kmack Posted July 26, 2003 Report Share Posted July 26, 2003 Better check out things before you try the fdisk route... I think it might not be the way to go yet. Don't do it in Linux yet is what I mean... I don't think you can on XP anyhow: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314058 Shows how to get back into xp recovery console this is source of this info: http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd...dview&id=215902 You are at a critical point so review your options carefully and get more advice if you're not sure and don't want to risk losing data. I am just offering some google help so you can see some options. The real pros like Ixthusdan, Tyme, Aru, bvc, Cannonfodder, and others are the ones with more experience in Mandrake. Everyone is here to help you all we can. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted July 26, 2003 Report Share Posted July 26, 2003 fdisk is evil. The worst utiliy to use, unless all you want is something written by Gates. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jneg123 Posted July 26, 2003 Report Share Posted July 26, 2003 Thanks again for all your efforts. Still no luck getting WinXP to load. I did use PM7 to partition the 80 gig drive into C (main WinXP), D (data), and E (swap). Mdk 9.1 is on a second 4 gig hard drive. I was asked to post 2 files, my /etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab so here goes. **begin /etc/lilo.conf** boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map vga=normal default="linux" keytable=/boot/us.klt compact prompt nowarn timeout=100 message=/boot/message menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux" root=/dev/hdc1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off" vga=788 read-only image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux-nonfb" root=/dev/hdc1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off" read-only image=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hdc1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="failsafe devfs=nomount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off" read-only other=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hda other=/dev/fd0 label="floppy" unsafe **end /etc/lilo.conf** **begin /etc/fstab** /dev/hdc1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0 /dev/hdc6 /home ext3 defaults 1 2 none /mnt/cdrom supermount dev=/dev/scd0,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 /dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c ntfs iocharsaet=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0 /dev/hda5 /mnt/win_d ntfs iocharsaet=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0 /dev/hda6 /mnt/win_e vfat iocharsaet=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/hdc5 swap swap defaults 0 0 **end /etc/fstab** I have tried to use rescue disks made with PM however I keep getting an error when it tries to read from the second disk and asks to abort, retry, fail. I keep hitting retry but no joy. I've tried remaking the disks and the same result. I tried the fdisk -l /dev/hda command while su root and this is what it told me: Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System /dev/hda1 * 1 9729 78148161 44 Unknown What scares me is that it no longer sees the other partitions. I don't care about the windows swap partition I created, but the data partition is extremely important and I need to save it. I have also used DiskDrak from the MDK Control Center and it represents the 80gig drive as a single, unpartitioned drive. One of the details is "Type: NTFS (or HPFS) (0x7). I borrowed a WinXP Pro CD from my friend and will try to "repair" from the cd. If there are any other suggestions based on the info I just posted please reply. I am willing to try just about anything to get my data partition back. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmack Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 I am not running a NTFS system here, and don't know too much about them, but the "ro" in his fstab entry is not present in my fstab for /mnt/windows. (mine is VFAT) Would that keep it from mounting? What's that about? /dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c ntfs iocharsaet=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0/dev/hda5 /mnt/win_d ntfs iocharsaet=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0 Does that mean anything or is it normal in the case of NTFS? Also the "iocharsaet" is misspelled: is that a typo or is it wrong in the file itself? should be iocharset=iso8859-1 Hang in there! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jneg123 Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 kmack - the iocharset thing was just a typo. fstab has it spelled correctly. As far as the NTFS and "ro" stuff is concerned I don't know. I did realize that I didn't specify the types of partitions I created with PartitionMagic 7. The C (winxp & programs) partition is primary and NTFS. D and E are logical. E (swap) is NTFS and D (data) is FAT32. I made the data FAT32 thinking I could share and work with my files and data easier while getting to know how Linux worked. I'm begining to fear that with the changes I made to LILO configuration, it wrote over the partition table at the begining of hda and now have to figure out how to get the data without it. Any other ideas? Thanks again, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 Have you tried removing lilo in rescue mode? Boot cd1>F1>rescue>Restore the Win mbr......or the like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 ....and you might try grub.....I use it....and there's a reason it's RH's default :wink: should be for all distros :P mcc>Boot>DrakBoot>Configure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jneg123 Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 bvc - Thanks for your suggestion, but I've tried all three boot loaders, LILO graphical menu, LILO text, and GRUB. I've also tried to do the rescue from cd1 by restoring the Win bootloader. All that did was start windows loading directly instead of going through the loader. The problem is that once windows starts loading I get the error message and the system reboots by itself and does the same thing all over again in a loop. The only way to get the system to stop this process is to manually hold down the power button. I'm at a complete loss about what to try next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MottS Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 I'm at a complete loss about what to try next. No later than this week, my friend (a windows only user) had a presentation to do Windows xp was refusing to start. So he called me and told him to boot the cd and do the 'repair' trick. He called me the day after to thanks me. The only thing you have to know is if the system ask you 'do you want to format' (or something like that) then this is not the 'repair' option. 