Boot problem after / partition resize - ( Stupid mistake !!) [SOLVED]

[Old-Polack]

francis:

Your partitions are a mess, out of order, wrong types, and you have two swap partitions where you only need one. You've started by making the whole drive an extended partition, then placed a primary partition right in the middle of it. The Linux fdisk can straighten all this out, but it is a command line application. You need to run it as root, and have a clear head when using it.

Do a forum search, and in the fields Search for:  fdisk and by user:  old-polack

Some of these are quite long but are very detailed. Study those for a bit to get a feeling for the application, then if you have any questions, post them to this thread.

[Tony]

Hi old-polack ! Thanks for your instruction.

Do a forum search, and in the fields Search for:  fdisk and by user:  old-polack

Right, there seems to be a lot of material, thankyou !

You need to run it as root, and have a clear head when using it.

Yes, not having been well has sure taken its toll ... back at work however.

Some of these are quite long but are very detailed. Study those for a bit to get a feeling for the application, then if you have any questions, post them to this thread.

Thanks again, old-polack ! 
A calmness will be found to do this soon, I'm not doing a thing till that calmness returns.
*Obviously the big question is whether I'll need to Re-Install PCLinuxOS, time will tell.

I'll tackle this study in the coming days, the big lesson has bit me, "Backup" everything !
Have lost some work related material, nothing important to myself.
Bought a cheap laptop to do work related issues. Win and Linux from now on will always be on seperate machines, as I believe God intended.
This has been a major disaster, for someone in my position, I'm eating dirt. 

Perserverance Furthers 

Thankyou old-polack, when I have a "clear head" and an understanding of what has gone on, if I require help, I will certainly take you up on your kind offer.
Regards,
francis.

[Tony]

Starting afresh to solve this... the mess I created.
As advised by OP, I've taken notes, familiarised with Live CD - using fdisk commandline.
Ignore if not involved, the preceding info will drive you insane.

Do a forum search, and in the fields Search for:  fdisk and by user:  old-polack

From Search:
This Thread seems a good one for me to get a wealth of info from.
Rescuing HDD [SOLVED]
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,60587.0.html
Refreshing myself what types of Partitions are what. I'll talk out aloud to start, or I'm just gonna get confused.(That will end when I get to the guts of this, excuse me.)

I have to start somewhere, KinfoCentre - to visualise.


OP has 13 points in above stated thread, page 1.) types of Partitions, his overview, which is concise for me to work from, hopefully.
At this point I have PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 Desktop, plus, PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 Mini installed.
Amazingly they are working fine.
I'll work from PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 Desktop Terminal first, compare to previous data.
fdisk -l

Code: [Select]

[francis@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 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: 0x0165e8aa

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *       16065    80292869    40138402+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda2        67697910    74156039     3229065   83  Linux
/dev/sda5           16128    55102949    27543411    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6        74156103    74991419      417658+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7        74991483    80292869     2650693+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8        55103013    61561079     3229033+  83  Linux
/dev/sda9        61561143    62396459      417658+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10       62396523    67697909     2650693+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 6488 MB, 6488294400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 788 cylinders, total 12672450 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: 0xcf85cf85

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    12659219     6329578+   7  HPFS/NTFSO.K., so nothing has changed from previous post, as I haven't felt confident to move partitions, with Live CD, just getting familiar.
Aim is to Sort Partitions.
Ammend menu.lst to reflect the reordering of partitions.

System Boots fine, plus not locked out of either Distro.

Basically moving the partitions is a worry, I don't want to make System worse or unbootable.
My studies continue ...

[Old-Polack]

francis:

That's a particularly interesting choice you linked to, for seeing what fdisk is capable of doing. I remember that thread quite well.

Your case is quite similar, but doesn't require actually moving any partitions, just deleting them and recreating them with the proper type. The biggest difference between what is shown in the old thread, and what we need to do, is that now fdisk defaults to showing sectors rather than cylinders. Other than that the process is still essentially the same.

