LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] gparted thinks hdd is empty

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gparted thinks hdd is empty

I have just downloaded LinuxMint 10 from LQ and put it on a MicroSD card.
On my 1.6Ghz Atom netbook it boots in 73 seconds. Looks good so far.

I have a 500GB hard drive (/dev/sda) with 130GB allocated in 10 partitions, one primary and the rest logical.
When I fired up gparted to add another partition it showed the disk as empty.

What do fdisk, sfdisk and parted report about the 500 GB HDD?

fdisk:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 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: 0x9e7d9e7d



  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/sda1  *          1        3917    31463271    7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda2            3918      15267    91168875    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda3            5193        5202      80325  83  Linux

/dev/sda5            3918        5192    10241406    b  W95 FAT32

/dev/sda6            5203        7751    20474811  83  Linux

/dev/sda7            7752        8260    4088511  82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda8            8261      10937    21502971  83  Linux

/dev/sda9          10938      11446    4088511  83  Linux

/dev/sda10          11447      11955    4088511  83  Linux

/dev/sda11          11956      15267    26603608+  83  Linux

parted:

Code:

/home/jim # parted /dev/sda print                        

Error: Can't have overlapping partitions

I used knoppix qtparted(?) to create most of the partitions.
Perhaps parted does not like sda3 and sda5 being out of order???

sfdisk:

Code:

# sfdisk -l /dev/sda



Disk /dev/sda: 60801 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track

Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



  Device Boot Start    End  #cyls    #blocks  Id  System

/dev/sda1  *      0+  3916    3917-  31463271    7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda2      3917  15266  11350  91168875    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda3      5192    5201      10      80325  83  Linux

/dev/sda4          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sda5      3917+  5191    1275-  10241406    b  W95 FAT32

/dev/sda6      5202+  7750    2549-  20474811  83  Linux

/dev/sda7      7751+  8259    509-  4088511  82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda8      8260+  10936    2677-  21502971  83  Linux

/dev/sda9      10937+  11445    509-  4088511  83  Linux

/dev/sda10    11446+  11954    509-  4088511  83  Linux

/dev/sda11    11955+  15266    3312-  26603608+  83  Linux

It's sda 3 overlapping sda2. I'd get rid of sda3.

sda2 overlaps sda3 through sda11. It is the container for the logical partitions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CollieJim (Post 4161806)

sda2 overlaps sda3 through sda11. It is the container for the logical partitions.

??

The container/extended partition is clearly sda2

Quote:

/dev/sda2 3918 15267 91168875 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)

sda3 is a primary partition that overlaps with the extended partition.

Edit: For explanation, primary and extended partitions will always get number 1-4, logical partitions get numbers from 5 upwards.

Thanks. I really should know that by now. I should probably find a nice, padded cell somewhere...
sda3 is the boot partition and is easily moved.
I just need to work out grub's (hd0,?) for sda11 with sda3 missing.

It won't change.
If you use Grub 1 ("legacy") it's (hd0,10)
If you use Grub 2 it's (hd0,11)

Thanks. All is well now, for a while...