I have been trying for 2 days now to get this hdd up and running and not having any luck, and a really hard time finding help here. i'll post my fdisk and fstab and cfdisk and maybe someone will be able to help me.......thanks in advance.

~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1275 10241406 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 1276 2428 9261472+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 2551 4864 18587205 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda4 2429 2550 979965 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 2429 2550 979933+ 82 Linux swap

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 3039 24410736 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9123 12161 24410767+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 6084 9122 24410767+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 3040 6083 24450930 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3040 5471 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 5472 6083 4915858+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order


# /etc/fstab -- static file system information
# auto generation: on
# generated by: /sbin/etcdev2fstab
#
# NOTE: to make this file readable, it has been formatted for 132 columns
#
#<device> <mountpoint> <fstype> <options> <dbg> <pass>
/dev/hda1 / reiserfs rw 0 0
LABEL=/backup /backup ext3 defaults 0 0
LABEL=/bull /bull ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/hdc /cd auto defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 /dev/hda2 auto defaults 0 0
/dev/sda /dev/sda auto defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 /disks/C vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,nouser,async,umask=0 0 0
LABEL=/downloads /downloads ext3 defaults 0 0
LABEL=/downloads2 /downloads2 ext3 defaults 0 0
LABEL=/downloads3 /downloads3 ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/cdroms/hdc /media/cdrom0 auto ro,nosuid,nodev,exec,user,noauto,async,unhide 0 0
LABEL=/mike /mike ext3 defaults 0 0
LABEL=/pictures /pictures ext3 defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb auto rw,ro,noauto,user,exec,devmode=0666 0 0
LABEL=/software /software ext3 defaults 0 0
LABEL=/video /video ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0


cfdisk 2.12

Disk Drive: /dev/sda
Size: 100030242816 bytes, 100.0 GB
Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 12161

Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sda1 Boot Primary Linux 24996.63
sda5 Logical Linux 20003.89
sda6 Logical Linux 5033.88
sda3 Primary Linux 24996.63
sda2 Primary Linux 24996.63







[Bootable] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [Maximize] [ Print ]
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Toggle bootable flag of the current partition

You have not said what the problem is!!! This does not tell me anything:You need to be specific about what does not work. Obviously, if fdisk sees the partitions, then something is working.

Can you go into a terminal, make a new directory, and manually mount one of the partitions there?

I don't know how labels work in fstab, but there are at least two entries there which make no sense to me:
A. You don't mount drives (eg /dev/sda)---only partitions
B. What does it mean to mount a device to its own name??

ok sorry i have been getting a little frustrated and have made many other posts trying to find help with no luck....i may have made a mistake mounting the sda and i know the partitions are ok but the file manager says the total is around 4gb and the hdd is 100gb......thats just one problem....my cdrom isn't working and i cant even run the knoppix live cd or reinstall any distros if i wanted to start all over again.....so i think my biggest problem is fixing my cdrom then i can start all over and partition things the right way this time......thanks for any help i really appreciate it.