Hi all, We finally fixed it today.
Jacques had accidentally knocked out the partition table of his hard disk (/dev/sdb) and not that of the USB stick (/dev/sdd)! Luckily, he had a live-USB Ubuntu - Karmic Koala - Netbook remix. We booted off the USB. downloaded testdisk debian package and installed it - right on the live USB. We then used testdisk to search the hard disk (/dev/sdb) for previous partitions and we did find his last valid partition. Restore, save, reboot! We got right back in and when the laptop booted into his old desktop environment, I discovered that Jacques could actually say thank you in Luganda!! We also decided to fix the 'offending' USB stick by wiping its partition table using gparted in Ubuntu and creating a VFAT partition on it. After that, the full 2GB capacity was available - at least we could copy and play back some Beatles and Tempations audio files. A wonderful evening of data recovery - courtesy of Testdisk and Ubuntu Karmic Koala. Cheers! Bernard On 01/02/2010, Peter C. Ndikuwera <[email protected]> wrote: > Is it me or did you format the wrong disk? > > On 30/01/2010, Jacques Schrier <[email protected]> wrote: >> Dear John, >> >> the first link didn't workout. >> >> the second and third link are to high for me. >> >> I'll keep trying. >> >> Jacques >> >> >> >> On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 9:07 PM, John Kibuuka <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Jacques, >>> >>> Please don't sweat as it wouldn't help. Calm down and think straight. >>> >>> This might help, >>> >>> http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-5134.html >>> >>> Using the super grub disk might help you as well to repair grub which you >>> can download from, >>> >>> http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10921 >>> >>> and the tutorial, >>> >>> >>> http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/SGD_Howto_make#How_to_make_a_Super_Grub_Disk_Cdrom >>> . >>> >>> I hope that helps. >>> >>> John >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 7:22 PM, Jacques Schrier >>> <[email protected] >>> > wrote: >>> >>>> I think I've done something stupid. >>>> >>>> The computer doesn't start any more, grub "error 17" >>>> >>>> I'm sweating !!! >>>> >>>> Need first aid !!!!! >>>> >>>> Jacques >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 6:43 PM, Jacques Schrier < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Dear Bernard, >>>>> >>>>> formating not working, following error: >>>>> *Format /dev/sdc1 as fat32* 00:00:00 ( ERROR ) calibrate >>>>> /dev/sdc1 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) *path: /dev/sdc1* >>>>> *start: 0* >>>>> *end: 3948542* >>>>> *size: 3948543 (1.88 GiB)* set partition type on >>>>> /dev/sdc1 00:00:00 ( ERROR ) libparted messages ( INFO ) >>>>> */dev/sdc: unrecognised disk label* I've used Gparted >>>>> >>>>> Any idea? >>>>> >>>>> Jacques >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> LUG mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >>>> %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >>>> >>>> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >>>> attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any >>>> way. >>>> --------------------------------------- >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >> > > > -- > "Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length" > -- Robert Frost > _______________________________________________ > LUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. > --------------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
