Windows 7 retitled ubuntu 10.04 partition as "unallocated"

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Hello,
I have been duel booting windows 7 and ubuntu 10.04, and wanted to do a fresh install of both. I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to take care of the Windows install first because installing it after always causes problems. I copied all my personal/work/school files onto the Ubuntu partition then proceeded with the installation. Redoing the Windows partitions went as planned however, Windows decided to relabel my Ubuntu partition as "unallocated" instead of ext4. This is bad. I am sure that I did not delete the ubuntu partition, so I'm fairly certain all my files are intact, just not accessible due to the mislabeling. Is there a way to reinstate the partition to ext4 without reformatting it?

output of fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 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: 0x9dd2cb09

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 13 69306 556595200 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 69306 121601 420059913 5 Extended
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5 120473 121601 9064408+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
As you can see it appears fine, however gparted gives a different story.
https://sites.google.com/site/paulbakerlesaltshaker/GpartedScreenshot.png
(sorry it is so large, I cannot modify it at this time)

So long story short, I cannot mount my linux partitions and I can't reformat them without losing their content. How can I fix them?

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Additionally: I don't mind if the way to do it is really unconventional or ugly, but if there isn't a way to do it without losing my data then I would like to know that too.

[Quackers]

Just an idea. From the live cd/usb desktop open gparted. Right-click on the space that should be your partition and see if you can check the filesystem. I suspect not, but it's worth a try.

[Bucky Ball]

Windows doesn't recognise EXT partitions natively at all so it would label them as 'unallocated'. Doesn't know what they are. ;)

[Quackers]

According to the screenshot gparted doesn't think much of it either :-)

[Bucky Ball]

According to the screenshot gparted doesn't think much of it either :-)

Gotcha. Looks like Ubuntu has been 'disappeared'.

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Yes, I'm doing all of this through the live disk. The partition is no longer recognized by Ubuntu. Is there a way of reclassifying or remarking it as EXT without reformatting the whole partition?

[Quackers]

Please go to the site below and download the boot script to your DESKTOP and then open up a terminal (Applications > Accessories > terminal) and run


sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

This will produce a results.txt file on your desktop. Please copy the contents of that file and paste them in your next post between CODE tags. For CODE tags click on New Reply (not quick reply)and then click on the # symbol in the toolbar.
This will give a full overview of your current system.
Thanks.

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[avatarmonkeykirby]

The results of the script are as follows:



Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 206,847 204,800 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 206,848 1,113,397,247 1,113,190,400 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 1,113,399,294 1,953,519,119 840,119,826 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1,935,390,303 1,953,519,119 18,128,817 82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 944CE0224CDFFCBC ntfs System Reserved
/dev/sda2 ACACE22CACE1F0AE ntfs
/dev/sda3: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda5 a00008af-de69-4254-9889-db194ad23445 swap
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)

