VM mounted disk content invisible

Question

I have a data disk attached to a Linux VM, which has ~400G data in it.

For some need I have to delete the old VM and create a new one. What I do is

1. umount the disk
2. detach the disk
3. delete the old VM
4. create the new VM
5. attach the disk to the new VM.

After mounting, I find that the disk has 400G space used but the folder is now empty. How can I find the 400G data back?

The output of sudo blkid of the disk is like

/dev/sdc1: UUID="......" TYPE="xfs" PARTLABEL="xfspart" PARTUUID="......"

Answer 1

Hi mindest,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

If the folder appears empty after mounting the disk, the XFS file system metadata may been corrupted. Try the following steps to see if this recovers your data. Since your data disk uses XFS, try recovering data from an XFS file system. Make sure that your new VM recognizes the disk.

• Run sudo blkid or lsblk to verify that the disk is listed.

a. Repair the XFS File System:

• On the new VM, run the following command to check the file system without making any modifications:

sudo xfs_repair -n /dev/sdc1

• If it reports issues, proceed with the repair:

sudo xfs_repair /dev/sdc1

b. Mount the File System:

• After repairing, mount the file system:

sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt

• Check if your data is accessible under the /mnt directory.

c. Check Lost+Found Directory:

• XFS creates a lost+found directory at the root of the file system. It’s a place where recovered files are stored.
• Navigate to /mnt/lost+found and see if your data is there:

cd /mnt/lost+found

d. Recover Files:

• If you find your data in the lost+found directory, move it to the appropriate location.
• Otherwise, consider using specialized data recovery tools for XFS file systems.

If nothing works try tools like Hetman Partition Recovery (for XFS partitions) for recovery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7ie1zY63M

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