ago but definely months before the hardware upgrade I did and eos install. sdc is my windows sdd and the last is the m.2 ssd eos is on.

I could be missing an install of something, as I am on a pretty new/clean install of eos, since I was mainly dealing with windows being, well, windows (derogatory). I have tired to keep things updated with the welcome popup since I havent changed much eos wise

2

Try the following and see if it helps: sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sda2 /mnt

If it still fails, have a look at kernel messages and see if it gives any hints:

sudo dmesg | grep sda

Useful information here:

and here:

3

Hi,
Is it possible to put Windows to sleep instead of performing a regular shutdown? I think I read somewhere that mounting NTFS drives doesn’t work in that case.

4

Are you trying to mount /dev/sda2 into the /mnt directory? If yes can you please create a new sub directory say /mnt/games and then mount it using the following command

mount -vw /dev/sda2 /mnt/games

-v: Be Verbose.
-w: Mount the file system as read write.

If you do not want to use /mnt/games but some other sub directory inside /mnt that also works, provided it is not used as mount point for some other partition.

If the above command does not work then use the command

mount -vr /dev/sda2 /mnt/games

-r: Mount the system as read-only.

If this still does not work then run fsck, as given below

$ sudo fsck.vfat -rtv /dev/sda2
$ sudo fsck -ClR /dev/sda2

Then try to mount it.

5

I think I did try a version of the sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sda2 /mntcommand and if I did last time it game me a similiar response to the wrong fs type error. though when i used it now it gave me this instead:

NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda2' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

which I remember seeing this with the other mount command as well. last time I booted into windows to do a chkdsk, power cycle, then back into linux which gave the wrong fs command. if I remember correctly.

when using the other command since it didnt work I got the out put:

    2.211115] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.82 TiB)
[    2.211119] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] 4096-byte physical blocks
[    2.211123] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    2.211124] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    2.211129] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    2.211138] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Preferred minimum I/O size 4096 bytes
[    2.278623]  sda: sda1 sda2
[    2.278752] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 3339.794082] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[ 3340.001922] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[ 3340.002727] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[ 3340.003564] FAT-fs (sda2): bogus number of FAT structure
[ 3340.003566] FAT-fs (sda2): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem
[ 5620.968272] ntfs3(sda2): Primary boot signature is not NTFS.
[ 5620.968286] ntfs3(sda2): try to read out of volume at offset 0x1d1b8fffe00
[19588.858496] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[19591.902524] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[21597.726390] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[21600.686472] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[22300.023365] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[22300.023590] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[22300.023750] EXT4-fs (sda2): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[22300.024068] FAT-fs (sda2): bogus number of FAT structure
[22300.024069] FAT-fs (sda2): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem

I can also run this command again after a chkdsk if thats needed too

also thank you for the links! I’ll start looking at them here in a few moments (:

6

Are you trying to mount /dev/sda2 into the /mnt directory? If yes can you please create a new sub directory say /mnt/games and then mount it using the following command

with the drive not mounting or showing up I think thats how I need to get it mounted at first if it doesnt mount automatically? at least thats how I’ve been understanding the other posts about mounting ntfs drives I’ve read as well as the arch wiki. I did get a similar response to trying to get it to mount a different way, that error after this, which it think it would become the wrong fs typeerror I mentioned previously after a fresh chkdsk in windows

NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda2' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

the mount -vr /dev/sda2 /mnt/corethats listed after also gave that ntfs error above. (oh I also changed the sub directory, less because theres a games one already but more because this drive I’m trying to mount has like… most of my data on it ToT)

If this still does not work then run fsck

will the fsck work with the drive being a ntfs drive? I did see that it can be rough to get linux to fix ntfs formatted drives. not that I doubt the suggestion, I just want to make sure before running the commands and getting a corrupted drive I have to roll back to my back ups

7

Based on the output of lsblk -k the /dev/sda2 is already mounted on /run/media/arqzion/games plus. There is a space between games and plus. Please see if you can access it using the path, /run/media/arqzion/games plus

Is the device /dev/sda2 part of a Windows Storage Spaces or part of a Dynamic Disk? In windows is /dev/sda2 a primary partition or a logical partition?

