[NTLUG:Discuss] Lost partitions, mount points, data????

[Dan Carlson]

This is probably all obvious to you by now, but on the offhand chance it
can be of any assistance...

If you know the details of how your previous partitions were layed out on
the disk (i.e. their sizes and positions) and assuming they haven't been
written to by another OS, then all you need to do is boot a linux rescue
floppy or cd, run fdisk under linux, and reestablish the previous
partitions.  If you got the details right, reboot, and all should be well.

If you don't know how your previous partitions were layed out, or if they
have been written to by another OS, then it will be very difficult to get
back where you were.  Still, you might get lucky, so don't give up without
trying.  If you can get the partitions back when they were, even if they
were written to by another OS, after an fsck you might find that you can
still recover a high percentage of the data you need.

BTW - Your partition layout is one of the things you should keep a backup
of.  You can redirect the output of fdisk -l to a file and copy it to a
safe location or print it.

The installers for most distributions will let you manually partition the
disk if you choose to.  If your installer supports this then you can use it
instead of a rescue floppy or cd to manually repartition back to the
previous state.

Alternatively, if you can put the disk back into the same state (i.e.
partitions) that it was in when you did the original install then there
should be a high probability that the installer would create the same disk
layout that it did originally.  If you used the automatic layout on the
original install and if the numbers it displays look familiar then try it.
If the disk partitions are not in exactly the same state that the installer
saw on the original install, then I wouldn't expect it to produce the same
layout as it did originally.

It is important that you not run any other OS that will write to the disk
until you either fix the problem or decide to give up.

Dan Carlson

----- Original Message -----
From: "clayton.c.miller" <clayton.c.miller at worldnet.att.net>
To: <discuss at ntlug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 6:17 PM
Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Lost partitions, mount points, data????


> To All,
> I have been trying to dump 'doz for a while but every time I try, it
bites back.
> This time I gave it some help.  I was trying to consolidate file space
and free up some disk space.
> I used fdisk to repartition 'doz and merge "d" into "c".  Looks like by
doing this Linux kernal 2.4.8-26 reassigned the the rest of the
partitions/mount points.  Of-course I cannot access a disk I was using to
hold all my data files.
> I need help reaching this data, fast.  All business data was on it.  No,
I am still setting up my system and have not backed anything up.  That
Priority has changed, once I can get to the data.
>
> Can't boot.  System starts fsck and states it short reads the superblock.
Asks if this is a '0' length parition and wants to know if I want to repair
it.  When I try to run fsck or e2fsck, or fsck.ext2 it tells me the
superblock is corrupt and suggests I enter the following:
>
> e2fsck -b 8139 <(i interpret this to mean it wants the mount pount or dev
designation)>
>
> When I enter this using various mount points or dev designations, it
returns the same error.
>
> I try the installation CD and allow it to get as far as assigning
partitions.  It is very different from the original.  I was able to view
the mount points, don't remember how I got there, while linux was running.
The kernal still thinks there is a 'doz win_c and win_d partition, not just
the win_c I tried to setup.
>
> Is there a way to fix this WITHOUT loosing my data.  Or if not, is there
a way to recover the data once this problem is fixed??
>
> I've been at this for 2 days now and need help.
>
> Thanks to all in advance.
> Clay Miller
>
>
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