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Thread: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    I'm attempting to back up the files on my hard drive, because my laptop seems to have crashed after a failed update, and only sent me to the recovery console. I'm on Xubuntu now, but the hard drive seems to be acting up. (also, on a side note, the recovery console and the option to boot from my hard drive and the option to add a new boot option) disappeared at some point, though the last one appears when I plug in a usb.

    Anyway, this is what sudo fdisk -l says:

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


    Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60563 cylinders, total 976773168 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: 0x2902cc6d

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sda1 1 4294967295 2147483647+ ee GPT

    Disk /dev/sdb: 15.7 GB, 15703474176 bytes
    256 heads, 54 sectors/track, 2218 cylinders, total 30670848 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: 0xc3072e18

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sdb1 * 32 30670847 15335408 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
    I was trying to follow Enigmapond's post in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1841546

    But I can't mount the partition into the folder, because I must "specify the filesystem type."
    Help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not much of a tech person, and my laptop is just baffling me to no end with these issues. /:

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Land of fire and drought
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    Hidden!
    Distro
    Xubuntu

    Re: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    Can you get to a desktop okay? Launch Gparted and have a look at what that says.

    The Windows partition doesn't appear in the left pane of the file browser normally? The instructions on that thread seem okay. You should though do mount it in an existing partition designed for that, /mnt or /media.

    Code:
    sudo mkdir /media/win
    sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/win
    ... presuming sda1 is the partition you have Win on.

    You can change the /etc/fstab file to mount it at boot which save a lot of hassle.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    45

    Re: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    No, the Windows partition doesn't pop up. Though it seems that the operating system was corrupted and is now missing, so could that be why?
    This is what it shows:

    I tried that, but it still says that I have to specify the filesystem type.

    What's the /etc/fstab file and what would changing it do? Sorry, I've never dealt with like any of this stuff before.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Oklahoma, USA
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    2,378
    Distro
    Xubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus

    Re: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    That first line from fdisk says it all:
    WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.
    You probably have a machine that uses the newer UEFI boot system, which means that most of the advice you can find on the web will not only be wrong for your system but can easily make matters much worse.

    You can find more than you probably want to know right now about this new system, at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI but it's not going to solve the immediate problem.

    Were it my machine involved, I would follow the advice given by the Gparted popup message -- but since that just might wipe the machine totally clean and make recovery impossible, I can't recommend it to you. Hopefully one of the few UEFI experts around will find this thread and offer better ideas. I've sent messages to a couple of them asking them to stop by. Meanwhile, don't do anything that might make matters worse than they already are...
    --
    Jim Kyle in Oklahoma, USA
    Linux Counter #259718
    Howto mark thread: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnansweredPo.../SolvedThreads

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    45

    Re: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    Alright, thank you very much. I guess that makes sense. I'll just wait before doing anything else, in that case.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    SW Forida
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    Kubuntu

    Re: GParted says hard drive is "unallocated"

    Is your system new? And have UEFI? Windows only works on gpt partitioned drives with UEFI, otherwise it should be MBR(msdos) partitioning.

    Windows often deletes the primary gpt table if found as gpt and installs to MBR. But Linux tools still see the backup gpt table and get confused if gpt or MBR and do not do anything.

    Your gparted is saying both primary & backup gpt tables are bad which is highly unusual. Or maybe it is not really gpt?

    repair gpt:
    http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/repairing.html

    You can also try testdisk, but may have to go into it from both the MBR and gpt modes to see which mode will recover an old partition table.

    repairs including testdisk info & link to testdisk, testdisk is in repository and on most repairCDs
    http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p21.html
    http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/...rdeletedfiles/

    Instructions
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_Analyse
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestD..._file_for_NTFS

    From this screen in testdisk try both Intel for MBR(msdos( and UEFI gpt for gpt(GUID) partitioning. See if either shows any partitions.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by oldfred; September 16th, 2012 at 06:06 PM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

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