----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Sawtell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 5:33 PM Subject: Re: Partition Tables
> On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 10:34, you wrote: > > Say upon an OS having issues and needing to be re-installed, that it mucks > > up the partition tables. > > > > Examples are partition magic saying init failed177: Partition's Drive > > letter cannot be identified, and the RH installer saying that the partition > > table is incorrect possibly due to being written with incorrect BIOS > > information (or words to that effect). > Some distros buggerize with the tables so that others cannot read them > > > How would I go about repairing this? > > Or even... can I repair this? > boot the machine using a bootable cd or floppy such as a Tom's Root and Boot > floppy or a lnx-bbc cd or a Knoppix disc. > > then issue the command:- > > fdisk -l > > If you get a sensible looking list of partitions you are probably rescueable. > Otherwise not. Sorry, if so, in practice you have lost the lot. > > Hmm, either I'm missing something I think I missed something out. I can boot the computer quite happily, to whichever OS, and everything runs a charm, no problems. The only reason I noticed this was when trying to run explore2fs it wouldn't work, and likewise with the aforementioned programs saying 'sorry buddy, partitions are wrong'. If it help (I just remembered this) In the RH install program it had a working map of the partitions. Normally it's along the lines of (with mistakes from memory added): -|- hda0 NTFS 5MB |- hda1 5MB | |- ext2 | |- ext2 | |- swap |-- hda2 vfat 10MB ... Actually that doesn't look quite right, but you get the idea. But now it's changed so that in between all the base paths (between what I've labelled hda0, hda1 and hda2 - the bit I don't think looks right atm) have a '<1 MB Free Space' entry between them. Am just about to try the fdisk -l thing tho. Wish me luck :) -- Slosh
