filesystem bad? [solved]

[Trio3b]

MDK 10.2 boot gets to files system check during boot, then this error:

hda7 clean

hda8 clean

dev/'hdb1

The superblock could not be read because it does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem.

dev/hdb2

same error

fsck ext2...no such file while trying to open hdb1

fsck ext3...no such file while trying to open hdb2

 

failed to check filesystem do you want to repair errors. y/n?

pressing y results in "there was an error in check" run fsck

 

Hda is W2000/MDK 10.2 dualboot was working fine.

Added hdb and used MCC to partition into 3 partitions-FAT32, ext2 and ext3. The FAT 32 was for shared audio files, etc. The ext2 and ext 3 was for experimentation. I noticed in the past that MCC partition usually notifies that the part table is going to be written to hdX, but this time didn't. It said you will have to reboot for changes to take effect. When I rebooted, I got the above.

 

This was bound to happen from experimentation. I have pulled out hdb, but am still getting these errors. I have not fsck'ed before. Why is this affecting hda which checks out OK?

 

Any help out there?

Thanks

Edited December 31, 2005 by Trio3b

[Ixthusdan]

Check your /etc/fstab. If those settings are in there, then linux will look for them at every boot. Also, make sure the entry was correct.

[arctic]

Some info for system-recovery

http://www.yoper.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7400

[Trio3b]

Thanks,

 

Will check this weekend.

 

 

Some info for system-recovery

http://www.yoper.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7400

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Trio3b]

You got it. Freaked out because when I used the rescue mode, the windows part was fine but the linux partitions were listed as ext2 and am sure MDK 10.2 is ext3. I had been trying to format the hdb as ext2 and thought that the root and home partitions of hda had accidentally been "altered' , but don't know if rewriting an ext3 part as ext2 is possible or what problems this could cause. I think you can change ext2 into ext3.

 

Anyway, for anyone caught in same situation, MDK rescue mode allows you to mount the damaged hd partitions under /mnt of the rescue mode. At the time did not understand why.

 

Took hdb and installed into second MDK 10.2 PC. From there created new directory under /mnt and mounted the "damaged" hd. At that point was able to mount the /etc of the damaged drive and comment out the hdb entries. Then reinstalled this drive into original PC and voila!... had my system back. Now I see why Mandrake rescue offers the "mount filesystem under /mnt" option, although I took the scenic route.

 

Still not sure why the hdb entries caused the problem other than that the hdb partitions never got formatted. I am absolutely positive that I was working on hdb tab of the MCC mount point utility and that the report was that the partition info was going to be written to hdb, but when I clicked on format, report was it was necessary to reboot.

 

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Thanks for your help

[arctic]

hdb shouldn't have been altered if you didn't change it. So this is rather weird. I guess you made a mistake accidently (The most common thing. I nearly formatted my main drive with a Knoppix-CD the other day. I stopped in the last second, before my critical data would be erased).

 

As far as ext2 and ext3: ext3 is basically an ext2 filesystem. the only difference is the added journaling option that is imho necessary for system-recovery. If the journaling fails on an ext3 partition it will drop back to ext2, so your data ain't lost in most cases. The drive can usually be restored to ext3 later (unless there are serious problems with the partition inodes).