=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader on sda3

00000000 1e 59 a4 94 02 79 8a 51 d0 ed f9 2b 54 22 cf aa |.Y...y.Q...+T"..|
00000010 72 b5 a9 39 3b 17 4b ef 48 8f ed 12 87 9e cd c6 |r..9;.K.H.......|
00000020 92 36 3a 59 ac 73 c8 6e 75 8e 53 1e f8 30 cd fb |.6:Y.s.nu.S..0..|
00000030 6d 44 52 57 aa 19 3a fe 76 f8 bf 8e a3 ff eb fb |mDRW..:.v.......|
00000040 1c ca bc 9c 8a a0 0a 12 c3 07 2d 5a c1 e7 0c 50 |..........-Z...P|
00000050 85 28 75 e2 f2 bb da 79 01 66 89 42 90 38 b6 d6 |.(u....y.f.B.8..|
00000060 4b 91 df 04 a2 f2 2b 00 e6 7f 5d 84 9f 4c ec 2d |K.....+...]..L.-|
00000070 ce 3e 3e d5 dd 19 51 c6 da da 5c f8 9d 7c 3a f2 |.>>...Q...\..|:.|
00000080 f5 80 bb 9d 6f 9f 30 ab d5 2b 95 02 ed 0d c6 f9 |....o.0..+......|
00000090 92 7e 0f 70 b7 09 66 21 07 6a f8 8c 82 56 97 0d |.~.p..f!.j...V..|
000000a0 34 34 c5 8b c6 e6 c9 12 a8 22 2d f8 6c b3 87 41 |44......."-.l..A|
000000b0 fd 5a c6 52 0d 04 01 af 8d 77 89 34 ee 8b 8c e7 |.Z.R.....w.4....|
000000c0 95 ba 67 56 7c 41 99 34 b3 74 fa 68 6a da 97 48 |..gV|A.4.t.hj..H|
000000d0 e8 5f 1b 34 f4 f5 e3 8d b0 92 5a d6 b5 6c c2 b1 |._.4......Z..l..|
000000e0 cd bb 95 3f f4 16 d6 6a 0e b9 ec da a5 86 f8 02 |...?...j........|
000000f0 af 21 6a 76 72 c7 ef 1c 9b 91 21 5d 0f cc 4c 9d |.!jvr.....!]..L.|
00000100 60 e1 8b 84 c8 e1 77 36 94 0c aa 84 de 40 66 2c |`.....w6.....@f,|
00000110 9e 3a 03 36 a0 3f 72 99 3f 61 88 49 12 3a 04 51 |.:.6.?r.?a.I.:.Q|
00000120 9d 94 50 5f 99 88 56 56 4d a8 e0 54 6d ef 3c 85 |..P_..VVM..Tm.<.|
00000130 9d a9 33 f4 46 aa 31 c6 f3 0b fc a6 ee 7b f3 9c |..3.F.1......{..|
00000140 41 a1 f3 b2 af 6a bd f4 bb 5a fc 24 4a 45 74 a1 |A....j...Z.$JEt.|
00000150 79 53 a6 9b 2d 73 95 ff 67 fc ac 80 78 dd 2b cf |yS..-s..g...x.+.|
00000160 a6 b2 7a 02 ae ed c6 27 0a 1a 7c 60 98 fc 66 26 |..z....'..|`..f&|
00000170 9b 5d d0 3b 35 67 41 a0 d5 67 7a bc 0c d8 f2 77 |.].;5gA..gz....w|
00000180 44 99 dd 78 95 24 16 22 4e ce 0c 32 7f 7c ed 14 |D..x.$."N..2.|..|
00000190 38 8c ed a7 79 46 96 e7 e2 d5 d8 39 e4 1c d6 18 |8...yF.....9....|
000001a0 aa f0 68 c6 ce b3 31 cd 7a db 5d 37 fd 1f 28 0b |..h...1.z.]7..(.|
000001b0 2e 1a f2 02 b7 4e ac 39 94 35 dd 3c 5b 39 00 ef |.....N.9.5.<[9..|
000001c0 ff ff 82 ef ff ff 61 96 fe 30 b1 9f 14 01 00 00 |......a..0......|
000001d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

[Quackers]

I really don't know what has happened. But one thing seems certain and that is that the ext4 partition is no longer there.
gparted doesn't report its presence, the boot script doesn't and fdisk -l doesn't. It seems to have disappeared I'm afraid.
You could try testdisk/PhotoRec and see if anything can be recovered.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

[srs5694]

TestDisk is probably the best option for a speedy recovery; however, it sometimes creates extended partitions that are too large (they extend beyond the disk's capacity), which then causes GParted and related tools to report that the disk is empty. I have a Web page that describes how to fix this problem, (http://www.rodsbooks.com/missing-parts/index.html) should you encounter it.

Before Using TestDisk, you might try this:



Type "sudo fdisk /dev/sda" to launch fdisk. Do not launch it with the -u or -c option, though.
Type "n" to create a new partition. Tell fdisk you want to create a logical partition and accept the default values for the start and end points.
Type "p" to check the partition table. It should show a new logical partition that's quite large -- just a bit smaller than the extended partition.
Type "w" to save your changes.
Reboot your emergency disc.
See if you can mount the new partition. If so, you're golden.
If you can't mount the new partition, type "sudo blkid /dev/sda6" (assuming that's its number). The blkid utility attempts to identify the filesystem on the specified device.
If blkid identified the partition as holding an ext2/3/4 filesystem (or whatever filesystem you used), try using fsck on it and try mounting it again.
If you're still having no luck, launch fdisk again and type "d" followed by the partition number to delete it. Type "p" to verify that you deleted the right partition (if you didn't, exit by typing "q"), followed by "w" to save your changes.



With any luck, you'll be able to recover your partition in this way; however, this isn't guaranteed. It's entirely possible that Windows moved the start point of the extended partition, or it might not start where it most likely does, either of which would prevent this operation from succeeding. If you're careful not to do anything destructive to the partition you create using fdisk, the risk is low, and if it works, recovery will be easy, so it's worth a shot. Just be very careful; you don't want to write data to the new partition (by using fsck or any other tool that writes data) unless/until you know it's valid.

[presence1960]

First I am sorry about your files, I feel your pain. For future reference it is recommended that you back up your files on a different media whenever performing partitioning or OS installations.

Don't boot to your hard disk. Stay with the Live CD, because if you want a chance of recovering your stuff you do not want to write to the area where those files are. I know it is "unallocated" but since this happened already why take another chance?

Testdisk may be able to recover the lost partition. See here (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Running_TestDisk)

You can install it to the Live CD session by opening a terminal and running
sudo apt-get install testdisk

Once installed run in terminal
sudo testdisk and follow the instructions from that link to recover the "lost" partition.

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Those last two where especially helpful, alas I actually fixed my issue with Quackers' suggestion.

