Re: no boot table after formatting partition using Windows cd
Not sure if repairing the FAT is OK or not. You have to be careful when amnipulating partitions and disks with windows tools, especially XP tools. Windows knows about windows only, and doesn't care about other partitions.
Maybe it would have been better to use Gparted and format the first partition into ntfs, then you could have simply installed XP on it. I don't understand why did you have FAT partition at all, that's ancient filesystem.
Are you sure the first partition was 60GB and FAT? The testdisk deeper search seems unable to find FAT partition towards the start of the disk, but it does seem to find ntfs partition from cylinder 0 to cylinder 5124 and then your linux partition continues at 5124 until 12802, then the swap continues until 13072 and then the last ntfs continues until 30401, the end of the disk. That's what it looks like from the numbers but I can't be 100% sure especially since you seem convinced the first partition was FAT.
In the deeper search output you can highlight the second ntfs partition and hit P to try listing files on it. If it opens it and lists files, most probably the partition was really ntfs.
Or maybe this reported ntfs is a result of you formatting it as ntfs with the XP cd. Even in that case it would be good to write that partition table so that testdisk recovers it, then you can install XP and then restore grub2 on the MBR.
If you agree with this, in the deeper seach output you would need to highlight the four partitions one by one and use the left/right arrow to change the characteristic into:
the NTFS partition starting at 0 and ending at 5124, change the D in front into *
the Linux starting at 5124 ending at 12802, change D into P
the Linux swap, change D into P
the last NTFS starting at 13072 ending at 30401, change D into P
If you write that table it should make all partitions into primaries and the first one with the boot flag.
Before changing their characteristics you can use the P to list the files and check if the partitions are read fine, except the swap partition which wouldn't have any files stored anyway. But you can check the other three. Don't forget the "new" ntfs might be blank after you formatted it.
If the listing of files works, it should be safe to write that partition table.
Darko.
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Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit
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