1 Topic by raleightrip

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Topic: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

gedakc,

I'm opening a new thread as requested.
I used GParted Live CD 0.5.0-3.

I originally had Win XP on /dev/sda1 partition size o~550 GB & Win 7 on /dev/sda2 part size ~50 GB
I attempted to resize the sda1 partition to ~300Gb and then allocate the free space to sda2.

I'm seeing that same error reported by other about the volume size being larger than the partition.

Here's the output from the two commands you asked me to run (sbd is the usb key):

fdisk output
_________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1e342521

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63          634872734   317436336    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       634872735  1250258624   307692945    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1031 MB, 1031798272 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 125 cylinders, total 2015231 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00a0c2b9

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63     2015230     1007584    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(124, 254, 63) logical=(125, 112, 50)
____________________________________________________

parted output
_____________________________________________________
Model: ATA WDC WD6400AAKS-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1250263728s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start                    End          Size        Type     File system  Flags
1      63s                 634872734s   634872672s  primary  ntfs         boot
2      634872735s  1250258624s  615385890s  primary  ntfs

_______________________________________________

2 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

Next I will need the following two files (I assume the error is with sda1).

You can capture the Master Boot Record in a file with the following command:

NOTE:  Be extra careful to type this command in properly, otherwise loss of data could result.

dd if=/dev/sda of=sda-raleightrip.mbr bs=512 count=1

where sda-raleightrip.mbr is the name of the file that will need to be uploaded.


You can capture the NTFS Partition Boot Record in a file with the following command:

NOTE:  Be extra careful to type this command in properly, otherwise loss of data could result.

dd if=/dev/sda of=sda1-raleightrip.pbr bs=512 count=1 skip=63

where sda1-raleightrip.pbr is the name of the file that will need to be uploaded.


Then upload these files to a media sharing site, such as mediafire, and post the link to these files in this forum post.

3 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

gedakc, Thanks for the help.

sda-raleightrip.mbr
http://www.mediafire.com/?zezuyz5mtqz


sda1-raleightrip.pbr
http://www.mediafire.com/?mnmyjmzy0zw

4 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

gedakc, I know you're a busy guy - just wondering if you've had a chance to look at my situation vs. whether I should move on and forget about the possibility of recovery?

5 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

In all of these situations the data is recoverable.

I am looking at your situation right now.

6 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

According to your MBR file, the sizes for the two partitions are:
634,872,672 sectors in size for partition 1 (sda1).
615,385,890 sectors in size for partition 2 (sda2).

From the NTFS PBR file for sda1:
634,872,671 sectors in size for the NTFS volume in sda1.

This size is exactly correct so there is no problem with sda1.  Hence your problem must then be with sda2.


You can capture the NTFS Partition Boot Record for sda2 in a file with the following command:

NOTE:  Be extra careful to type this command in properly, otherwise loss of data could result.

dd if=/dev/sda of=sda2-rayleightrip.pbr bs=512 count=1 skip=634872735

where sda2-rayleightrip.pbr is the name of the file that will need to be uploaded.

Then upload this file to a media sharing site, such as mediafire, and post the link to this file in this forum post.

7 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

http://www.mediafire.com/?mztgkmwzd5t
sda2-raleightrip.pbr

8 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

Hmm... this one is really confusing because both NTFS volume sizes appear to be at least 1 sector less than the partition size.  This is how it should be for a normal NTFS file system within a partition.

For partition 1 (sda1):
634,872,672 sectors in size for the partition.
634,872,671 sectors in volume size for the NTFS file system.

For partition 2 (sda2):
615,385,890 sectors in size for the partition.
615,385,880 sectors in volume size for the NTFS file system.

Would you be able to provide the exact text of the error message as it is displayed to you?

9 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

This is what gparted reports:
gparted

Here's what I did:
1. downsized sda1 550->300
2. re-allocated freespace to sda2
3. Installed Win 7 home premium upgrade to sda2 as I believed this would not affect the content on sda1.

10 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ieydwglmtim/gparted.jpeg

11 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

Thank you for posting the picture.   As they say a picture is worth a thousand words wink

Both of your NTFS file systems appear to be 100% OK.  Otherwise GParted would have displayed an exclamation point beside the partition names (e.g.  /dev/sda1  !).  You could then find out the error by double-clicking on the partition to open up a dialog box with the partition details.

So from my perspective I do not see any problems with these two NTFS file systems.

What is the problem you are experiencing?

12 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jwzi1zgiwgg/sda1.jpeg
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ge53ouji3mn/sda2.jpeg

The problem I'm experiencing is that I was dual booting XP (sda1) and Win 7 Beta (sda2), however now the boot menu doesnt appear and it boots straight into Win 7, which I just installed on sda2 after re-sizing with gparted.  I would like to be able to dual boot again or at least access the data on sda1.

13 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

BTW, There was an exclamation point next to sda1.
Then I rebooted to install Win7 on sda2, and now there's no exclamation point on sda1.
I'm wondering if maybe Win7 did something to sda1.

14 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

raleightrip wrote:

BTW, There was an exclamation point next to sda1.
Then I rebooted to install Win7 on sda2, and now there's no exclamation point on sda1.
I'm wondering if maybe Win7 did something to sda1.

If I can't dual boot or recover The data on sda1, I guess that I'd like to combine the two partitions.

15 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

The sda1 partition does not appear to contain much data (it shows 3.0 GiB used).  Some of this 3.0 GiB would be for the NTFS file system data structures and thus there would only be a small portion left for actual files.

Perhaps in the process of installing Windows 7, the sda1 NTFS file system was reformatted?

You could check to see how many files of what type are in the file system.

16 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

Yes I'm think sda1 was reformatted by Win 7 during the install.
At this point I'd just like to combine the partitions..copying the content from sda2 after the existing contents on sda1. Is that possible?

17 Reply by raleightrip

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

raleightrip wrote:

Yes I'm think sda1 was reformatted by Win 7 during the install.
At this point I'd just like to combine the partitions..copying the content from sda2 after the existing contents on sda1. Is that possible?

After Googling around, it turns out that Windows 7 covertly creates a recovery partition during installation. In typical Microsoft fashion, the creation of this additional partition is never mentioned to the user and worse yet, if you already have a second partition on your system, the recovery overwrites the existing partition. This is the scenario that played out for me and since my sda1 partition was 300 Gb before Win 7 installation on sda2, my recovery partition is still 300 Gb but contains 200 Mb (sic) of whatever recovery data windows 7 created. I used Gparted 0.4.6-1 to downsize the recovery partition and reallocate to the sda2 partition where Win 7 resides. I hope in posting this diatribe I save someone else from the same nightmare.

18 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Problem Resizing File System, details as requested

It is sad that this occurred.  Hopefully this story can help someone else.

As always it is highly recommended to have backups of all your data prior to installing any new operating system or partition editing.  Of course this advice is small consolation now.