Accidentally changed filesystem type of mount partition during install.. help!

[u_jim]

I was reinstalling Ubuntu 8.04 a few days ago. In the process, I wanted to also mount a couple of partitions (WinXP and Data). The Windows and Data partitions did have files/data on them prior to this. I believe I selected fat32 as the filesystem for the Data partition. I did not select the format option during the mount configuration. It's a 400GB partition, so it was probably ntfs. Now I cannot access that partition. I'm assuming that Ubuntu changed the fs type when I selected fat32. Now Windows thinks that partition needs to be formated and gparted in Ubuntu thinks the fs type is unknown.

How do I fix this problem? I do want my data partition to be back to normal and my files back! Thanks for any help!

[lindsay7]

If you do not have it get Gparted form Synatic and install it. Take a screen shot of your drive and post it here. The screen shot applet is in applications/accessories.

[u_jim]

Here's the output from fdisk and parted if it gives more clues. I'm referring to sda5, the 400GB partition.

-------
sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9d359d35

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 21462839 10731388+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 21462840 61496819 20016990 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 61496820 976768064 457635622+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 63408618 903093974 419842678+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 903094038 976768064 36837013+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 61496946 63408554 955804+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

------------
(parted) print all

Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 11.0GB 11.0GB primary ntfs boot
2 11.0GB 31.5GB 20.5GB primary ext3
3 31.5GB 500GB 469GB extended lba
7 31.5GB 32.5GB 979MB logical linux-swap
5 32.5GB 462GB 430GB logical
6 462GB 500GB 37.7GB logical ntfs

[u_jim]

If you do not have it get Gparted form Synatic and install it. Take a screen shot of your drive and post it here. The screen shot applet is in applications/accessories.

Here you go. Screen shot attached.

[u_jim]

Here's the output for "blkid -c /dev/null". I'm just following some diagnostics commands from another thread I found. I just don't know how to apply anything to my situation. Hopefully all this information is helpful. I notice that sda5 isn't here. That's the partition I'm concerned about.

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sudo blkid -c /dev/null
/dev/sda1: UUID="2460F0D260F0AC24" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="5fa954f7-728c-4333-8edd-e938a7a72553" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: UUID="C87CFF967CFF7E0E" LABEL="New Volume" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda7: UUID="80b85d67-3bf4-4021-b56d-f6d7aa24613b" TYPE="swap"

[lindsay7]

You should be able to right click on sda5 to unmount it then format it the way you want fat32 should be fine and windows and Ubuntu can boot read and write to it NTFS should be ok too and will accommodate larger files. You may have to unmount sda3 first as this is the extended partition and holds sda5.

[u_jim]

You should be able to right click on sda5 to unmount it then format it the way you want fat32 should be fine and windows and Ubuntu can boot read and write to it NTFS should be ok too and will accommodate larger files. You may have to unmount sda3 first as this is the extended partition and holds sda5.

There were files on there that I want. It seems like since I accidentally changed the filesystem type to fat32 on sda5 (which was ntfs before and had files on it), so it is now unreadable. I want to change it back to ntfs and make it possible to get access to all my files.

[lindsay7]

If you format it first the files will be lost. Gparted shows that that partition is unknown if it was fat32, it should be saying that, so I do not know.

[u_jim]

If you format it first the files will be lost. Gparted shows that that partition is unknown if it was fat32, it should be saying that, so I do not know.

Yup. Definitely not going to format that partition. Not touching it until I get a positive solution.

[lindsay7]

The other thing I am courious about is sba3 which is flaged lba. Are you able to boot Ubuntu now?

[lindsay7]

The sba5 partition is showing that it is empty. How do you know there are files there now, if there were this would not be showing empty.

[u_jim]

The other thing I am courious about is sba3 which is flaged lba. Are you able to boot Ubuntu now?

I am able to boot into Ubuntu and Windows fine. Everything is fine except the Data partition.

[u_jim]

The sba5 partition is showing that it is empty. How do you know there are files there now, if there were this would not be showing empty.

I assume that since I changed the filesystem type, the file list table (or whatever it's called) got wiped. Where does it show that it's empty?

[lindsay7]

When you look at the partition sda5 in Gparted the colored area in the partition is the used portion. There is none showing and the column marked "used" shows none, so my guess is that it is empty. I do not know how you would get to look into it if there are files there. So, if there are files there I am at a loss as to how to access them without a format of some type and that may delete what is there if anything.

[lindsay7]

I found some info on this, I still not sure what is going on but this is a clue.

http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=13381

[logos34]

you'll probably need to use testdisk to fix the partition table (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#Current_partition_table_stat us)

[nyk]

When you look at the partition sda5 in Gparted the colored area in the partition is the used portion. There is none showing and the column marked "used" shows none, so my guess is that it is empty.

This isn't necessarily true, unless you've had this partition mounted and have attempted writing to it, chances are that the data is all still there, just currently inaccessible. I agree with those who posted before me. Testdisk is a powerful tool that has saved me before, and it can scan and read from the disk and informs you of any permanent changes before they happen. Just so you can be sure that it's a working solution. Best of luck!

[u_jim]

Thanks lindsay7, logos34, nyk. I'm looking into testdisk now. I installed the default version that's in Ubuntu 8.04. Takes a while to scan for that partition. Then when I tried to list the files, it segment faulted on. I tried twice.

I manually installed testdisk 6.11.3 and it's currently scanning for the partition now. It seems to take a bit longer even though it's a quick scan. I hope this version doesn't segfault on me when I try to list files. It's a big partition, 400GB.

[u_jim]

Thanks again guys. I spent more this morning and the partition is back. It look a long while for the deep scan to work under linux and also I rushed and exited the menus I needed to be in and had to restart the process. I found the partition and it was apparently 'deleted', so I undeleted it. Everything is back to normal. I'll have to be more careful next time and backup my more important files.

Testdisk is a lifesaver. Also you guys. Thanks for letting me know about testdisk.