Once the partitions are of the correct type and in the proper order, you may wish to move and/or expand the Windows partition to the very beginning of the drive, to recover a small bit of space that now seems to be wasted, but that is not essential to the operation of either the Windows or Linux systems; it is purely a matter of choice on your part.

[Tony]

I'd like to rememedy the exististing situation, and get the two PCLinuxOS OS's setup on the Hard Drive properly.
But, ... Still having the Flu is just making this too complex to figure at the moment.
Can I create a partition with current PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 over 20 GB's of the 40GB's total, and leave it alone till I have a Flu free brain ?
I'm feeling if too much more time goes by; PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 will have too many additional updates, to start afresh, as far as my Bandwidth. It is totally up to date at this time !
It is a good window of opportunity to do so, I think ?

Thanks OP,
francis.

[Old-Polack]

I'd like to rememedy the exististing situation, and get the two PCLinuxOS OS's setup on the Hard Drive properly.
But, ... Still having the Flu is just making this too complex to figure at the moment.
Can I create a partition with current PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 over 20 GB's of the 40GB's total, and leave it alone till I have a Flu free brain ?
I'm feeling if too much more time goes by; PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 will have too many additional updates, to start afresh, as far as my Bandwidth. It is totally up to date at this time !
It is a good window of opportunity to do so, I think ?

Thanks OP,
francis.

If you can boot to either of both PCLinuxOS releases, just leave things as they are for now. When you have the time and your head is clear, we can to the partition fixes then. Do the upgrades you need as they become available; they won't hurt anything or make things any worse than they already are.

That assumes you actually want to try fixing the partitions. If you'd rather, you can start over completely by creating a primary partition of whatever size you want for windows, doing a fresh Windows installation, then do the PCLinuxOS installation on the rest of the drive. It really is up to you. I'm willing to help with whichever way you choose to proceed.

[Tony]

If you can boot to either of both PCLinuxOS releases, just leave things as they are for now. When you have the time and your head is clear, we can to the partition fixes then. Do the upgrades you need as they become available; they won't hurt anything or make things any worse than they already are.

Yes, I can boot to both PCLinuxOS releases, will maintain them, interesting to have LXDE 'Mini', not to be be disregarded as a great distribution.
Damn, sinus infection !   

I'm willing to help with whichever way you choose to proceed.

Very gracious of you - I will return ... healthy.
Thankyou and best regards,

francis

[Tony]

I’ve moved important Media to my external Hard drive, via PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’.
PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 seems to be unstable, it has very little disk space from what I can gather.
Being more a Windows user, I’m stuck, also I don’t think info I’m gathering like Disk Space, is accurate.

I’m feeling best get on with resizing the Hard Drive to accomodate PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’, Delete PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06, and when appropriate, install PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 ‘MiniMe’, if possible. I have the Live CD's of all three burnt.

The Full KDE version is little use as I can’t use the many programmes the updates provide.
I prefer to select ones I’m familiar with, and will be of use.

Plus I think “it” (PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06)  is running in 6 GB space. / 3GB ; home GB,  and about to crash ! ? Abiword, is acting very buggy, not retaining text, or saving properly. Obviously the Disk is probably not too stable.

I’m working from  PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’. which is feeling stable, and working well.

1.) I have 40 GB HDD.
2.) I do not have Windows installed.
3. ) Would like to have PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’ in larger space.
4.) Remove PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06.
5.) Install PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 ‘MiniMe’. (when appropriate )
6.) Ultimately, share the Drive equally between LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’, and 'MiniMe'.

OP, obviously up to you, but if your offer of help still stands, I’d be really grateful for a hand.