Also please execute the following commands in a shell and paste the output over here, formatted as “Performatted text”

$ findmnt -k --tree
$ lsblk --tree --output=NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,HOTPLUG,KNAME,LABEL,MAJ:MIN,PARTFLAGS,PARTLABEL,PARTTYPENAME
$ lsblk --tree --output=NAME,KNAME,PARTN,PKNAME,PTTYPE,PARTTYPE,STATE,MOUNTPOINT,MOUNTPOINTS,TYPE,WWN
$ sudo fdisk -x
$ sudo parted /dev/sda print

If the error is shown as NTFS signature is missing. then we have to look at the partition type. And the above commands will help in determining this.

8

Based on the output of lsblk -k the /dev/sda2 is already mounted on /run/media/arqzion/games plus

I think there maybe a little bit of confusion on this? cause sda2 I know isn’t nicknamed “games plus”, sda2 would either not have a nickname like sdc2 and be known as a string of characters or be known as “storage space” and is a decently full 2tb while “games plus”/sdb2 is a pretty new 8tb drive.

Is the device /dev/sda2 part of a Windows Storage Spaces or part of a Dynamic Disk? In windows is /dev/sda2 a primary partition or a logical partition?

I dont think it is? I’m new at more deeper drive management so its just an internal hdd I used with windows. the only major change I can think of that I did was making it the default location for most of the personal files for windows like desktop, downloads, pictures, etc.

for the commands, heres all of the results in order to how they are listed in your post but I also included the command right above the perf text

findmnt -k --tree:

TARGET                     SOURCE     FSTYPE   OPTIONS
/                          /dev/nvme0n1p2
│                                     ext4     rw,noatime
├─/tmp                     tmpfs      tmpfs    rw,noatime,inode64,huge=within_size
├─/dev                     devtmpfs   devtmpfs rw,nosuid,size=15776344k,nr_inodes=3944086,mode=755,inode64,hug
│ ├─/dev/mqueue            mqueue     mqueue   rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/dev/hugepages         hugetlbfs  hugetlbf rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,pagesize=2M
│ ├─/dev/shm               tmpfs      tmpfs    rw,nosuid,nodev,inode64,huge=within_size,usrquota
│ └─/dev/pts               devpts     devpts   rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=600,ptmxmode=000
├─/sys                     sysfs      sysfs    rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/tracing    tracefs    tracefs  rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/fuse/connections
│ │                        fusectl    fusectl  rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/debug      debugfs    debugfs  rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/security   securityfs security rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/cgroup         cgroup2    cgroup2  rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate,memory_recursiveprot
│ ├─/sys/fs/pstore         none       pstore   rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/firmware/efi/efivars
│ │                        efivarfs   efivarfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/bpf            bpf        bpf      rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,mode=700
│ └─/sys/kernel/config     configfs   configfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/proc                    proc       proc     rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
│   │                      systemd-1  autofs   rw,relatime,fd=42,pgrp=1,timeout=0,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct
│   └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
│                          binfmt_misc
│                                     binfmt_m rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/run                     tmpfs      tmpfs    rw,nosuid,nodev,size=6375780k,nr_inodes=819200,mode=755,inode64
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-journald.service
│ │                        none       tmpfs    ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inode
│ ├─/run/media/arqzion/9662927562925A37
│ │                        /dev/sdc2  ntfs3    rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,acl,iocharset=utf8,p
│ ├─/run/user/1000         tmpfs      tmpfs    rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=3187888k,nr_inodes=796972,mode=70
│ │ └─/run/user/1000/doc   portal     fuse.por rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000
│ ├─/run/media/arqzion/games plus
│ │                        /dev/sdb2  ntfs3    rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,acl,iocharset=utf8,p
│ └─/run/timeshift/50086/backup
│                          /dev/nvme0n1p2
│                                     ext4     rw,relatime
└─/boot/efi                /dev/nvme0n1p1
                                      vfat     rw,relatime,fmask=0137,dmask=0027,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,

lsblk --tree --output=NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,HOTPLUG,KNAME,LABEL,MAJ:MIN,PARTFLAGS,PARTLABEL,PARTTYPENAME:

