Repairing Windows 8 Installation -HDD failure and no startup

My HDD is on its verge of death and I have Windows 8 installed on it. I have some pretty important files there that I need to take to the Ubuntu side. My Ubuntu installation is on its separate physical hard drive.
When I click one of my Windows 8 partitions via Ubuntu (there are two), I get this error message:
> Error mounting /dev/sdb1 at /media/dugi/Store: Command-line `mount -t
> "ntfs" -o
> "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077,fmask=0177"
> "/dev/sdb1" "/media/dugi/Store"' exited with non-zero exit status 14:
> The disk contains an unclean file system (0, 0). Metadata kept in
> Windows cache, refused to mount. Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1':
> Operation not permitted The NTFS partition is in an unsafe state.
> Please resume and shutdown Windows fully (no hibernation or fast
> restarting), or mount the volume read-only with the 'ro' mount option.
Is there a way I can fix or backup my important data from this HDD via Ubuntu? It’s the only way I have direct access to these HDDs – the Windows 8 system wont boot anymore.
Or if there is any possibility to fix my system via the Windows 8.1 installation DVD, that would work too. Windows tried it’s Automatic Repair, but after a few minutes of rotating the loader, the screen turned blue and told me to either try a System Restore or Cancel. I tried both and both just showed me the normal boot screen (Blue Windows logo) but no loader this time. The logo would just remain there and I was forced to restart the computer.
So I basically need to fix my HDDs somehow. I thought of using chkdsk, but I can’t get to the command line of Windows.
Help would be appreciated.
Answer #1
Maybe this boot CD might help..
http://www.google.com?t=19670791
Also Hirens BootCD has a live version of XP on it that may be able to access your drive and files..
Answer #2
Open a terminal and type the following commands:
sudo su
ntfsfix -d /dev/sdb1
mkdir /tmp/diskc
ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /tmp/diskc
Provided everything goes okay, The file system should become available on /tmp/diskc
The ntfsfix command should fix the unclean file system problem.
If it doesn’t do the trick, Then boot from your Win8 disc and get into the system recovery options as explained here:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4935-startup-options-menu-boot-windows-8-a.html
Scroll down to Option Seven. Once you’re in, Click on Troubleshoot>Advanced Options>Command Prompt.
Type the following command and wait for it to finish:
chkdsk c: /r
You should hopefully be able to mount it after it’s done.
Edit: If you get a command not found error with the ntfsfix command, Then issue the following one to install it:
apt-get install ntfsprogs
Answer #3
Maybe this boot CD might help..
http://www.google.com?t=19670791
Also Hirens BootCD has a live version of XP on it that may be able to access your drive and files..
This ^^^ The live XP on Hirens has saved me a couple of times. ……. Not discounting what Roberto says cos he is always right (a bit like my wife)
Answer #4
Not discounting what Roberto says cos he is always right (a bit like my wife)
So you’re comparing me to your wife?
Not sure If I should take that as a compliment!
This ^^^ The live XP on Hirens has saved me a couple of times
Maybe so, But it’s not that useful for this particular situation!
The OP got two physical HDDs, One of em with Windows 8, And the other with Linux (Ubuntu)
As the OP has previously stated, Windows doesn’t load from some reason (He suspects it’s a pre-fail HDD, But this hasn’t been established yet!) Anyways, He wanna backup his data (Windows>Linux HDD) so MiniXP from hiren’s is not gonna be useful for this purpose. Windows does not support Linux file systems. There are some 3rd party Windows apps for reading from Linux FS’s, But not writing. Point is, The OP gotta use a Linux OS to get it done! The instructions I provided should allow him to do that.