well, i am not sure since it was about 2 years ago that i added this HD.
i came accross an example on the net, as follows (what is the risk of changing ID? do i lose any data?). the concept is as follows: nothing from my system
[root]# fdisk /dev/hdb
Command (m for help): m (Enter the letter "m" to get list of commands)
Command action
a toggle a bootable flag
b edit bsd disklabel
c toggle the dos compatibility flag
d delete a partition
l list known partition types
m print this menu
n add a new partition
o create a new empty DOS partition table
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
s create a new empty Sun disklabel
t change a partition's system id
u change display/entry units
v verify the partition table
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
e
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-2654, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-2654, default 2654):
Using default value 2654

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hdb: 240 heads, 63 sectors, 2654 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 2654 20064208+ 5 Extended

Command (m for help): w (Write and save partition table)

[root]# mkfs -t ext3 /dev/hdb1

I messed you up again... The partition ID is independent of filesystem and so you will not lose data. However, you should change it back to 83. An extended partition is a container for logical partitions and you might be confused if want to add additional partitions in the future.

Try

Install gparted and have it guess the partition boundaries and type. The utility gparted should guess the partition boundaries and type with out any problems if it is primary partition. If the partitions are extended/logical, it is going to have a hard time guessings those partitions.

I suggest using cfdisk instead of fdisk. Sometimes fdisk does things incorrectly. Also the manual for fdisk recommends that you first use cfdisk to create or delete partitions.

After you have created the partition, use hdparm -z to re-scan the partition geometry.

Hopefully, when Fedora mounts NTFS, it mounted as read-only which should always be default even though some people have not experience any corruption with the new NTFS support code.

If you do not mind using VMware Workstation or VMware Server, you can create a LIVE Windows CD/DVD to access files within Linux.

thanks for all the info. here is what i gos when i attempted what syg00 suggested.

:~$ sudo file -sL /dev/hdb1
Password:
/dev/hdb1: Linux rev 1.0 ext3 filesystem data (needs journal recovery) (errors) (large files)

when i saw the ext3, then i attempted to mount that as

~$ sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /mnt/disk2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdb1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

You said you have given up on FC - do you actually want the data on this partition ???.
If not, just mkfs on it - needs to be unmounted for that anyway. Pick a fs that suits - personally I use ext3 for most.

hy sig00,
yes indeed, i have given up fc. however, the files i have on the back hd are badly needed. i cannot give it up at all. so, do you have any idea as to how i can access it. it is a linux partition (one only) and as far as i can see, from the post above, it is an ext3.

mounting the windows partition, ntfs, was no worries. this back up file which is difficuult. i installed gparted (as electro suggested), it identified the back up hd as /dev/hdb1 ext3, however it could not access it either.

thanks

hy sgi00,
i forgot to mention, the files contained in the bkup hd are such as pdf, doc, mp3 etc.

do you think there might be a problem, since it was used with fc? i hope not!
thanks
padeco

Mmmm - normally I would just suggest fsck with an alternate superblock(s). Although I have found (physically) damaged disks that I couldn't do anything with.

I wonder if FC had this disk as part of an LVM group. I hesitate to suggest any recovery options as I've always stayed away from LVM - because of the way I work, not any intrinsic problem with LVM. Hopefully someone like haertig will pass by and offer some insight.

Other than that you might be in need of some forensic software - foremost maybe; it seems to be avalable for download under Ubuntu.
Will take (a *lot*) of time, and probably disk space. I always allow twice as much for working (disk) storage when doing recovery.

hy syg00

does this make any sense to you?
/$ dmesg | tail
[17252498.096000] hdb: task_in_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
[17252498.096000] hdb: task_in_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=79, high=0, low=79, sector=79
[17252498.096000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17252498.096000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 79
[17252498.096000] EXT3-fs: can't read group descriptor 1
[17254351.832000] hdb: task_in_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
[17254351.832000] hdb: task_in_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=79, high=0, low=79, sector=79
[17254351.832000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17254351.832000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 79
[17254351.832000] EXT3-fs: can't read group descriptor 1
:/$

many thanks. i hope i have not lost the info.

padeco

Sounds like a dead drive to me.
You could try the forensics, but I wouldn't hold out much hope.

hi there,
this is just an update to let you guys know that the problem was fixed. it was an error related to damaged superblock on the hdb1. so, i had to follow the steps from http://www.brunolinux.com/04-The_Fil...uperblock.html (very nice site for beginners on linux).

after a long and tortuous many long hours and late nights the issue is solved. now ubuntu loads in no time, access to hdb1 is done in a flash. once again, thank you all for the time and information given, every one was of assistance and helped in some way.

thanks,
padeco