Browse non-booting SD card on Windows/Mac OS

1st Official Post

    Hi community !

    I've a huge problem. My LibreElec install on SD card don't want to boot anymore AND I NEED to extract some files (Pictures folder) who're not backuped... :(

    How can I do that ?

    I've tested :

    • browse via network (SMB) : impossible, LE won't start !!
    • use external card reader into Windows/Ubuntu (unable to browse root folders
    • plug SD card (via USB) into a fresh and clean LE install and use File Manager/SMB (auto-share USB) but it doesn't work...

    Pleaaaaaase help me!!!! ;(

    Thanks a lot & best regards,

    David

    You need a PC with ext3/ext4 support.

    There are few options:

    - Boot up Your PC with Linux Live CD/USB, mount the sd-card and rescue whatever is possible.

    - Install ext3/ext4 drivers on Your PC (there are freeware driver available for read only mode).

    This might work.

    Hi David,

    I think your best chance would be to read the SD card within a linux-os. There are several Linux distrubutions out there wich can be booted on your PC from USB thumbdrive or DVD without installing. This should work.

    (Or another wild guess: Maybe you could just put your sd card into an Android device (tablet or even a phone) to see if you can access the partitions in Android and then copy them to another place...)

    Good luck!

    • Official Post

    First thing to do is create an image (dump) of the SD card .. if this is possible. Then you put the SD card somewhere safe and concentrate on trying to recover data from the image. Linux has numerous data recovery utilities that can look for raw data on the card/image. If you cannot get anything from the card .. the data is gone. SD cards a pretty reliable these days, but everything has a lifespan, and there are only two kinds of computer user: a) people who back up their stuff all the time, and b) people who haven't lost all their data yet.

    Hello everyone,

    Thank you for your answers.

    Unfortunately nothing works, the SD card was corrupted/dead.

    I tried :

    • create an image from SD card with Win32DiskImager > failed (unable to read card)
    • mount partitions to Ubuntu > failed (I/O errors)

    So, the good news it that a part of pictures was copied to our business storage environnement ! So it's a small damage !

    Tomorrow morning I'll make a backup of LE with his backup tool !!

    Best regards !

    David