Gparted Strange Partitions - Trying to Dual Boot with Windodws 8

[sumpm1]

Hi. I need Ubuntu for a class I am taking. I have installed Ubuntu probably 20 times in the past. I have a live usb with 14.04.5 desktop 64. When I try to install, Gparted shows strange partitions that I cannot make sense of, and the partition sizes are way off.

I instead choose "try ubuntu" so that I can use other ubuntu tools prior to install. And here you can see that the "Disks" program CORRECTLY shows my partitions, and that sda1 is 173GB. But in Gparted, I have like 12 partitions and tons of unallocated sectors and the partition sizes are WAY OFF!

I would like to create a Ubuntu partition in the 21GB of free space at the end of the disk.

Anyone know what the heck could be going on here?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Screenshot: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0ScNeGWxmNVSUVwRnk0YUN0NTA

[oldfred]

If Windows 8, make sure sure fast start up is off.

Fast Startup off (always on hibernation)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2324331&p=13488472#post13488472
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-10-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.htmlold

Post this, which probably will match gparted:

sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
and:
sudo fdisk -lu

[sumpm1]

If Windows 8, make sure sure fast start up is off.

Fast startup was disabled all along: http://puu.sh/qOdbj/cdf425182e.png


Post this, which probably will match gparted:

sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
and:
sudo fdisk -lu


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
Warning: /dev/sda contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should.
Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT
partition tables. Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an
msdos partition table. Is this a GPT partition table?
Yes/No? ^C
Model: ATA ST750LM022 HN-M7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1465149168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 40s 409639s 409600s fat32 EFI System Partition boot
2 409640s 4308807s 3899168s CHAMELEON
3 4570952s 238945951s 234375000s SNOWLEO
4 239208096s 473583095s 234375000s ntfs DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
5 473845240s 551970239s 78125000s TEST1
6 552232384s 630357383s 78125000s DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
7 630619528s 646244527s 15625000s TEST3
8 646506672s 662131671s 15625000s Untitled
9 662393816s 678018815s 15625000s Untitled
10 678281216s 686104575s 7823360s DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
11 686104576s 693927935s 7823360s Untitled msftdata
12 709006672s 1464886983s 755880312s STORAGE

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
Warning: /dev/sda contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should.
Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT
partition tables. Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an
msdos partition table. Is this a GPT partition table?
Yes/No? y
Model: ATA ST750LM022 HN-M7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1465149168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 40s 409639s 409600s fat32 EFI System Partition boot
2 409640s 4308807s 3899168s CHAMELEON
3 4570952s 238945951s 234375000s SNOWLEO
4 239208096s 473583095s 234375000s ntfs DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
5 473845240s 551970239s 78125000s TEST1
6 552232384s 630357383s 78125000s DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
7 630619528s 646244527s 15625000s TEST3
8 646506672s 662131671s 15625000s Untitled
9 662393816s 678018815s 15625000s Untitled
10 678281216s 686104575s 7823360s DOS_FAT_32_Untitled_2 msftdata
11 686104576s 693927935s 7823360s Untitled msftdata
12 709006672s 1464886983s 755880312s STORAGE


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

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


Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x321055f4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 337922047 168960000 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 337922048 1423202303 542640128 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 4063 MB, 4063232000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 493 cylinders, total 7936000 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: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2 7935999 3967999 b W95 FAT32

[oldfred]

Disks is showing the MBR partitions.

Parted & gparted are showing gpt partitions.

Was this a gpt partitioned drive and you reinstalled Windows in BIOS/MBR boot mode?
Windows does not correctly convert a gpt drive to MBR, it leaves the backup gpt partition table.
It used to be that no Linux tools would then work as they saw both MBR & gpt, and assumed you wanted to totally start over.

This will typically show gpt partitions or say something about the errors. Do not save gpt data, but see what it says.
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda

If MBR partitions are correct you can use fixparts to delete all the old gpt data. You can use gdisk but it is a bit more complicated.

FixParts is the easiest way to remove the stray GPT data. GPT fdisk (gdisk or sgdisk) can do it, but the procedure's a bit more involved.
http://www.rodsbooks.com/fixparts/
sudo fixparts /dev/sda

But if you reinstalled Windows 8 in BIOS mode, the question is why?

GPT Advantages (older 2010 but still valid) see post#2 by srs5694:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1457901
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GUID_Partition_Table#Advantages_of_GPT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
http://askubuntu.com/questions/629470/gpt-vs-mbr-why-not-mbr
UEFI Advantages
http://askubuntu.com/questions/647303/uefi-or-legacy-which-is-advised-and-why/647604#647604
http://askubuntu.com/questions/446968/legacy-vs-uefi-help

[sumpm1]

Alright oldfred. Thank you for the help (It seems you were typing a solution as I was searching fixing and posting). I googled "However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should" after getting that warning/error.

I found this thread that gave me a solution: http://askubuntu.com/questions/249642/gpt-partition-table-warning-message-during-install-of-ubuntu

I followed these directions from PitaJ in that thread:


To fix your problem, follow these steps:

Boot the emergency disk (Ubuntu or other linux Live CD) and open a text-mode shell.
Type gdisk /dev/sda (change /dev/sda to whatever is appropriate to access your hard disk, if necessary). The program is likely to complain that it's found both MBR and GPT data, and will ask which to use. It doesn't matter which you tell it to use.
At the Command prompt, type x to enter the experts' menu.
At the Expert command prompt, type z to zap (destroy) the GPT data.
Type y in response to the confirmation about destroying the GPT.
Type n in response to the query about blanking the MBR. Caution: If you answer y here, you'll destroy your Windows partition(s)!


So I ended up using gdisk, but would have used fixparts had I got your reply in time. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

So I believe my issue is solved and I can get on with installing Ubuntu. I will mark the thread "solved."

Screenshot of correct partitions now: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0ScNeGWxmNVbFpzREt5SFRMRUk