1)i recently lost my winxp installation while using webroot window washer-and ashampoo.
2)i used a bootable disk (quick heal antivirus) and used fdisk utility inbuilt with it.its interface was different than that of standard win-fdisk
3)i have reinstalled my winxp
4)after that when i logged in to linux i could see the type of my c: and e: partitions have also changed to "win95 FAT32 lba" from plain "FAT32".same was visible on the fdisk utility.

I never used win95 nor formatted the hdd.How come my partition type changed automatically?i had used the same bootable disk and fdisk utility to check my friends hdd which eventually got obselete.
does this labelling means some virus/errors in my hdd?is it normal?

bill

PS:after reinstallation i also needed to adjust fstab and lilo since my root partition got changed to /hda9 from /hda8.(my cdrom was first named as g: but now named as h:

The difference between the two is insignificant. Since FAT32 has been around since windows 95, the naming has never changed, even though it was also used by later systems.

The changes in the root partition are somehting that has also happened to me a couple of times. I'm not sure what the cause is or how to avoid it, but sometimes recreating a partition (or partition table with this type of partition) that is located phisically before another existing partition results in the partition getting a 'later' (reead: numerically higher) name.

hi linmix,
same has been the case for the change of my root partition id.
but thats not my problem.i am wondering why my 2 FAT32 partitions suddenly being reported as win95 FAT32 lba?
any virus/error/physical error responsible for this??
bill

The change from FAT32 to win95 FAT32 lba is not dramatic. Actually the difference is virtually nonexistent. To make it even more interesting, what has changed is the name, but not necessarily the file system used! When you use a tool like fdisk to create partitions you also assign them a fs type through a number. But that doesn't create the filesystem. It only indicates which fs is expected to be here. When you used fdisk to get your system back it may have 'guessed' the filesystem, and did so close enough. However, sinve you say you also reinstalled XP this may also have had an effect on the way partitions are reflected as XP ,may have written this info to the disk. It's definitely not a virus and really not an error. I deleted a fat partition and restored it again with QTparted and the data that was on it is in perfect condition, but the filesystem type also changed to "W95 FAT32 (lba)". It's all fat32, only the label has changed.

Oh god!its a relief!
i understood a bit about what u explained in ur reply.but what matters is my hdd is safe!
thanks a lot for ur support.
bill