Data Loss In Linux Due to Damaged /etc/mtab and /etc/fstab

Linux file system is build up of various components and /etc/mtab and /etc/fstab are most important among them. For actual working of your file system and computer system, these data structures must be kept and in working state. Any damage to file system components may make it unusable and results into critical data loss condition. In order to recover your lost data in such conditions, you require to opt for Linux Data Recovery using appropriate solutions.

The /etc/fstab (short form of file system table) is a important directory of Linux operating system. This is a part of system configuration and it gives all of the available system hard disk, disk volumes and displays how they require to be integrate or initialized in Linux file system. It consists of detailed description of various file systems and is generally read by the 'fsck' and 'mount' commands. Mount command find the alternatives, which should be used when you mount any drive.

The /etc/mtab (contraction of mounted file systems table) is a Linux directory that contains all the mounted file systems on Linux OS. Usually, this is in a predefined format and automatically modified when the mount command is executed to identify the current file system and how it is mounted (whether automatically or manually).

In situation when these directories gets corrupted, you might not access your data and require data recovery Linux to get your lost data back. At the time of corruption, you might encounter the below error message:

“Cannot read table of mounted file systems”

This error message cause critical situations of file and directory inaccessibility in Linux system.

Root Cause

You might come across this behavior of Linux because of corruption to /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab directories. Due to corruption to these data structures, Linux file system can not be mounted and thus the hard drive volumes become inaccessible.

In all such cases,Linux data recovery come for your help. Recovery is best possible using powerful and advanced third-party Linux recovery software. They employ advanced and effective scanning mechanisms to thoroughly scan the damaged hard drive and extract all of the lost data from it.

The tools have interactive and simple graphical user interface. Thus they do not require sound and prior technical skills to perform recovery. With read-only and non-destructive behavior, the applications are safe to use and do not change original data.