LinuxQuestions.org - Partition recovery

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Partition recovery

Hi all !

My hard disk used to be divided into 5 partitions :

/dev/hda1 was fat32 with Windows XP on it 5 (~ 30 GB)
/dev/hda3 was ext3, and empty : i wanted to install Ubuntu Lite on it (~10 GB)
/dev/hda7 (but not sure about the number) was etx3 : / partition for Ubuntu (~ 5 GB)
/dev/hda8 (not sure) was swap (~ 500 GB)
/dev/hda9 (not sure) was /home ( ~ 40 GB)

I tried to install Ubuntu Lite, but before the installer had even started up, it started fiddling my my partitions (by running mkswap) ... So I rebooted the machine ... and of course GRUB wouldn't show up anymore ... So I started Knoppix up to see what was wrong.

Here's my /etc/fstab under Knoppix :

Code:

/proc      /proc      proc  defaults            0 0

/sys      /sys        sysfs  noauto              0 0

/dev/pts  /dev/pts    devpts mode=0622          0 0

/dev/fd0  /mnt/auto/floppy auto  user,noauto,exec,umask=000    0 0

/dev/cdrom /mnt/auto/cdrom  auto  user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0

/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/auto/cdrom1  auto  users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0

# Added by KNOPPIX

/dev/hda1 none swap defaults 0 0

# Added by KNOPPIX

/dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0

So Knoppix has only detected /dev/hda1 and /dev/hda2 ...

/dev/hda is definitely swap. And I can't mount /dev/hda2 :

This is what sudo mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 shows :

Code:

mount: you must specify the filesystem type

So I tried mounting is as ext2, ext3 and vfat, and it says :

Code:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2,

      missing codepage or other error

      In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try

      dmesg | tail  or so

However, fdisk says /dev/hda2 is of type 83 (Linux) ...

What shall I do to get my old partitions back ?

Thanks in advance,

Alex.

At first look, it seems to happened that a command from You destroyed the partition table of /dev/hda.

You can give testdisk a try to find the lost partitions. It can restore the partition table of a HD, but read the doc's carefully.

Although, please clear out what partition is swap? First You talk of /dev/hda8, later You tell /dev/hda ( 1? ) is or was swap.

Thanks, I'll look it up right now ...

Well, I think /dev/hda8 _used_ to be swap ... What is sure now is that /dev/hda1 _is_ swap.

Thanks again,

Alex.

Strangely enough, testdisk seems to detect only /dev/hdc (my CD burner) ... Maybe I should download UltimateBootCD to see...

I checked the log, and only /dev/hdc appears...

Well, I tried testdisk, but it doesn't find my old partitions ... Here's the log :

Code:

Fri Jul 29 11:56:02 2005

TestDisk command line : /log /debug

TestDisk 5.3, Data Recovery Utility, May 2004

Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>

http://www.cgsecurity.org

Linux version

Using locale 'C'.

file_read(4,1,buffer,160087724(9964/254/63)) seek err Invalid argument

file_read(5,1,buffer,240974(14/254/63)) seek err Invalid argument

Hard disk list

Disk /dev/hda - CHS 9964 255 63 - 78159 MB

Disk /dev/hdc - CHS 14 255 63 - 109 MB





Analyse Disk /dev/hda - CHS 9964 255 63 - 78159 MB

Geometry from MBR: head=255 sector=63

check_part 83

get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2

Current partitions:

 1 P Linux Swap              0  1  1    24 254 63    401562

No EXT2, JFS or Reiser marker

 2 * Linux                  25  0  1  9963 254 63  159670035

 2 * Linux                  25  0  1  9963 254 63  159670035



search_part()

Disk /dev/hda - CHS 9964 255 63 - 78159 MB

  D Linux Swap              0  1  1    24 254 45    401544



recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/117, s_mnt_count=0/29, s_blocks_per_group=32768

recover_EXT2: boot_sector=0, s_blocksize=4096

recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 3857608

recover_EXT2: part_size 30860864

  D Linux                3863  0  1  5783 254 62  30860864

    EXT3 Sparse superblock 

  D Linux Swap            5784  0  1  5846 254 40    1012072

get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=1

get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=3



Results

  * Linux Swap              0  1  1    24 254 63    401562

  P Linux                3863  0  1  5783 254 63  30860865

    EXT3 Sparse superblock 

  P Linux Swap            5784  0  1  5846 254 63    1012095



interface_write()

 1 * Linux Swap              0  1  1    24 254 63    401562

 2 P Linux                3863  0  1  5783 254 63  30860865

 3 P Linux Swap            5784  0  1  5846 254 63    1012095

simulate write!



write_mbr: starting...

write_all_log: starting...

New options :

 Paranoid : No

 Dump : No

Cylinder boundary : Yes

 Mode : Fast

 Allow partial last cylinder : No

 Ask partition order : No

 Halt on errors : Yes

 Maximize extended part : No

 Expert mode : No



TestDisk exited normally.

Could anyone help me ?

Thanks,

Alex.

Testdisk found three partitions on hda, one ext3-linux and two swap. You can direct testdisk to " search deeper " for partitions. This may take several hours and often does not bring THE result.

At this point You will restore the last backup of Your HD or install again ( formatting, etc. ). :(

Maybe Anyone on this Forum can give other helpful suggestions?

Thanks for your help, but even "searching deeper" didn't get helpful results ... So I formatted the hard disk and installed my (old) backup...

Thanks again,

Alex.