Partitions unidentifiable after installing XP

alkanetexe · 04-29-2009, 09:45 PM

Kind of in trouble here...

My original situation looked like this:

120GB total:
Four Linux Partitions, 40GB --Blank Space, 20GB --Hyperdrive, 50GB

All of the OS partitions are 10GB, and the Hyperdrive is a 50GB FAT32 partition for data storage that could be accessed from all of the OSes. My hard drive is 120GB total.

Well, I recently installed XP to the "blank space" and went through a bit of trouble getting back into Linux because ntldr replaced grub on the mbr (or so I believe after researching the problem). Today I finally got back into Linux and don't particularly care for the XP partition, so I've been looking into different versions of Linux that could replace it.

But when I opened GParted, it said my entire hard drive was "Unallocated Space," even after several refreshes. I've even looked at my HD from several LiveDiscs and it says the same thing. But XP (when I used it) could see all of the separate partitions, and both Linux and Windows can detect the Hyperdrive.

Can anybody help me figure this out/Does anybody know what's wrong?

yancek · 04-29-2009, 09:55 PM

xp will automatically overwrite your master boot record and will not ask if you want that.

Were the four Linux partitions (what Linux distribution did you have) primary or logical partitions. Did you create a partition prior to the installation in the unallocated space for xp? Windows doesn't usually boot from a logical partition unless you have another windows version on a primary.

What does 'today I finally got back into Linux' mean. Were you able to boot into your Linux partition? What is the output of 'fdisk -l' command? What distro of Linux are you using?

alkanetexe · 04-29-2009, 10:04 PM

I don't know whether they were logical or primary; I just know they were there.

I believe I did create a blank partition prior to the XP install.

The four Linux partitions were actually only two OSes: Mint, blank, Xubuntu, blank.

"Today I finally got back into Linux" means I reinstalled grub and was able to boot into Linux as opposed to Windows. I booted into the Mint partition, and as such am using Linux Mint 6 Felicia Main Edition.

fdisk -l outputs

Quote:

Cannot open /dev/sda

sudo fdisk -l outputs

Quote:

omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x11a8ba38

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1363 10948266 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 1364 2727 10956330 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2728 14593 95313645 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 14222 14593 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda5 2728 4032 10482349+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 4033 5337 10482381 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 6644 13849 57882163+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 13850 14221 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

syg00 · 04-29-2009, 11:08 PM

Code:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1363 10948266 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 1364 2727 10956330 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2728 14593 95313645 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 14222 14593 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris 
/dev/sda5 2728 4032 10482349+ 83 Linux 
/dev/sda6 4033 5337 10482381 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 6644 13849 57882163+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 13850 14221 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

That bit in red is a primary partition. It's overlapping the extended partition - a big nono.
If it were me I'd just use fdisk to delete sda4, and then see if gparted and co will talk to the disk.

Tinkster · 04-29-2009, 11:20 PM

Blonde moment ... ignore

alkanetexe · 04-30-2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Code:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1363 10948266 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 1364 2727 10956330 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2728 14593 95313645 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 14222 14593 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris 
/dev/sda5 2728 4032 10482349+ 83 Linux 
/dev/sda6 4033 5337 10482381 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 6644 13849 57882163+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 13850 14221 2988058+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

That bit in red is a primary partition. It's overlapping the extended partition - a big nono.
If it were me I'd just use fdisk to delete sda4, and then see if gparted and co will talk to the disk.

How do I do that...?

syg00 · 04-30-2009, 09:51 PM

Take note of my sigline before you do anything.

Code:

sudo fdisk /dev/sda
d
4
w
q

When you first get into fdisk, the prompt mentions "(m for help)". If you enter the "m", you'll see what those commands are doing.

alkanetexe · 05-01-2009, 11:59 AM

Ah, thank you. I was planning on backing things up anyway before anything definite, but thanks for the warning as well.

Now, to find that external HD...