Using ntfsfix to fix mounting error on Linux
date: 2024-07-20
topic: development
read_time: 1 min read
# For those annoying "unknown error when mounting" messages
If you've ever encountered mounting errors with NTFS partitions on Linux, you know how frustrating it can be. In this post, I'll share a quick fix using the ntfsfix utility.
Error mounting /dev/sda4 at /media/ab/Elements:unknown error when
mounting /dev/sda4
Here are the two steps I took to fix my most recent mounting error:
1. Find the name of the partition
$ lsblk # in my case, it was /dev/sda4 I was having trouble with
2. Run ntfsfix: Use ntfsfix to repair the partition.
$ sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda4
Mounting volume... $MFTMirr does not match $MFT (record 0).
FAILED
Attempting to correct errors...
Processing $MFT and $MFTMirr...
Reading $MFT... OK
Reading $MFTMirr... OK
Comparing $MFTMirr to $MFT... FAILED
Correcting differences in $MFTMirr record 0...OK
Correcting differences in $MFTMirr record 3...OK
Processing of $MFT and $MFTMirr completed successfully.
Setting required flags on partition... OK
Going to empty the journal ($LogFile)... OK
Checking the alternate boot sector... OK
NTFS volume version is 3.1.
NTFS partition /dev/sda4 was processed successfully.