'Repair' isn't destructive and all you datas will be there after that... don't worry. MOttS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 Try the suggestions, but, again, if linux does not see the data on a fat32 partition, something is fundamentally wrong with the partition table. I think that booting with a windex disk and allowing it to do a thorough scandisk would be the safest first step. See what scan disk finds. Don't let it make changes, unless you are sure that the changes will not loose data. Repairing a bad sector would be ok. Finding millions of bytes of lost data would not be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 After MottS suggestion, as a last resort, try parted...it's on the cd's. I say last resort because it is an extremely powerfull yet unforgiving app. I once chose an option by command and as I hit Enter relized 'WAIT' ...too late....everything gone, so be sure to read, read, read, like I didn't ...well it sounded like a good choice :wink:...if I had read up like I should have, I wouldn't have lost everything. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crashdamage Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 I read through this thread, and while I don't have a definitive fix for you, I caught something that needs clarification... In your fstab, you have: /dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c ntfs iocharset=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0 /dev/hda5 /mnt/win_d ntfs iocharset=iso8859-1,ro,umask=0 0 0 /dev/hda6 /mnt/win_e vfatlocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 This says that you have a NTFS C: drive, a NTFS D: drive and FAT32 E: drive. But you said that your D: data drive was FAT32 not NTFS to allow R/W on it from Win & Linux. So which one is the D: data drive? And E: is swap??? In order to minimize the chance of data loss, I'd do all I could to fix things using M$ stuff 'til you run out of options. If you can get into Windoze rescue or to any kind of system prompt, try running chkdisk on the D: drive. It will probably tell you there is no D:, if so try C: If the only problem on the drive is the partition table, chkdisk *should* be able to fix it without losing your data. I ran into this problem lately and chkdisk did save the data, but made C: & D: into one C: partition doing it. But that was on a system where C: & D: were both FAT32. If your C: is NTFS and D: really is FAT32 I'm not sure what chkdisk will decide to do about it. If you're really living right it might find some clue about what the partitions were (like realizing there are both NTFS & FAT32 files on the drive, but don't expect much, we're talkin' 'bout a M$ utility here...) and fix your C: system partition. But if I were in your shoes right now I'd be pretty happy just to get the stuff on D: back and screw the XP install. You don't need it anyway, right? If somehow the D: FAT32 drive got only converted to NTFS(?), it shouldn't have trashed the data, just changed the file system. If somehow you actually reformatted the drive to NTFS, either with PM or DiskDrake, you're probably screwed. If DiskDrake is now seeing your entire 80G (hda) drive as one unpartitioned drive that's because the partition table is gone. DiskDrake, which reads the Windoze partition info (if it's there) to setup, not the file system itself, of course then knows nothing about your partitions. Give up on Partition Magic. I've helped several people lately with straightening out messes that Partition Magic made. Often it seems users just get confused by the none-too-intuitive interface of PM, but the program really just kinda sucks as a whole. It's bad enough with Windoze and kinda useless with Linux since PM-7 has no Linux support. PM-8 supports ext3 only, and poorly. Use Disdrake for formatting Linux partitions, it handles NTFS fine. If you must have a Windoze partitioning tool, use Acronis Partiton Expert. It's cheaper and all-around better than PM, including full support for all common Linux file systems like ReiserFS, ext3, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 I've only used PM7 (still do and I use reiserfs for linux) and it does have linux support, but only for ext2 and linux swap. To say it has a 'none-too-intuitive interface' is :shock: . I'd love to no one better. Diskdrake? I don't think so! :wink: JMO :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crashdamage Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 bvc said: "I've only used PM7 (still do and I use reiserfs for linux) and it does have linux support, but only for ext2 and linux swap." Yeah, I forgot PM7 does have ext2-only support, I was thinkin' they added that in PM8. Oops... "To say it has a 'none-too-intuitive interface' is :shock: . I'd love to no one better. Diskdrake? I don't think so! :wink: JMO :)" Whatever - I've fixed some problems lately that were clearly because the user got confused by the PM interface. I like the Partition Expert interface better, as GUIs go. Anyway Partition Expert is about half of what PM costs and has full Linux file system support. DiskDrake is definetly kinda klutzy, but it works. As with any partitioning tool, ya just gotta be *real* careful! Hey, we're kinda gettin' away from the problem at hand here...any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 PM8 has Reiser, Ext2+3 and Swap abilities. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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