Can not see existing windows partition during installation

[chjustc]

Hi there,

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 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

Dose this mean the windows parition is on /dev/sda/? Does anyone know why the installation can not identify it?

By the way, 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. My goal was always keeping both windows and ubuntu. So, 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.

What should I do?

Thanks.

[Pumalite]

You seem to have a Partition Table problem in sdb.
Try to correct it with TestDisk:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p21.html

[chjustc]

You seem to have a Partition Table problem in sdb.
Try to correct it with TestDisk:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p21.html

Thanks for the reply. Do you think /dev/sda also has problem? The number of cylinders of /dev/sda is 38913, but the end of /dev/sda1 is 76534. Sorry, I don't know much and am confused.

I took a look at the second link you provide and will try this in a minute.

[Pumalite]

sda is fine.

[chjustc]

sda is fine.

When I analyzed /dev/sda with testdisk, I 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, 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 for both,


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 the problem in /dev/sdb?

My problem is: when I install Kubuntu 8.10, the installation can't find windows partition. All the space on sda and sdb are free.

Can I partition /dev/sdb by myself and finish the installation with it? Will this break anything on the windows partition?

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.