Topic: Changing partitions made first primary unbootable - superblock error
Using GParted, I created the following setup:
sda1 - ext3 (for present OS) (after changes, nuked)
sda2 - ext3 (for another OS)
sda3 - ditto
sda4 - extended partition which included the balance of the hard drive
sda5 - swap
sda6 - /tmp (after changes -- sda8)
sda7 - /opt (after changes -- sda9)
sda8 - data (after changes -- sda6)
sda9 - ext3 (for whatever) (after changes -- sda7)
I discovered that /opt needed to be larger. So, using GParted again, I reduced sda5 (swap) in size, used some of the space for /tmp, deleted sda6 and sda7 and used all the then unallocated space for /opt (now sda9). So, the number and sequence of partitions remained the same. Locations and numbering of some partitions were altered.
After applying the changes, the message reporting completion mentioned "two warnings". When I pressed "details", there were none.
I could not subsequently log into sda1, even after using a live cd to alter /etc/fstab. I kept getting a message about some "superblock" problem. The penultimate partition sda8 (now sda6) was unaffected. Now I'm wondering whether I should create a very small sda1 and use it just for the MBR and partition table.
My questions: why did my changes make sda1 unbootable and how do I set partitions up so that this will not happen again? I'm willing to start again from scratch rather than continue with partition settings which are so fragile.