On Sun, Dec 23, 2001 at 04:28:09PM +0530, Suneil Ramesh wrote: > > ..... So I uninstalled lilo, booted from the Caldera CD, and > split the linux partition into two partitions, using fdisk > that came with Caldera, so that I could install Caldera in > one of the partitions and Red Hat in the other.I went to the > next step i.e. partitioning for swap but saw that swap part- > ition I had done for Red Hat had disappeared. I went back to > fdisk. I was shocked to find that the Windows partition plus > three or four windows partitions I had had disappeared! Only > the first partition and the two linux partitions were seen. > I aborted the installation. >
The problem here of basic misunderstanding of M$ partitioning. M$ fdisk creates only ONE Primary and the rest as Extended Logicals (which basically have only one boot record). When you repartition such a system under Linux, the full extended part- ition (with all logicals under it) will be wiped out. > I want to recover the lost partitions as I have important > data in them. I had been using fdisk for quite some time and > this is the first time such a problem has occurred. This is not a problem of Linux fdisk. This legacy program is totally single character command driven, and nothing will go wrong until you issue the "w" (write) command ... The problem with newer distros is that they replace this with cfdisk or some other fdisk program .... with basic non-sense camflouged under the garb of a "modern" GUI install ... If you have NOT placed ext2 filesystem on it, the only chance of recovery is reset ALL the partitions to their exact type & size, correct upto the cylinder boundaries ... most people do not keep copy of 'fidsk -l' before re-partitioning. It is not likely you can recover any of the lost things. > I think I might have deleted the extended partition itself > instead of the linux partition in the extended partition. You DEFINITELY have. The golden rule for installing an OS is: "ALL BOOTABLE OSs SHOULD BE ON A PRIMARY PARTITION". This will have its own boot record, and avoid the kind of situation that you are presently in. > > Is there anyway I can recover the lost partitions ? Please > help me. > Don't think there is any way. However, things always happen for the good. You can start on a clean slate now, and re- partition your hda2, hda3 as PRIMARY and the rest as Exten- ded. You would be able to put at least two more OSs on such a system. Use the extended logicals for data/ swap only. > > P.S. This is the fourth time I am sending this mail. Every- > time I get a message that my message is waiting the moder- > ator's approval. > This is to avoid intrusions into our list. You have probably been mailing with an address other than the one with which you are subscribed. Bish -- : ####[ Linux One Stanza Tip (LOST) ]########################### Sub : ext2 to ext3 conversion LOST #089 Point your browser to the following howto if u are interested in converting your existing ext2 filesystem to ext3 : http://www.symonds.net/~rajesh ####<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>###################################### : _______________________________________________ linux-india-help mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-help
