1 Topic by woodsbw

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Topic: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

so anyway, I have been trying to partition my currently all NSTF hard drive, I am running GParted of a LiveCD off a SystemRescueCD, I got to try and repartition and the program tells me that the whole hard drive is unallocated and has no diskable, and tells me that to give it one, I have to erase all of dev/sda...I'm new to Linux, but I think that that means my whole hard drive right...and that is not an option.  Any help would be FANTASIC...thanks

2 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

HM, i must admit this wierd :-p
Could you please post here the output of the following command :
# fdisk -l
Dont panic : this is just a command that print info !

Larry
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3 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

all it does is give me this line:

pipe>

4 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

woodsbw wrote:

all it does is give me this line:

pipe>

dont use a pipe, but a 'l' like in larry smile
fdisk -l

thx

Larry
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5 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12921 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

     Device Boot          Start         End            Blocks          Id    System
/dev/sda1     *                 1      12922       97689296          7    HPFS/NTFS





Thanks again, and sorry for the misread!

6 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

are you able to tell me the exact version of gparted you are running ?

Larry
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7 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

0.3.3

8 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

Could you please download and try the last version ?
0.3.3-6 ?
thx

Larry
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9 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

I can, I am downloading it now, but, FYI, I thought I would let you know, I am tried it on a different computer, and it showed everything fine, I don't know if it makes a difference, just thought I would let you know.

10 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

woodsbw wrote:

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12921  cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

     Device Boot          Start         End            Blocks          Id    System
/dev/sda1     *                 1      12922       97689296          7    HPFS/NTFS





Thanks again, and sorry for the misread!

Well there is something wierd here : i note it in RED  ...
How come this new cylinder :-/

Larry
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Former GParted-LiveCD maintainer (2007)

11 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

I only wish I knew, I am fairly new to all of this, I have just recently started playing with linux on live CD's and fell in love...before that I never had a reason to worry about all this stuff.

12 Reply by woodsbw (edited by woodsbw 2007-02-25 02:50:14)

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

ok, so I got the latest version, and I tried running it, and everything went great until I tried to load the GUI (startx)...I got this spit out at me:

xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.serverauth.9147

X Window System Version 7.1.1
Release Date: 12 May 2006
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1
Build Operating System: UNKNOWN
Current Operating System: Linux gparted 2.6.20-gentoo #1 Wed Feb 21 02:01:45 UTC 2007 i686
Build Date: 20 February 2007
            Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
            to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
             (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
             (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sat Feb 24 19:14:27 2007
(==) Using congif file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) Failed to load module "dbe" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "extmod" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "glx" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "record" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "synaptics" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

XIO:  fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0:
         after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.




I don't really know whats going on...but I'm guessing it's not the best thing in the world

13 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

ok so I found the work-around for the last post in the forum...but it still says that the whole /dev/sda is unallocated...I ran fdisk again on the new version, and it still has the same thing...claiming 12921 cylinders, but having the end on /dev/sda1 as 12922

...my computer is sad...it is stuck in a windows world...it wants linux...

LOL thx again

14 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

some info on my system:

HP Compaq nw8440 Mobile Workstation (all stock, stupid school says all we can do it add memory until we graduate...boo)

Intel

15 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

woodsbw, i fell really sorry but i get no clue for you sad
I have just set a new beta (which means it is for testing). Maybe you could give it a try ?
This is really sad, that i have aboslutly no testers to report me problem with livecd : i am the only maintainer-tester, so many things escape :-/

You will find the link to the last beta hint the "developement part" of the forum, asap.

Larry
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Former GParted-LiveCD maintainer (2007)

16 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

ok...I will, one last thing though...is it possable that this could be due to physical damage to my HD?

17 Reply by LarryT

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

try the way you find with skingston ...

