Existing partition not getting detected while installing Ubuntu 10.04.2

**coffeecat** · March 15th, 2011

Originally Posted by panand178

@coffeecat , @srs5694: Here's the output of sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda

Code:

# partition table of /dev/sda
unit: sectors

/dev/sda1 : start=       63, size=102398247, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/sda2 : start=102398310, size=103362210, Id=83
/dev/sda3 : start=205760520, size=282615480, Id= f
/dev/sda4 : start=409593303, size= 78782697, Id= 7
/dev/sda5 : start=205776648, size=101418282, Id= 7
/dev/sda6 : start=307194993, size= 98301672, Id= 7
/dev/sda7 : start=405496728, size=  4096512, Id=82

Would you recomment me backing up all my data from all the existing partitions to an external Hard drive before going ahead with this?

Don't forget to archive your parts.txt file as srs5694 explained, although so long as the Ubuntuforums server doesn't fail us you now have a backup in this thread!

Yes, backing up data is a very good idea. As srs5694 said, running fixparts or sfdisk is unlikely to affect data within partitions, but it's always a good idea to make backups whenever you do any partition editing or changes. And if you haven't archived your data yet, now's the time to do it!

**panand178** · March 15th, 2011

@coffeecat: Since most of my partitions are almost running at full capacity it's going to take me a while to back up everything. I shall keep you posted on this. I won't get a better opportunity to clean up and discard a lot of unwanted/redundant data!

I shall keep you guys posted on this.

**coffeecat** · March 16th, 2011

Originally Posted by panand178

I shall keep you posted on this.

I'll look forward to an update. I hope everything goes well.

I'll post this now in case I forget. I've been involved in several threads with a similar partition table problem - a "primary" partition sitting inside an extended, and they interest me. In most cases it would seem to be the Windows XP installer which has done this, although this is not certain. Only with one very special set of circumstances was I able, in a simulation, to get the XP installer to take an existing logical partition and rewrite its partition table entry so that it looked like a primary, except that it was still within the extended partition.

Do you remember whether you installed XP after Ubuntu? If so, do you remember whether you created an NTFS partition for it with the Ubuntu partitioner, or did you use the Windows installer to reformat an existing partition?

**panand178** · March 16th, 2011

@coffeecat, @srs5694: I just want to let you know that I am currently posting this from my new 10.04 installation.

Everything went really smooth. I love fixparts! Worked like a charm. All my NTFS partitions were intact and I did not lose any data (even though I had backed it up)

Thanks a lot for all the help guys!

@coffeecat: to answer your question I had re-installed windows a few days back before I upgraded my Ubuntu. I had used the windows installer to format the existing NTFS partition. These partitions were created way back in 2008 and I think I had installed windows first along with few other NTFS partitions and deleted one of those using the ubuntu 8.04 installer and installed Ubuntu. Again I am not 100% sure of this since it was a long time back.

**coffeecat** · March 16th, 2011

Excellent. I'm glad to hear it went well.

Originally Posted by panand178

@coffeecat: to answer your question I had re-installed windows a few days back before I upgraded my Ubuntu. I had used the windows installer to format the existing NTFS partition. These partitions were created way back in 2008 and I think I had installed windows first along with few other NTFS partitions and deleted one of those using the ubuntu 8.04 installer and installed Ubuntu. Again I am not 100% sure of this since it was a long time back.

Thanks for that. It fits a pattern. The XP installer reformats a pre-existing partition and at the same time seems to make a mess of one of the logical partitions. Now that I've got your corrupted partition table, it's easy to work out what it probably was before and I can use that in one of my simulations - when I get a chance.

Good luck!

**srs5694** · March 17th, 2011

Originally Posted by panand178

Everything went really smooth. I love fixparts! Worked like a charm. All my NTFS partitions were intact and I did not lose any data (even though I had backed it up)

I'm glad to hear it!