fstab and mtab are two important files, found on Linux systems.

fstab: The file is also sometimes referred as file systems table or /etc/fstab. It is meant to list all the available disk partitions and disks. It also includes information about how these disks and partitions are integrated into file system of Linux. Its corruption sometimes leads to Linux Data Recovery needs.

mtab: Also known as mounted file systems table, it enlists mounted file systems. When any file system is mounted using mount command, the file is automatically edited.

In case if system finds errors with any of these files, probably due to corruption, system may fail to mount with the following error:

“Cannot read table of mounted file systems”

Other than file corruption, the reason could be file deletion. When the mount command is used to mount the file system, it reads fstab file to know the valid options available to mount, while mtab is used to mark an entry that indicates file system in use and process of their use. So if any of these file is found to be corrupt or missing, system fails to mount the required file system and results errors.

In order to resolve the issue, we can format the disk and reinstall the system after backing up the data. This will refresh all the files, including all damaged ones. Users should always check for the backup status or else the backup will fail to completely restore the information. Also if backup copy doesn’t have required files, it can’t be taken as valid. In such cases, Linux Recovery is required and specialized third party applications can accomplish the same.

Linux Data Recovery software are special tools to recover lost data from Linux systems. These can scan the affected drives, locate the required information, recover it and then safely restore at the safe location. Generally, these tools are designed as read-only and so can be used for secure Data Recovery Linux. The applications are easy to use because of the interactive interface they have.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery recovers and restores lost data from ext2, ext3 and reiserFS file systems. The application offers graphically rich user interface to work through. It can be used with most of the Linux distributions like Red Hat, TurboLinux, Gentoo, SlackWare and others. This Linux Data Recovery software gives various advanced features that assist in recovering lost data easily.

By: Jonny Defh, Linux Data Recovery

Tagged with: File System • Linux

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