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-   -   Booting problem on HDD addition having ext3 partitions. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/booting-problem-on-hdd-addition-having-ext3-partitions-717353/)

learner786 04-07-2009 02:12 AM

Booting problem on HDD addition having ext3 partitions.
 
I have two PC's installed RHEL4. One of PC is not booting properly. I want to get data backup from the partitions. When I add the problem PC Hard Drive to the system that is booting properly it gives error on booting when i add the second Hard Drive.
I need help to solve this problem.
How to add HDD with existing Linux partitions to another Linux system.

maxy7710 04-07-2009 02:26 AM

Lets say u have 2 systems A & B

A is working fine & HDD in B is having problem.

so first shutdown both systems & remove HDD from B & connect to A.

Start up System A, ideally it should start up normally & on start up it should show the HDD from B in fdisk -l.

then check whether partitions from B HDD are visible in cat /proc/partitons.

if not run partprobe & check in cat /proc/partitons.

once u get then just mount them under required folders & u r work will be done.

post errors if u get any

Vit77 04-07-2009 02:38 AM

I guess your problem could be caused because disks were renumerated by kernel.
So, your boot disk 0 became the First.

What you have to do there is to change your bootloader configuration:
instead of
Code:

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz ...
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

use this:

Code:

kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz ...
initrd (hd1,0)/boot/initrd.img

or hd2..., depending on the connection.

jschiwal 04-07-2009 02:48 AM

Another method would be to boot up to a LiveCd or pendrive distro and backup the data over the network.

Japie 04-07-2009 02:50 AM

You could also try to boot from a CD, go into a shell and remove the bootflag from disk B

malekmustaq 04-07-2009 03:43 AM

learner786:

If the other pc doesn't boot then the only means to use the backup partition in it is to physically attach it to the good pc. This means, shutdown and switch power off the two pc's, remove the hard disk of non-booting pc and plug it as a slave into the good pc.

Boot, and while the good pc is running mount the the newly attached hard disk then you can browse on it or copy files from it saving the files into the good pc hard disk.

======== "When I add the problem PC Hard Drive to the system that is booting properly it gives error on booting when i add the second Hard Drive.
I need help to solve this problem."========

The error is due to BIOS misconfiguration. So, after plugging the HDD you should go to the BIOS configuration and see if the newly attached HDD is duly recognized, and note down correctly where it is located. Sometimes you need to switch the "jumper" behind the HDD setting it into slave, your hardware manual gives you the clue see it.

If the good pc recognizes the new slave then you can mount it for use. To find out where the new slave is located in the hardware level try issue command # lspci -hvv at the terminal, examine closely the disks reported. To get device name try command # fdsik -l and note the device name of slave, use this name in mounting it. Anyway, redhat runs udev and auto mounting is expected, if not do it manually.

======"How to add HDD with existing Linux partitions to another Linux system."========

Cold plug it to be sure. This means you shutdown and plug OFF both PC's while you remove the HDD from pc one and attach the same to pc two.

My suggestions assume that you're not able to access the bad pc through NFS network.

If network is up you only need to "mount" it from there.

I hope this helps.

Goodluck.

onebuck 04-07-2009 08:44 AM

Hi,

I would add that some hdd are setup as 'single' so you might need to setup the jumper on the host system to 'master'. You would then jumper the second hdd to 'slave' if placing on the same ide channel as the host hdd. Don't forget to restore the jumper configuration to the original position when you remove the repaired hdd. That means both hdd.


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