Larry
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18 Reply by woodsbw

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

i tried it...no luck, I guess I will just have to wait till break ends and see what the school can do with it

19 Reply by monti (edited by monti 2007-10-24 11:03:35)

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

This bug is probably the one: http://parted.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin … /ticket/50

(EDIT:changed the URL)

20 Reply by justinmteal

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

i have the same problem... i did a "resize and move to the right" on /dev/sda5 and this is my fdisk -l (as in Larry) output:

    Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
    Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
    Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
    Warning: invalid flag 0x262c of partition table 6 will be corrected by w(rite)

    Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x000d3985

       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1               1         653     5242880   83  Linux
    Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
    /dev/sda2             653        2611    15728640    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda3            2611       15666   104857600   83  Linux
    /dev/sda4           15666       60802   362556440    5  Extended
    /dev/sda5           15666       22805    57344000    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda6   ?       93902      254454  1289630851+  d9  Unknown

sda6 should be my linux swap... everything boots fine, and both OS's can see and use the partitions just like before, but gPartEd reports the drive as unallocated and my swap partition isn't active. 

What does "    Warning: invalid flag 0x262c of partition table 6 will be corrected by w(rite)" mean?

I don't want to do anything to wipe out everything... oh... and the partition table it shows is incorrect... sda5 should be to the right with a few GB at the end for swap. (I don't remember if it's 2 or 4)

HELP!?

21 Reply by gedakc

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

To further diagnose the problem, would you be able to provide the output from the following two commands?

fdisk -l -u

where one of the options is a lower case "L" and not the number one.

parted /path-to-your-device unit s print

where /path-to-your-device is something like /dev/sda.

22 Reply by justinmteal

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

root@ACER-laptop:~# fdisk -l -u
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 6
Warning: invalid flag 0x262c of partition table 6 will be corrected by w(rite)

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d3985

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    10487807     5242880   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2        10487808    41945087    15728640    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3        41945088   251660287   104857600   83  Linux
/dev/sda4       251660288   976773167   362556440    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       251662336   366350335    57344000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6   ?  1508532108  4087793810  1289630851+  d9  Unknown
root@ACER-laptop:~# parted /dev/sda unit s print
Error: Invalid partition table on /dev/sda -- wrong signature 262c.       
Ignore/Cancel? Ignore                                                     
Model: ATA ST9500420AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 976773168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start       End         Size        Type      File system  Flags
 1      2048s       10487807s   10485760s   primary   ext3
 2      10487808s   41945087s   31457280s   primary   ntfs
 3      41945088s   251660287s  209715200s  primary   ext3
 4      251660288s  976773167s  725112880s  extended
 5      251662336s  366350335s  114688000s  logical   ntfs

23 Reply by justinmteal

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

From looking at that, it seems like sda6 is the only thing messed up. That's my swap, so is there any way to just write that output from parted to the partition table and I can recreate the swap partition?

24 Reply by gedakc

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

You might try using fdisk to delete your swap partition (/dev/sda6).  Then if there are no problems you should be able to use GParted to recreate the swap partition.  You would then need to update the /etc/fstab file in your GNU/Linux distribution so that the proper swap is mounted (e.g., update the UUID if /etc/fstab uses the UUID in mounting swap).

25 Reply by justinmteal

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Re: whole disk unallocated??? gparted LIES!!!

ok... sorry i haven't gotten back to you... i've been at work, and my wife has rekindled her obsession with the sims, so i haven't had a chance to fiddle with the computer...

finally... i deleted the swap partition, and i tried a few things, screwed up a few things, and miraculously was able to get everything back!  i actually tried deleting sda4 and sda5, thinking i may be able to delete the partition that initially caused the problem (and its container) and maybe... i don't know... it seemed like a good idea at the time...

well it's kinda fixed things! i deleted both partitions, rebooted, then added them back using the above info (thankfully i had my previous partition scheme saved here!) and i think everything is fine!

I haven't booted Windows yet, but the data seems intact when mounted via linux... parted and gparted can both read the FAT... looks good.

SOOOOOOO....

question time.

Why did this work? i read in another post where you used dd to fix someone else's similar problem, and you asked whether the "align to cylinders" was checked.  is this important? i've found that with a complex partitioning scheme, the only way to end up without random 1-2Mb unallocated areas in between partitions is to have it align to none.  is this bad? i'm assuming fdisk aligned me to sectors or cylinders? it didn't like that my partitions didn't end on a cylinder boundary, or at least found it worth mentioning.

next, when doing a lot of rearranging of partitions, would it be recommended to do one operation at a time, rather than, for example, resize, move, resize another, move another, etc.etc... ?


I know i'm asking a lot and im sorry.  could you recommend some reading for me that may answer these questions?

Thanks for your help.