Linux not seeing certain partitions

Peleus · 12-07-2012, 08:11 PM

I'm trying to get some more space on my Linux drive, so I'm shrinking a previously NTFS partition and planning to format in Ext4. The issue I'm having though is that linux seems to be not seeing particular partitions, both in terms of physical drives and logical partitions. Please note I'm keeping the numbers round to ease of explanation, obviously 1TB's aren't showing 1TB, but their actual size (i.e. 931GB).

In reality - this is what I have -

1. 120GB SDD (C: -> Windows OS)
2. 1TB HDD (D: -> Misc Program Files)
3. 1.5TB HDD (E: -> TV Shows (1.4TB)) (H: -> Unallocated Space - Formatting Target (100GB))
4. 1TB HDD (F: -> TV Shows Pt2)
5. 1TB HDD (G: -> Movies)
6. 60GB SSD (Linux Partition Currently EXT4 / Swap etc)

As you can see, all are single partitions apart from the 1.5TB which I wish to format, which I've successfully shrunk using windows to leave unallocated space.
This is what Linux sees.

/dev/sda -> 1TB HDD (#2)
/dev/sdb -> 1.5TB HDD (#3) - But only as a single complete partition (1.5TB), not the unallocated space
/dev/sdc -> 1TB HDD (#5)
/dev/sdd -> 60GB SSD (#6)

I cannot see at all either the 120GB SSD (#1), the second TV drive (#4) or the logical partition in drive #3 to format.

I've got no idea how to go about forcing linux to search for the extra partitions. All tools seem to be reporting the same thing, although I'm happy to provide any further output you wish. The really important one I wish to solve is viewing the 100GB partition to format it and get some extra space, but obviously seeing all of them would be great for ease of file transfer etc. Distro is Backtrack 5r3, any help is greatly appreciated. Here is the output from fdisk -

Code:

root@bt:~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x03a1319d

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1      121601   976760000+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x49b84276

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      182401  1465136001    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8f1d6a32

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1      121601   976760001    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 60.0 GB, 60022480896 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7297 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044434

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1               1        6994    56174592   83  Linux
/dev/sdd2            6994        7298     2438145    5  Extended
/dev/sdd5            6994        7298     2438144   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Thanks all.

frankbell · 12-07-2012, 08:30 PM

This might help. I offer it completely untested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGlnhF7JbE

james2b · 12-07-2012, 11:18 PM

Try booting to a CD with GParted on it, the gnome partition editor. Then you can edit partitions as desired. There is also a partition table fix tool on it called Test Disk which may help. Here; http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php

syg00 · 12-08-2012, 01:58 AM

Check on Windoze if you have dynamic disks defined.

markush · 12-09-2012, 01:56 AM

It would also be good to know your kernel version

Code:

uname -r

very old kernels will not support such big disks.

Markus

masterclassic · 12-11-2012, 10:37 AM

I would suggest to check the system in some other Linux distribution.
GParted livecd (latest stable ot latest testing version) is a good choice, as it contains testdisk too.
You can run

Code:

sudo fdisk -lu

from the terminal.

Furthermore, it seems somehow strange to me, to see

Code:

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

for the SSD drive. I think these drives use 4k sectors, so the physical sector size would be 4096 bytes instead of 512 bytes.