After 3 years of using PCLinuxOS, and Dual booting, I’m a newby at this.
I’ve read about partitioning, and the different types, tried fdisk, but just getting confused, between Windows, and Linux. Seems I’m still hardwired to Windows terms, etc., as I work with it daily ... a large learning experience has presented itself 

OP, any info, commands, just fire away when you have time. I’ll do my best .
My timezone is +10 hours (GMT) , plus still not 100% well, but feel this situation eating away at me, especially if instability of HDD gets worse. Have to just take things a step at a time, your wisdom prevailing.
I love my P.C. , it’s not much, took it off of my Son who had trashed it (winXP) but in the six years I’ve had it, never crashed it, just made it the best it could be.
Making up for it now, hmmm.

Felt best to inform of what I’d like to do,  so if willing, time permitting, you could help me nut this out.

all the best,

francis.

[djohnston]

I don’t think info I’m gathering like Disk Space, is accurate.

Plus I think “it” (PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06)  is running in 6 GB space. / 3GB ; home GB,  and about to crash ! ? Abiword, is acting very buggy, not retaining text, or saving properly. Obviously the Disk is probably not too stable.

If you want an accurate reading of available disk space, the best way is by using the "df" command as a normal user. Most people create a root (/) partition, a swap partition, and a /home partition. To see both total and available space for any partition, use the df command for that partition. Three examples are shown below.

[darrel@AMD64 ~]$ df /
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5              42G  6.5G   35G  16% /

[darrel@AMD64 ~]$ df /home
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6             190G   61G  129G  32% /home

[darrel@AMD64 ~]$ df -ahT
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5      xfs     42G  6.5G   35G  16% /
none          proc       0     0     0   -  /proc
none        devpts       0     0     0   -  /dev/pts
/dev/sda6      xfs    190G   61G  129G  32% /home
/dev/sdb1      xfs    373G  128G  246G  35% /mnt/Vault
none         tmpfs    2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
none   binfmt_misc       0     0     0   -  /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
gvfs-fuse-daemon
fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon       0     0     0   -  /home/darrel/.gvfs
/dev/sdc1 reiserfs    299G  102G  197G  35% /media/Storage
[darrel@AMD64 ~]$

df -ahT command says to list all partitions in "human readable" format and include the filesystem type.

As far as restructuring your drive tables and data, I'll leave that to old-polack. It's his forte', and I dare say he's better at it than anyone else on this forum.

[Old-Polack]

I’ve moved important Media to my external Hard drive, via PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’.
PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 seems to be unstable, it has very little disk space from what I can gather.
Being more a Windows user, I’m stuck, also I don’t think info I’m gathering like Disk Space, is accurate.

I’m feeling best get on with resizing the Hard Drive to accomodate PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’, Delete PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06, and when appropriate, install PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 ‘MiniMe’, if possible. I have the Live CD's of all three burnt.

The Full KDE version is little use as I can’t use the many programmes the updates provide.
I prefer to select ones I’m familiar with, and will be of use.

Plus I think “it” (PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06)  is running in 6 GB space. / 3GB ; home GB,  and about to crash ! ? Abiword, is acting very buggy, not retaining text, or saving properly. Obviously the Disk is probably not too stable.

I’m working from  PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’. which is feeling stable, and working well.

1.) I have 40 GB HDD.
2.) I do not have Windows installed.
3. ) Would like to have PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’ in larger space.
4.) Remove PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06.
5.) Install PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06 ‘MiniMe’. (when appropriate )
6.) Ultimately, share the Drive equally between LXDE 2011.06 ‘Mini’, and 'MiniMe'.

OP, obviously up to you, but if your offer of help still stands, I’d be really grateful for a hand.

After 3 years of using PCLinuxOS, and Dual booting, I’m a newby at this.
I’ve read about partitioning, and the different types, tried fdisk, but just getting confused, between Windows, and Linux. Seems I’m still hardwired to Windows terms, etc., as I work with it daily ... a large learning experience has presented itself 

OP, any info, commands, just fire away when you have time. I’ll do my best .
My timezone is +10 hours (GMT) , plus still not 100% well, but feel this situation eating away at me, especially if instability of HDD gets worse. Have to just take things a step at a time, your wisdom prevailing.
I love my P.C. , it’s not much, took it off of my Son who had trashed it (winXP) but in the six years I’ve had it, never crashed it, just made it the best it could be.
Making up for it now, hmmm.