NAME        FSTYPE FSVER HOTPLUG KNAME     LABEL           MAJ:MIN PARTFLAGS                            PARTLABEL                    PARTTYPENAME
sda                            0 sda                         8:0                                                                     
├─sda1                         0 sda1                        8:1                                                                     Microsoft reserved
└─sda2                         0 sda2                        8:2                                        Storage pool                 Microsoft Storage Spaces
sdb                            0 sdb                         8:16                                                                    
├─sdb1                         0 sdb1                        8:17                                       Microsoft reserved partition Microsoft reserved
└─sdb2      ntfs               0 sdb2      games plus        8:18                                       Basic data partition         Microsoft basic data
sdc                            0 sdc                         8:32                                                                    
├─sdc1      ntfs               0 sdc1      System Reserved   8:33                                                                    Microsoft basic data
├─sdc2      ntfs               0 sdc2                        8:34                                                                    Microsoft basic data
├─sdc3      vfat   FAT32       0 sdc3                        8:35  0x8000000000000000                                                EFI System
└─sdc4      ntfs               0 sdc4                        8:36  0x8000000000000001                                                Windows recovery environment
nvme0n1                        0 nvme0n1                   259:0                                                                     
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32       0 nvme0n1p1                 259:1                                        EFI                          EFI System
└─nvme0n1p2 ext4   1.0         0 nvme0n1p2 endeavouros     259:2                                        endeavouros                  Linux filesystem

lsblk --tree --output=NAME,KNAME,PARTN,PKNAME,PTTYPE,PARTTYPE,STATE,MOUNTPOINT,MOUNTPOINTS,TYPE,WWN:

NAME        KNAME     PARTN PKNAME  PTTYPE PARTTYPE                             STATE   MOUNTPOINT                          MOUNTPOINTS                         TYPE WWN
sda         sda                     gpt                                         running                                                                         disk 0x5000c500c8045bdc
├─sda1      sda1          1 sda     gpt    e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae                                                                                 part 0x5000c500c8045bdc
└─sda2      sda2          2 sda     gpt    e75caf8f-f680-4cee-afa3-b001e56efc2d                                                                                 part 0x5000c500c8045bdc
sdb         sdb                     gpt                                         running                                                                         disk 0x5000c500eadd016d
├─sdb1      sdb1          1 sdb     gpt    e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae                                                                                 part 0x5000c500eadd016d
└─sdb2      sdb2          2 sdb     gpt    ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7         /run/media/arqzion/games plus       /run/media/arqzion/games plus       part 0x5000c500eadd016d
sdc         sdc                     gpt                                         running                                                                         disk 0x5002538e3081569d
├─sdc1      sdc1          1 sdc     gpt    ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7                                                                                 part 0x5002538e3081569d
├─sdc2      sdc2          2 sdc     gpt    ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7         /run/media/arqzion/9662927562925A37 /run/media/arqzion/9662927562925A37 part 0x5002538e3081569d
├─sdc3      sdc3          3 sdc     gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b                                                                                 part 0x5002538e3081569d
└─sdc4      sdc4          4 sdc     gpt    de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac                                                                                 part 0x5002538e3081569d
nvme0n1     nvme0n1                 gpt                                         live                                                                            disk eui.32303235010000004ce0001831313031
├─nvme0n1p1 nvme0n1p1     1 nvme0n1 gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b         /boot/efi                           /boot/efi                           part eui.32303235010000004ce0001831313031
└─nvme0n1p2 nvme0n1p2     2 nvme0n1 gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4         /run/timeshift/50086/backup         /run/timeshift/50086/backup         part eui.32303235010000004ce0001831313031
                                                                                                                            /

sudo fdisk -x:

Disk /dev/sda: 1.82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: ST2000DM008-2FR1
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: A1C779F4-43F3-11EB-9779-244BFEE17398
First usable LBA: 34
Last usable LBA: 3907029134
Alternative LBA: 3907029167
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device      Start        End    Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name         Attrs
/dev/sda1    2048     264191     262144 E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE A1C779F5-43F3-11EB-9779-244BFEE17398              
/dev/sda2  264192 3907028991 3906764800 E75CAF8F-F680-4CEE-AFA3-B001E56EFC2D A1C779FD-43F3-11EB-9779-244BFEE17398 Storage pool 


