‘The partition table on device was unreadable’ Linux Error and Recovery

The native partition type code used by a Linux hard drive is 0x83 irrespective of the file system (ext2, ext3, reiserfs etc.). When you partition your hard drive using fdisk or any other utility, it often consists of two partitions: a root directory partition (denoted as ‘/’) and a swap partition. A partition table is the index table that references all Linux hard drive partitions. So, if this table gets corrupt, the system couldn’t locate and thus access the partitions. In such situations, you need to use your recent data backup and restore lost information from it. However, if data backup is non-existent, invalid or not updated, Linux Data Recovery tools can be used to scan the affected hard drive.

Consider a scenario, you start your Linux system and it displays the following error message:

“The partition table on device <drive_name> was unreadable”

Cause

The partition table is corrupted or damaged. It can get corrupt due to unexpected shutdown, incorrect installation of updates, improper use of terminal commands, erroneous use of disk partitioning utilities, partition resizing and other similar causes.

Solution

To correct this issue, you need to carry out these steps:

You need to ensure that at least one of the partitions has been marked as Active

If you can boot the operating system, you should immediately backup all the important data

Next, you need to delete all the existing partitions and then recreate them. To accomplish the same, you can use fdisk or any other disk partitioning utility

Repartitioning the hard disk erases all the previously stored data. So, you need to use your recent data backup to restore it. If the data backup is not present or up to the mark, you need to scan your hard drive using Linux Recovery tools to extract the lost data.

Linux Data Recovery applications incorporate advanced scanning procedures to recover and restore the lost data. With elf-explanatory interface, these utilities provide easy recovery. In addition, these recovery software are read-only tools and hence they don’t perform any write operation. You can use these tools in any logical data loss case.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is efficient Linux Recovery tool. The software supports advanced recovery features and provides effective recovery results. It is a read-only tool that supports Ext2, Ext3 and ReiserFS file systems. This  Linux Data Recovery tools is compatible with almost all Linux distributions like Gentoo, Turbo Linux, SlackWare, SUSE etc.