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I/O sector errors starting Live CD for Clonezilla

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Michael P
2015-06-17
2016-07-24
  • Michael P

    Michael P - 2015-06-17

    Loading Clonezilla from a Linux CD, before startup I got a string of error messages--maybe 10 or 12--all iterations of "...I/O error dev sr0 Sector 354304...." At first I wondered if this was a self-check of the CD that found an error. All the hashes for the ISO had checked out when I downloaded the file, and I did Verify the disc when I burned the CD, so that seemed unlikely.

    THEN I realized that sector 354304 was more likely an unreadable sector on a disk I'd been having trouble with. (SATA drive became unreadable to Windows, but files could be read in Linux, which is why I was using Clonezilla here--trying to copy the drive.)

    Here's what I don't understand as I am not very adept with Linux: That disk was later labeled dev/sda, so if this is the same disk, why is it labeled here as sr0? Was this an initial scan of the disk by either the OS or by Clonezilla?

    Thanks,
    Michael

     
  • Michael P

    Michael P - 2015-06-18

    A while after asking about this, I found where I had jotted down the sector of the SATA drive that was known to be bad. --It is not the same sector as noted in all those I/O errors. Then I took out the drive with the known bad sector(s), and loading Clonezilla, the exact same errors came up. So this could very well be a bad CD. ...Also, in the opening non-text screen, there are choices I should be able to make, but I get no mouse available, and am not able to make any choices or options by using tab, or any other keys. In fact, the only way I can run Clonezilla is by waiting for the timer to run out. After that, it seems to run okay, but since I have not used it before, I don't know what I could be missing.

    I realize knowledgeable responders are not on here frequently, but when you do see this, please let me know if you have an idea why I get that error, and whether the behavior of Clonzilla is normal.

    Thanks,
    Michael

     
  • Michael P

    Michael P - 2015-06-18

    Having just read through the "Unable to find Target Partition" thread, I see the problems you've been having with recent versions. Now I realize I should have let you know which version I used--listed as the current stable release: live-2.4.2-10-amd64 ISO.

    However, one of the latest posts indicated someone had a problem with this version too. I too found that I could not do a complete disk-to-disk copy with it. I had to resort to copying all the partitions individually, and I was about to try to restore the boot sector with Windows. If I had known this earlier, I would have tried downloading the 2014 "trusty" version, which may have allowed me to copy the whole disk?

    Michael

     
  • Steven Shiau

    Steven Shiau - 2015-06-20

    "I/O error dev sr0 Sector 354304" -> This kind of Linux kernel message normally implies you have hardware issue for your hard drive. Therefore you'd better to copy important data to external disk/flash drive asap.
    Clonezilla is not suitable to deal with this hardware issue. If you want, you can use "ddrescue" for that.

    Steven.

     
  • Michael P

    Michael P - 2015-06-25

    Thanks for replying. I've now had a chance to check the errors--by removing ALL the hard drives before loading the live CD. I get the same I/O errors as described above. As I said in my earlier post, I wondered if these errors were indicating something was wrong on the CD. I am not that used to using linux, but I think SR0 does not indicate a hard drive, does it? That's what I was trying to get across.

    I recall in one of the posts that you said it is easier if you can see a shot of the screen, so I am posting an image of the screen as Clonezilla loaded. Note that there is a very long pause after "missing 'workdir.'" Then there are more errors, and not only the one I described above. Is this the program, or a bad CD? Remember, I said I confirmed all the hashes, and verified the disk burn.

    Michael

     

    Last edit: Michael P 2015-06-25
  • Steven Shiau

    Steven Shiau - 2015-06-27

    SR0 indicates the CD drive, not hard drive.
    This is hardware issue. Therefore please try to use different CD or CD drive.

    Steven.

     
  • Michael P

    Michael P - 2015-06-29

    We are getting back to original problem in my first post. Not knowing the program or Linux very well, I may have confused things. Sorry--I didn't know what to expect or focus on. [I quoted below from my first post.]

    I made a new CD this time using ISO of clonezilla-live-20140915-trusty-amd64. Those errors about SR0 did NOT appear on loading the new CD. Also:

    Clonezilla loaded much faster
    A graphical progress bar appeared at the bottom of the screen that I had not seen before
    The menu worked for the first time on the main graphical screen, allowing me to use arrow keys to select choices. (Before I had to wait out the timer to load.)
    I was able to select disk-to-disk copy. (Previously I could only copy partitions.)

    So the CD-DVD drive is fine, apparently the CD was bad, and maybe the image posted was bad. I said before that all the hashes checked, and the disk verified as good against the ISO. I had hoped the error messages I reported would give someone an idea in the beginning where the problem was.

    There should be some way for a new user to know what they are getting! If I had known what to expect, I would know the behavior was not normal. Maybe a short description of what is supposed to happen when the program loads.


    From OP's 1st post:
    "...before startup I got a string of error messages--maybe 10 or 12--all iterations of "...I/O error dev sr0 Sector 354304...." At first I wondered if this was a self-check of the CD that found an error. All the hashes for the ISO had checked out when I downloaded the file, and I did Verify the disc when I burned the CD, so that seemed unlikely...."

    "...Here's what I don't understand as I am not very adept with Linux: That [other] disk [with known errors] was later labeled dev/sda, so if this is the same disk, why is it labeled here as sr0? Was this an initial scan of the disk by either the OS or by Clonezilla?"

    A more careful reading of the above by a knowledgeable person would have shown right away that there was a problem with the CD.

    Thanks,
    Michael

     

    Last edit: Michael P 2015-06-29
  • Steven Shiau

    Steven Shiau - 2015-07-07

    Hardware issue might have different outputs. Therefore it's not easy to predict or to list the reasons. Especially for the Linux/hardware support issue.
    Again, thanks for sharing that.

    Steven.

     
  • Ovle

    Ovle - 2016-07-19

    Hi.

    I have the same issue with release/version "alternative stable - 20160627-xenial". I tried 3 times using three CD-R (Verbatim 700MB). However, despite the error, I tried to do an image of a whole disk and it worked, however I have not tested whether I can restore it yet.

    That error appears when launching the operating system, after choosing the first option in the boot menu of Clonezilla. And yes, sr0 is CD media.

    I see two source of errors: The burner (Windows burner) or the software itselft.

    Cheers.
    I'll try with the version of Debian.
    Bye.

     

    Last edit: Ovle 2016-07-19
  • Ovle

    Ovle - 2016-07-20

    Hi, again.

    I did the same in another PC (a newer one) and it worked fine, the I/O errors didn't show. I did an image and a restoration.

    The problem seems to be with the CD-Rom reader, as the PC I used is an older one. The CD-R reader is old too and it has the issue that its tape does not open automatically. Maybe that is a problem.

    Hope it helps.
    Cheers,
    Ovle.

     
  • Steven Shiau

    Steven Shiau - 2016-07-24

    Yes, I believe it's CD reader hardware issue there.
    If your machine supports USB booting, try to use USB flash drive to boot Clonezilla live:
    http://clonezilla.org/liveusb.php

    Steven

     

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