Disk /dev/sdb: 7.28 TiB, 8001563222016 bytes, 15628053168 sectors
Disk model: ST8000VN004-3CP1
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 56D8774A-73CF-4305-A5A7-48D77C6C2E09
First usable LBA: 34
Last usable LBA: 15628053134
Alternative LBA: 15628053167
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device     Start         End     Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name                         Attrs
/dev/sdb1     34       32767       32734 E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE B2F7D17A-5362-49D6-A895-D8E28E7FEF0C Microsoft reserved partition 
/dev/sdb2  32768 15628050431 15628017664 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 4260A054-1D19-4070-99E1-67DEEDF4CF88 Basic data partition         

Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.


Disk /dev/sdc: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 860 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: D7EBE1AC-4B7E-11F1-9969-F44EB46C3DBA
First usable LBA: 34
Last usable LBA: 976773134
Alternative LBA: 976773167
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device         Start       End   Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name Attrs
/dev/sdc1       2048    104447    102400 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 D7EBE1A8-4B7E-11F1-9969-F44EB46C3DBA      
/dev/sdc2     104448 975395557 975291110 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 D7EBE1A9-4B7E-11F1-9969-F44EB46C3DBA      
/dev/sdc3  975396864 975601663    204800 C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B D7EBE1AA-4B7E-11F1-9969-F44EB46C3DBA      GUID:63
/dev/sdc4  975601664 976769023   1167360 DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC D7EBE1AB-4B7E-11F1-9969-F44EB46C3DBA      RequiredPartition GUID:63


Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: KLEVV CRAS C910G M.2 NVMe SSD 1TB       
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 51766A2B-B9B5-4385-A4D3-CDE944DC58EC
First usable LBA: 2048
Last usable LBA: 1953525134
Alternative LBA: 1953525167
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device           Start        End    Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name        Attrs
/dev/nvme0n1p1    4096    4198399    4194304 C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B E6CFC3DA-2EBC-4C27-952C-50C45BFED704 EFI         
/dev/nvme0n1p2 4198400 1953525101 1949326702 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 3DB44618-4073-4A48-81AA-E94D68D16FCA endeavouros

sudo parted /dev/sda print:

Model: ATA ST2000DM008-2FR1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name          Flags
 1      1049kB  135MB   134MB                              msftres
 2      135MB   2000GB  2000GB               Storage pool
9

not nicknamed but mount point.

─sdb2      ntfs               0 sdb2      games plus        8:18                                       Basic data partition         Microsoft basic data

You should really avoid spaces in names in Linux.

10

Good, so we made some progress over here.

Firstly /dev/sda2 is part of Windows Storage Pool. This is also confirmed by the output of the following commands. If you observe closely what is says in the line for /dev/sda2 it will be clear

So Linux has Logical Volume Manager (LVM). Microsoft Windows has Storage Pools. They are not equal nor same but more or less similar. Similar as in Lemon and Orange are both Citris fruit and can be considered similar, but they are not the same fruit. Lemon and Oranges do not have the same quantities of nutrients and taste wildly different. But they achieve the same purpose. Lemon and Oranges both give human body Vit C. They both can be transformed into juices but are still not equal. If you want more information on MS Storage pool read the link that I have given in this post on the top.

Secondly do what @thefrog has said. See if you can access the data in /dev/sda2 using the commands given below. Do not forget that the path is enclosed in double quotes.

$ ls -al "/run/media/arqzion/games plus"

If you can, then great. Continue and you can access /dev/sda2 using the path. The remainder of the post you can ignore. Stop here.
If however you cannot access /dev/sda2 using the path given above then get back to us.

As far as I know there is no way to read a MS Windows Storage pool from Linux. Maybe some pros and experts in this matter can chime in.