My final resolution:
Using testdisk, I did a deep scan of my hard-drive. what it found was that Windows 7 had decided to write over a few cylinders onto the unbuntu partition. This was what made the ext4 partition unreadable, even via live-disk. So using testdisk I deleted the offending Windows Partition and restored the ext4 partition.
[The image below shows the overlap in partitions]
http://sites.google.com/site/paulbakerlesaltshaker/testdisk.png

Ubuntu was not bootable because Grub2 had to be repaired. I followed the instructions to this guide: http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-restore-grub-2-after-reinstalling-windows-xpvistawin7. Specifically the instructions for the live CD installation


sudo -i
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt
update-grub
umount /mnt/sys
umount /mnt/dev
umount /mnt/proc
exit

Grub2 was successfully restored, which allowed me to access my files which I've promptly dumped into my friend's external hard-drive.

I'm now going to wipe my drive and start completely fresh. I don't have a secondary drive of my own to permanently keep my files (like you suggested presence1960), so I'm going to have three partitions as my next configuration. 10 GB for Windows 7, 10 GB for Ubuntu 10.04, and the rest of the terrabyte will go to files that both systems can access.

Thanks for all your help again!:popcorn:

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Those last two where especially helpful, alas I actually fixed my issue with Quackers' suggestion.

My final resolution:
Using testdisk, I did a deep scan of my hard-drive. what it found was that Windows 7 had decided to write over a few cylinders onto the unbuntu partition. This was what made the ext4 partition unreadable, even via live-disk. So using testdisk I deleted the offending Windows Partition and restored the ext4 partition.
[The image below shows the overlap in partitions]
http://sites.google.com/site/paulbakerlesaltshaker/testdisk.png

Ubuntu was not bootable because Grub2 had to be repaired. I followed the instructions to this guide: http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-restore-grub-2-after-reinstalling-windows-xpvistawin7. Specifically the instructions for the live CD installation


sudo -i
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt
update-grub
umount /mnt/sys
umount /mnt/dev
umount /mnt/proc
exit
Grub2 was successfully restored, which allowed me to access my files which I've promptly dumped into my friend's external hard-drive.

I'm now going to wipe my drive and start completely fresh. I don't have a secondary drive of my own to permanently keep my files (like you suggested presence1960), so I'm going to have three partitions as my next configuration. 10 GB for Windows 7, 10 GB for Ubuntu 10.04, and the rest of the terrabyte will go to files that both systems can access.

Thanks for all your help again!:popcorn:

[avatarmonkeykirby]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Those last two where especially helpful, alas I actually fixed my issue with Quackers' suggestion.

My final resolution:
Using testdisk, I did a deep scan of my hard-drive. what it found was that Windows 7 had decided to write over a few cylinders onto the unbuntu partition. This was what made the ext4 partition unreadable, even via live-disk. So using testdisk I deleted the offending Windows Partition and restored the ext4 partition.
[The image below shows the overlap in partitions]
https://sites.google.com/site/paulbakerlesaltshaker/testdisk.png

Ubuntu was not bootable because Grub2 had to be repaired. I followed the instructions to this guide: http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-restore-grub-2-after-reinstalling-windows-xpvistawin7. Specifically the instructions for the live CD installation


sudo -i
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt
update-grub
umount /mnt/sys
umount /mnt/dev
umount /mnt/proc
exit

Grub2 was successfully restored, which allowed me to access my files which I've promptly dumped into my friend's external hard-drive.

I'm now going to wipe my drive and start completely fresh. I don't have a secondary drive of my own to permanently keep my files (like you suggested presence1960), so I'm going to have three partitions as my next configuration. 10 GB for Windows 7, 10 GB for Ubuntu 10.04, and the rest of the terrabyte will go to files that both systems can access.

Thanks for all your help again! :popcorn:

[srs5694]

Instead of wiping everything on the drive, you could try creating a Windows installation partition using Linux (fdisk/mkntfs, parted, GParted, or whatever). If you do that, Windows will be less likely to trash your Linux installation because of bugs in its partitioner.

[avatarmonkeykirby]

I'm avoiding that by installing windows first. That way I won't have to mess with partition errors or Grub.

[avatarmonkeykirby]

I'm avoiding that by installing windows first. That way I won't have to mess with partition errors or Grub. The main reason is to clear up fragment errors that are already on the Windows partition. Degraggler estimated several days to clear up the problems, but that was an underestimate. Instead of waiting several weeks to clear the defragmentation (not to mention the overly abundant windows clutter) Clean install seemed the smartest thing to do.

[presence1960]

The main thing is you recovered your data. Compared to losing all your files reinstallation is not too hard to swallow.

[presence1960]

The main thing is you recovered your data. Compared to losing all your files reinstallation is not too hard to swallow.

[presence1960]

The main thing is you recovered your data. Compared to losing all your files reinstallation is not too hard to swallow.