iZmu

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ok, i'm kind of desperate here...
I'm using knoppix to expand my ext3 partition..
i ran fsck on sda2 (the partition i want to expand), and removed the journal to change its type to ext2..
Then, i used fdisk to delete the partition and to create a new one, specifying the first and last cylinder, so it would enclose the free space i had behind the partition and the partition itself.I finally wrote the partition table on disk (using w) and quit fdisk. So far, so good... Here's when the problems started. I rebooted and went back on Knoppix.then I tried to run e2fsck /dev/sda2 and the output was the error quoted below.

So now i can't resize the filesystem, can't undo what i've changed in the partition table, and obviously can't boot with ubuntu nor windows because grub won't work (gives error 17).

Is there any hope for me?
Please help
Thanks

Emerson

Welcome to LQ!

Your hope is testdisk.
It should be on Knoppix CD. Next time use parted to manipulate partitions.

iZmu

Thanks for the quick reply
I did try to use parted, but while reading about it, it came to my understanding that it wasn't able to resize ext3 type partitions. Maybe i got it wrong...
Well, i'll try testdisk right away.
I'll post the results briefly.

iZmu

iZmu

Well, life sucks right now.
I ran testdisk on knoppix and found the first problem:
This one turned out to be quite easily solved, by executing
It's a library problem on the knoppix 5.1 cd.
After correcting that it ran fine. Under the 'Advanced Filesystem Utils' there it was. The answer to all my prayers, 'Advanced Find EXT2 EXT3 Backup SuperBlock'. I executed it and a wonderful scan started. In the end, it didn't find anything. As I said, life sucks. Is there any other util that I may use to find the damned backup superblock?
Thanks

[edit]here's a screenshot, that's what i get at the end of the scan.

Emerson

Hmm... You may want to restore your partition table (=previous partitions) before starting fiddling with filesystem. Try that testdisk again.

iZmu

I was hoping I didn't have to ask this, but could you be a little more specific? I've been playing around with the menus and I can't seem to find any option to restore my partition table. On the contrary, through the scans I've been doing I get the most impressive and weird partition tables

Emerson

Well, the testdisk is not a program one uses on daily basis. I do not remember! All I remember the write function was hard to find, not intuitive at all. Try man pages and testdisk web site, come back if totally stuck, I'll try to boot Knoppix myself then.
Do you have any important data on that disk you haven't backed up? If yes then you may want to take an image of that disk with dd and store it in a safe place.

lambchops468

Knoppix's Gparted/parted is horribly outdated

it can't do many things

For all my hard drive-whatever related problems, I use system rescue CD (it's a live linux CD, and it can resize ext3 using gparted.(i think)).

So, you could try that at www.sysresccd.org

or you can get the gparted live cd (which i have never used, no garuntees from me, but i would assume it has every feature the latest version has).

iZmu

Hi guys, what an odyssey i spent all night around my partitions and, long story short, it didn't worked. I mean, something must have worked, I managed to restore the partition table to its original form, kind of, because by doing that my vista partition disappeared...

Like I said, I managed to restore the partition table (found the write function) without the windows partition, wihich turned into unallocated space. Finally 'testdisk' gave me some superblocks, 10 to be more precise. So I ran
I was then finally able to execute e2fsck...but guess what, now there's a new problem I can't boot into Ubuntu because when I turn the pc on the (in)famous Grub's error 17 comes up... My patience is not what it used to be, and I think the only real solution will be to start partitioning from scratch. But hey, please prove me wrong

Thanks