11

If however you cannot access /dev/sda2 using the path given above then get back to us.

nope, still not there, all I got this after running ls -al “/run/media/arqzion/games plus”was:

total 12
drwxrwxrwx  1 arqzion arqzion 4096 May 12 09:58  .
drwxr-x---+ 4 root    root      80 May 12 15:54  ..
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 Aug 25  2025 '$RECYCLE.BIN'
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 Dec 26 02:32  curseforge
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 Jan 22 04:37 'Program Files'
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 Sep  3  2025  projects-a-vers
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 May  9 00:14  Recovery
-rwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion    0 May  9 04:12  Recovery.txt
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion 4096 May 11 23:41  SteamLibrary
drwxr-xr-x  1 arqzion arqzion 4096 Apr 28 20:09 'System Volume Information'

so idk if im missing a step or somethign cause both mount -t ntfs /dev/sda2 /mnt and mount -t ntfs /dev/sda2 /mnt are still giving me either NFTS signature is missing(etc, same error as earlier or the original mount: /mnt wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblockthat I lead with

@thefrog thanks for the heads up, this is actually something I’ve been doing more and more in general for naming files on my computer but hindsight is 20/20 and I both got and set up sdb up almost a year ago and before I started to name files without spaces as much as I could remember or help it. the mount point in linux was probably auto selected from how I named/set the drive up then on windows but I dont have vivid memory of doing so. i plan to partition out most of it to ext4 once I understand how to do so better, that or move the data and reformat the drive to ext4 if I do end up fully sticking to my plan on linux as my daily os and windows as a fail safe of something not running here.

thank you all for the help, getting everything up and going was rougher then i was expecting and its gonna be at bare minimum tedious getting what i’d want from my sda to my sdb to get it here on eos

12

What is there in /dev/sda that you want in /dev/sdb. From what I gather running the command ls -al “/run/media/arqzion/games plus” does give you access to the partition /dev/sda2.

It seems that windows or at least applications associated with Windows has been installed on /dev/sda2.

One final question, where in Windows installed on your system? /dev/sdb or /dev/sda or some place else?

13

From what I’ve gathered, if the disk is still part of the Storage Spaces pool itself, Linux generally cannot understand or assemble Microsoft Storage Spaces natively, so it usually cannot mount the pooled disk directly as NTFS.

If Linux only sees Storage Spaces metadata or the mount fails with NTFS signature/invalid argument errors, it is probably still a pooled disk and not mountable directly as NTFS.

In that case, the data is typically accessible only after Windows exposes the virtual disk/volume, or after the pool is dismantled and the volume is presented as a plain NTFS partition.

The safest path is to let Windows manage the pool, extract the data you need or convert it into a standalone NTFS volume before using it in Linux.

14

What is there in /dev/sda that you want in /dev/sdb

literally all my data. sda and sdc are my oldest drives that I got with all my other pc parts when I built my pc 5 and a half years ago. sda has all my personal files and applications. I know the applications I probably would either have to run with wine or only on windows without getting a reinstall for linux specifically, but I was hoping to have all my photos, videos, and text documents. I still dont really understand how sdb would be the one to get into sda

One final question, where in Windows installed on your system? /dev/sdb or /dev/sda or some place else?

neither? windows was installed on sdc, that drive is known as C when I boot into windows (sda is N and games is A). its never moved boot wise, but sda has pretty much everything else.

15

In that case, the data is typically accessible only after Windows exposes the virtual disk/volume, or after the pool is dismantled and the volume is presented as a plain NTFS partition.

I’m not sure how I would go about dismantling it as a pool or windows exposing the virtual disk/volume, so it’ll appear as a normal nfts but I’m assuming that it comes with enough risk that its not a good idea since sda has pretty much everything data wise. plus I may need windows here and there (my friends and I get the vibe to play specific games after months and one is garden warfare 2 which has ea anti cheat.

I think I’ll go with plan B and learn more about partitioning drives to keep about ~3tb on my 8tb sdb as a transfer point between the boots and partition the rest to ext4 for linux storage

thank you for the help

16

You cannot use Wine or parallels running on Linux to run applications that are installed on Windows. You will need to install wine on Linux first. Then using wine install the application on Linux using its installer exe/msi file. And then you can run the windows application using wine on Linux. So please do not expect that if a game or application is installed on Windows, you will be able to dual boot Linux, use the binaries that were installed on Windows to run the application on Linux.

