Whole Drive Unallocated.

[MadDogTen]

So, while trying to fix another problem, I caused this:

My WHOLE Drive is showing up as "Unallocated" on Gparted. Using Ubuntu 10.04 Live CD.


However on the Disk Utility it shows all of them, and I can still access my Old Partition and look at the files.




Here is the Result of running "sudo fdisk -l":

"
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Ignoring extra extended partition 4
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 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: 0x000e0e77

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 14 23403 187880175 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 25859 38913 104856576 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 23404 25859 19726337 5 Extended

Partition table entries are not in disk order
"



I absolutely NEED the files on my "E Drive" (or Backup Drive [or SDA3])

[Hippytaff]

In the first instance, if you can still see the files back them up

[MadDogTen]

In the first instance, if you can still see the files back them up

I thoght about that, but I have no where to back them up to as it was the backup partition



I will be screwed if the drive ever broke, however I was thinking of Putting all the Important Files in DropBox after this (I cannot right now because its FOLDERS full of files, and I would have to do it 1 at a time, using their program I can just drag them into a folder, but as I said I am using the Live CD [and I'm not even sure they have a program for Ubuntu]).

[Hippytaff]

Can you burn them to dvd/cd or put them on a usb drive?

[coffeecat]

This is a known issue with Gparted. Have a look at this paper written by forum member srs5694:

http://www.rodsbooks.com/missing-parts/index.html

To see whether your 'unallocated' is due to the extra extended partition that fdisk is worried about, or due to what is described in that link, please repeat fdisk, but this time post the output of:

sudo fdisk -lu

[MadDogTen]

To see whether your 'unallocated' is due to the extra extended partition that fdisk is worried about, or due to what is described in that link, please repeat fdisk, but this time post the output of:

sudo fdisk -lu

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Ignoring extra extended partition 4
Ignoring: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
No command 'Disk' found, did you mean:
Command 'risk' from package 'xfrisk' (universe)
Disk: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
255: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
No command 'Units' found, did you mean:
Command 'units' from package 'units' (universe)
Units: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Disk identifier: 0x000e0e77
No command 'Disk' found, did you mean:
Command 'risk' from package 'xfrisk' (universe)
Disk: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
Device: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ /dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
bash: /dev/sda1: Permission denied
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
Partition: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ /dev/sda2 208845 375969194 187880175 5 Extended
bash: /dev/sda2: Permission denied
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ /dev/sda3 415422464 625135615 104856576 7 HPFS/NTFS
bash: /dev/sda3: Permission denied
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ /dev/sda4 375969790 415422463 19726337 5 Extended
bash: /dev/sda4: Permission denied
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Partition table entries are not in disk order
Partition: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$












As I was pretty sure that wasn't right, I closed it and Tried again, and got:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu
Ignoring extra extended partition 4
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 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: 0x000e0e77

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 208845 375969194 187880175 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 415422464 625135615 104856576 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 375969790 415422463 19726337 5 Extended

Partition table entries are not in disk order
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


But that one is the same as the first one I posted.

[coffeecat]

OK. The partitions do not seem to be overlapping and the last sector of your partitions is not beyond the physical end of the drive (which is the problem described in the link and which I had to recover from). I would guess, therefore, that this might be the problem:

Ignoring extra extended partition 4
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)

But I'm out of my depth here and do not know what to suggest next. Certainly, back up your data. It is probably not in immediate danger so long as you don't use any partitioning software. But if someone can tell you how to edit the partition table to correct this, you certainly do want to backup first.

Perhaps srs5694 will happen along. He would certainly be able to advise.

Edit: what might be useful would be to backup your partition table with:

sfdisk -d /dev/sda > Desktop/parts.txt

Post the contents of parts.txt so that someone can have a look at it. Make sure you get the '>' the right way round.

But that one is the same as the first one I posted.

No, it isn't. fdisk -lu shows sectors, not cylinders, which is what we needed.

[MadDogTen]

OK. The partitions do not seem to be overlapping and the last sector of your partitions is not beyond the physical end of the drive (which is the problem described in the link and which I had to recover from). I would guess, therefore, that this might be the problem:



But I'm out of my depth here and do not know what to suggest next. Certainly, back up your data. It is probably not in immediate danger so long as you don't use any partitioning software. But if someone can tell you how to edit the partition table to correct this, you certainly do want to backup first.

Perhaps srs5694 will happen along. He would certainly be able to advise.

Edit: what might be useful would be to backup your partition table with:

sfdisk -d /dev/sda > Desktop/parts.txt

Post the contents of parts.txt so that someone can have a look at it. Make sure you get the '>' the right way round.



No, it isn't. fdisk -lu shows sectors, not cylinders, which is what we needed.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sfdisk -d /dev/sda > Desktop/parts.txt
/dev/sda: Permission denied

sfdisk: cannot open /dev/sda for reading

[Hippytaff]

Did you put sudo infront of the command?

[MadDogTen]

Did you put sudo infront of the command?

Oh, nope.

Here now:


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda > Desktop/parts.txt

sfdisk: ERROR: sector 208845 does not have an msdos signature
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$