chjustc
December 14th, 2008, 04:01 PM
I tried to install Kubuntu 8.10 for 64-bit machines on my desktop, which has windows Vista as the only operating system.
The installation disk was loaded OK. When the installation came to the part of partitioning hard disk, no windows partition can be found. The installation found /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. But, there was no partition table on either of them. All the space was free.
Then, I opened a shell prompt, and ran
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
I got the results as follows,
Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1549f232
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 76534 614759323+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 76535 77826 10377990 7 HPFS/NTFS
Disk /dev/sdb: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x38fb89b5
Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
Then, I use testdisk to analyze /dev/sda, and got the following,
The harddisk (320 GB / 298 GiB) seems too small! (< 629 GB / 586 GiB)
Check the harddisk size: HD jummpers settings, BIOS detections
The following partitions can't be recovered:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
HPFS-NTFS 0 1 1 76533 25463 1229518647
HPFS-NTFS 3917 133 57 75908 22848 1124411392
When I chose to deeper search /dev/sda, I got one more partion as follows,
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38914 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* FAT32 LBA 29574 0 134243 254 63 75023550 [FREEDOS]
When I listed the files in this partition, I saw file names in non-English characters, which I don't recognize at all.
I also analyzed and deeper analyzed /dev/sdb, and got the following,
Disk /dev/sdb - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
Partition sector doesn't have the end mark OxAA55
Is /dev/sda too small? Or, it is caused by some problem with /dev/sdb? How do I fix it?
By the way, By the way, this machine is a new desktop that I bought from HP several months ago. It has windows Vista on it. I have not done anything about partitioning on it after I bought it.
I installed ubuntu several times on my own laptop and other desktops without any problem. I was always able to find the existing (windows) partition. I always left the windows partition alone or just cut the size of it from the end. But, this time, I don't know what is going on. I don't want to break anything on the windows partition.
Thanks.
The installation disk was loaded OK. When the installation came to the part of partitioning hard disk, no windows partition can be found. The installation found /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. But, there was no partition table on either of them. All the space was free.
Then, I opened a shell prompt, and ran
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
I got the results as follows,
Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1549f232
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 76534 614759323+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 76535 77826 10377990 7 HPFS/NTFS
Disk /dev/sdb: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x38fb89b5
Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
Then, I use testdisk to analyze /dev/sda, and got the following,
The harddisk (320 GB / 298 GiB) seems too small! (< 629 GB / 586 GiB)
Check the harddisk size: HD jummpers settings, BIOS detections
The following partitions can't be recovered:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
HPFS-NTFS 0 1 1 76533 25463 1229518647
HPFS-NTFS 3917 133 57 75908 22848 1124411392
When I chose to deeper search /dev/sda, I got one more partion as follows,
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38914 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* FAT32 LBA 29574 0 134243 254 63 75023550 [FREEDOS]
When I listed the files in this partition, I saw file names in non-English characters, which I don't recognize at all.
I also analyzed and deeper analyzed /dev/sdb, and got the following,
Disk /dev/sdb - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
Partition sector doesn't have the end mark OxAA55
Is /dev/sda too small? Or, it is caused by some problem with /dev/sdb? How do I fix it?
By the way, By the way, this machine is a new desktop that I bought from HP several months ago. It has windows Vista on it. I have not done anything about partitioning on it after I bought it.
I installed ubuntu several times on my own laptop and other desktops without any problem. I was always able to find the existing (windows) partition. I always left the windows partition alone or just cut the size of it from the end. But, this time, I don't know what is going on. I don't want to break anything on the windows partition.
Thanks.