It is good to know that Windows is not installed on /dev/sda.

To convert the Windows Storage Pool to a normal Windows partition follow the steps given below. Please note that this is a dangerous and irreversible process. It cannot be undone. Before doing this create a Run book and a checklist. The Run book will have all the steps that you will do. Run book will also record the outcome of all the steps. Checklist will have what all you need to do prior to starting. Pen and paper works. Tablet also works. Simple Windows Notepad also works. No need for spreadsheet or word or any specialized app.
Dont create a run book on the system where you are running this, i.e. your computer which has /dev/sda2.

If /dev/sda2 has your data, like files, videos, images, documents, audio, etc then copy those out to an external drive. Copy all the installers (applications, games, MS office, Adobe Software any, Coredraw if present, Security Suite like Bitdefender/Norton/Mcafee, Visual Studio if any, etc) too along with activation keys, product keys, license files, etc to the external drive. Especially those which have been installed on /dev/sda2. There is a “Program Files” there. These keys should include the Windows Product key and activation keys too.

Create a Windows installation media USB along with a Windows Recovery USB. You will need 2 flash drives of 32GB or higher for both of these. These will be separate from the external drive where you have backed up your data, app installers, games installers, keys, etc. Both of these, i.e. Windows Installation media and Windows Recovery USB cannot coexist on the same physical drive. I recommend using separate 64 GB USB Flash drives.

Then follow the steps given here to delete the Windows Storage pool.. If your system is running Windows Server then follow the steps given on Windows Learning website.

PLEASE GO THROUGH BOTH OF THE LINKS GIVEN ABOVE. UNDERSTAND THEM THOROUGHLY.

This step cannot be undone. The data that is deleted cannot be recovered. That is why the backup and Windows Recovery USB or Windows Installation media are important. The Windows Recovery USB and Windows Installation media are important so that if deletion of pool causes issues with Windows setup, Windows can be reinstalled easily. While reinstalling windows please make sure that you do not create another Storage pool.

Once you delete the storage pool then in Windows Disk Management you will see /dev/sda2 as allocated. Format it in Windows Disk Management as a normal GPT partition with NTFS. Assign a drive letter to it. Do not add it to another pool. While creating the partition, give it a proper label/name, which does not have spaces. For example “GunsNRoses”. No special character too. Only Alphabets and numbers. Length should not exceed 11 characters. If required give the name of your GF or your pet or your favorite team instead of “GunsNRoses”.

Copy the files from the external drive to /dev/sda2. Reinstall all the software that was installed on /dev/sda2. Reinstall all the games that were installed on /dev/sda2

You should now be able to access /dev/sda2 from Linux. From Windows you will be able to access /dev/sda2 as e:\ of f:/ drive or something similar. Since you have given it a proper label, as explained earlier, that label will be visible in Windows Explorer next to the drive letter.

17

ah apologies for a later response, I was busy and wasnt able to check in on this post.

thank you so much for the heads up on wine! I wasnt able to look to much into it cause I was busy trying to wrap my head around this “issue” to look into it. I was able to grab some installers and other things I may want on linux using my sbd drive since I can access it on both operating systems. (I was there to shrink the ntfs partition so I can reformat the unallocated space to ext4).

as for the conversion of the win storage pool to a regular ntfs I’m not sure if I will so that now, per se, but I will keep this saved as where to start looking on how to go about that. yes I do have a few back ups of my drive but its still a lot to play around with, at least for me right now since I only just swapped and getting used to the new terms and how to do things. like if I do end up ditching windows fully (or using it so rarely that it fells like a waste to have my full 2tb dedicated to it) for example. still I am really grateful for the help and even going the extra mile with giving resources on how to convert the pool into a more normal drive <3

I have started to look more into how drives and partitions work as storage here on linux, and no joke the lemon and orange analogy has really helped in an odd but really nice way XD so an extra thank you for that