partition error

guldo · 04-25-2004, 09:11 AM

I'm in deep trouble.
A few days ago, I erased two partitions, merging into one; I got ext3 onto this.
Then I used my newly formatted system for a couple of days.
Yesterday I rebooted the system one more time, and my root partition had been mounted read-only. I rebooted again, and it refused to mount the partition.
I tried and boot knoppix to check with fsck, and it claimed that some errors prevented the partition from being mounted: "it could be a zero-length partition".
Say WHAT? Zero-length???
Oh my...
Is there any chance for me to get my data back?
If not, could I install a brand new system on that partition being sure that the other (working) partitions would not suffer from this?

Thanks a lot.

Guldo

p.s.: I used parted to manage partitions.

guldo · 04-25-2004, 10:06 AM

Here's what I've found so far:

Code:

Analyse Disk /dev/hde - CHS 119150 16 63 - 58644 MB
check_part 0C
 1 E extended LBA          4717   8  1 119148  11 63  115346700
check_FAT: Incorrect number of sides
 2 * FAT32 LBA                0   1  1  4717   7 63    4755177
 2 * FAT32 LBA                0   1  1  4717   7 63    4755177
 5 L Linux Swap           22535  11  1 22902   2 63     369432
   X extended             22902   3 63 41644  10 63   18892378
 6 L Linux ext2fs         22902   4  1 41644  10 63   18892377
   X extended             41644  11 63 119148  11 63   78124033
 7 L Linux ext2fs         41644  12  1 119148  11 63   78124032
   X extended             15035   0 63 22534  15 63    7559938
 8 L Linux ext2fs         15035   1  1 22534  15 63    7559937
   X extended              4718   0 63 15034  15 63   10399474
 9 L Linux ext2fs          4718   1  1 15034  15 63   10399473
Space conflict between the following two partitions
   X extended             15035   0 63 22534  15 63    7559938
 5 L Linux Swap           22535  11  1 22902   2 63     369432

Now how can I recover it? This is "testdisk" output.

Thanks,

Guldo

guldo · 04-25-2004, 11:46 AM

News from PartitionMagic:

Quote:

PQ PartitionMagic has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at sector 4755240 on disk 1.
The starting LBA value is 4755240 and the CHS value is 16435502.
The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
PQ PartitionMagic has cerified that the LBA value is correct and can fix the CHS value.
Would you like PQ PartitionMagic to fix this error?

So what should I do?

Thanks,

Guldo

guldo · 04-26-2004, 05:10 AM

Any hint?

Racoon · 05-05-2004, 09:16 AM

Can you describe step by step what you did when merging the two partitions?
maybe PQ Partition Magic might help to fix it and then install your OS again (try an update even if it's the same version so you won't lose your data) and be sure if you have multiple drives or multiple partition they are mounted at the same places like before.
GOOD LUCK

vittoriodv · 05-12-2004, 08:07 AM

Hello,
I just installed Red Hat 9 on my laptop and now I am getting the same error message quoted above when I start Partition Magic. Now I am wondering, is this something serious that I should fix it asap, or can it be safely ignored? I have Windows XP also installed and I installed Grub in the MBR; so far everything seems to be working fine, both at boot time, for WinXP and for Linux. The boot partition for Linux was installed past the 1024 cylynder limit (I guess cause WinXP occupies the first 20 GB out of a total of 30 GB hard disk); maybe Grub did something to LBA/CHS so that it could overcome this limit?
A final question: are these LBA / CHS values used only during boot? And where are they stored, in the MBR, boot partition, ...?

Vittorio

Racoon · 05-12-2004, 08:28 AM

Can you tell me
-how you have create your partitions
-what are your partition types
and when you have the 1st error msg
so I can help you with your problems
the 1024 sector limit was for dos/win31/win95/win98 and maybe winNT or 2000.
the LBA / CHS / LARGE values fr the harddisk are in the bios, so it's before your OS boots, try to look in the bios if you can put the choice in "auto" mode, or in LBA. I think it's stored in the bios or the MBR

vittoriodv · 05-12-2004, 03:07 PM

Hi,
I created 2 extra partitions: Linux ext2 and Linux swap; previously there were 2 partitions, one of type "SaveToDisk" which I don't know what it is for, and the other of type NTFS containing Windows XP; in order to install Red Hat I had to create a FAT32 partition were I copied the installation images because they were unreadable from the CD-ROM.
Then I installed RedHAt which created an additional boot partition. In summary here is the situation now (only 1 Disk), as reported by Partition Magic (I rounded the actual sizes):

Type Size Status Pri/Log
SaveToDisk 23.5 MB None Primary
NTFS 18 GB Active Primary
Extended 10 GB None Primary
FAT32 2 GB None Logical
Linux Ext2 100 MB None Logical
Linux Ext2 7.5 GB None Logical
Linux Swap 1 GB None Logical

Anyway, I read today somewhere from some other forum that if the system works there should be noything wrong and it's only partition magic which is complaining unnecessarily, and even dangerously because disaster starts when the user accept the "fix" that Partition Magic proposes. Therefore I am assuming now that this is the case and I will ignore this error, and hopefully I won't forget and press the "bomb-button" in the future!

Vittorio