Can't see GPT hard drive from Linux?

[mace2]

Hi, I've tried searching but I am getting lost because I am not too familiar with this stuff.

I am trying to access a 2TB internal hard drive I have in 11.04. It is GPT (works fine in Windows 7), and is sda1 in the list.

Here is fdisk -l:

[~] $ sudo fdisk -l

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000394706432 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 242250 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16128 * 512 = 8257536 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0d9e0b3b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1      266306  2147483647+  ee  GPT

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640133946880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 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: 0x97749774

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          13      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2              13       31932   256387072    7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3           31932       77826   368638977    5  Extended
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb5           31932       75880   353013760   83  Linux
/dev/sdb6           75881       77826    15624192   82  Linux swap / Solaris

I tried looking up GNU Parted but that only seems to be a way to repartition the drive... is there no way I can mount it as it is? If I have to I can back it up to an external and repartition it, but I would prefer not to.

Thanks!

[searchfgold6789]

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

It looks like you'll have to back it up and repartition using GParted.

[mace2]

It looks like you'll have to back it up and repartition using GParted.

If I do this will I be able to access the drive with Windows still? Thanks.

[mjuhasz]

The fdisk utility does not support GPT hence the error messsage. Just do what the message says: use parted, a very sophisticated utility. If it's too much for you, use a frontend like gparted.

Linux handles GPT partition tables just fine. No need to repartition the drive (which means losing all your data on it).
MBR is the legacy and GPT is the (not so) new way of partitioning. MBR has a lot of limitations that GPT has finally overcome.

[searchfgold6789]

If I do this will I be able to access the drive with Windows still? Thanks.

Yup, but you may have to repair the filesystem first using the Windows install CD or a separate Windows installation. Then it'll work just dandy.
- search
P.S. As mjuhasz said, Linux will detect and mount your partition but to use fdisk on it you need to use GParted. Don't do any of this if you're playing with your Windows system partition!!! Instead just try to mount it.

[oldfred]

I have gpt on two of my 4 drives. And I have no issues related to gpt. Every partition looks like everyone else. I did have an issue booting XP from gpt boot drive, several versions ago, but that has long since been fixed. I am primarily booting with Maverick on gpt.

So is the issue, just that you have not mounted the partition(s) and given yourself permissions?

Understanding fstab
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab
Above link was this post before:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions

[mace2]

I have gpt on two of my 4 drives. And I have no issues related to gpt. Every partition looks like everyone else. I did have an issue booting XP from gpt boot drive, several versions ago, but that has long since been fixed. I am primarily booting with Maverick on gpt.

So is the issue, just that you have not mounted the partition(s) and given yourself permissions?

Understanding fstab
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab
Above link was this post before:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions

Thank you for the links. I tried but I'm not really getting anywhere. I guess the problem is permissions?

The HDD is not listed in fstab.

[~] $ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=805d7d1f-676e-4755-a704-352d4b74c435 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=dfbb3954-f3ff-482d-8347-ca28508fe57b none            swap    sw              0       0
[~] $

I also can't seem to mount it directly. It asks for a filesystem type...

[~] $ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
[~] $ 
[~] $ sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
[~] $

I tried GPT as a type but it didn't recognize that. I guess GPT is something that goes on the filesystem (like NTFS etc?). Sorry I'm pretty new to a lot of this.

[WorMzy]

What does parted say about the disk?

sudo parted -l

I use GPT on my system with no problems.

[oldfred]

Gpt(GUID) & MBR(msdos) are partitioning schemes. NTFS & FAT32 for Windows or ext3, ext4 etc for Linux are formats of the partitions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

Post this to show partitions.
$ sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print

A very large drive should not be formated as one partition unless you have another very large drive to back up to. Also the larger the partition the longer chkdsk will take. With NTFS you will have to manually run chkdsk every 40 odd boots where Ubuntu runs fsck automatically on Linux formats.

[mace2]

Here is the output, oldfred.

[~] $ sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

Here is parted -l.

[~] $ sudo parted -l
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!                           

Model: ATA WDC WD6401AALS-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 640GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB  105MB   primary   ntfs            boot
 2      106MB   263GB  263GB   primary   ntfs
 3      263GB   640GB  377GB   extended
 5      263GB   624GB  361GB   logical   ext4
 6      624GB   640GB  16.0GB  logical   linux-swap(v1)


[~] $

I noticed in gparted it says my 2TB drive is "unallocated," yet it is operating normally in Windows. I am confused about how fdisk -l notices the drive but parted does not.