Felt best to inform of what I’d like to do,  so if willing, time permitting, you could help me nut this out.

all the best,

francis.

If I understand correctly, you do not want to install Windows on this drive at all, and want a totally fresh start. Is that correct? If so, and if you have either another computer or an OS installation on the external drive, or can get along using a liveCD for a while I'd start by zeroing the drive for a truly fresh start from a like new drive disk. You can use the dd command from the liveCD to accomplish this. The command needs to be directed at the correct drive, so I would disconnect any other drives, internal or external, while doing this so as to not endanger any important data. You should be entering the commands in a terminal as root.

When you think you are ready, boot to the liveCD, log in as root, and open a terminal. First check to be sure the drive in question is the only one the system sees.

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l                            <Enter>

You should see only the 40 GB drive. Next the dd zero command;

[root@localhost ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096                     <Enter>

This will wipe the drive completely of all previous data including the partition table, rendering it to empty like new status, so be sure any data you wish to save has already been backed up to the external drive. The process will take a while, and will be complete when you are returned to the command prompt. When the process is complete;

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l                            <Enter>

should show the drive as being present but should report than no partition table of any type can be found. This is what we want..

Once you are at this stage, post your results and we can then decide exactly how the new partitions should be set up, and what should be installed on them. The new MiniMe 2011.07 has already been released.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,94205.msg792343.html#msg792343

[Tony]

djohnston:

If you want an accurate reading of available disk space, the best way is by using the "df" command as a normal user.

Thanks.
Just out of interest will see what the disk usage in both systems are.

[francis@localhost ~]$ df /
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2             3.1G  2.7G  266M  91% /
[francis@localhost ~]$ df /home
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda7             2.5G  427M  2.1G  17% /home
[francis@localhost ~]$ df -ahT
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2     ext4    3.1G  2.7G  266M  91% /
none          proc       0     0     0   -  /proc
none        devpts       0     0     0   -  /dev/pts
/dev/sda7     ext4    2.5G  427M  2.1G  17% /home
none   binfmt_misc       0     0     0   -  /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
/dev/sda10    ext4    2.5G 1016M  1.5G  40% /media/disk
[francis@localhost ~]$

That was run in PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06.
/ has about 400 MB's left it seems, yeah ?

[tony@localhost ~]$ df /
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8             3.1G  1.9G  1.1G  63% /
[tony@localhost ~]$ df /home
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda10            2.5G  1.1G  1.5G  41% /home
[tony@localhost ~]$ df -ahT
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8     ext4    3.1G  1.9G  1.1G  63% /
none          proc       0     0     0   -  /proc
none        devpts       0     0     0   -  /dev/pts
/dev/sda10    ext4    2.5G  1.1G  1.5G  41% /home
none   binfmt_misc       0     0     0   -  /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
gvfs-fuse-daemon
fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon       0     0     0   -  /home/tony/.gvfs
[tony@localhost ~]$

From pclinuxos LXDE Mini.


old-polack:

If I understand correctly, you do not want to install Windows on this drive at all, and want a totally fresh start. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.
Will pull out the Slave Drive.
Noted instructions, Zeroing Drive.
I have the three new Live CD's burnt and tested; PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.06, MiniMe,and 'LXDE Mini'.
Will ride on one of those to access the Forum.
Have a lot of of backing up checklisting, plus really test the Live CD's to see what I can do, i.e. access External Drive, when appropriate, to read notes. Otherwise print.
Hopefully do the deed tomorrow (?) and get back to you with results of :

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l                            <Enter>

should show the drive as being present but should report than no partition table of any type can be found. This is what we want..

Once you are at this stage, post your results and we can then decide exactly how the new partitions should be set up, and what should be installed on them.

Excellent, thanks so much !  

[Tony]

O.K. Seems I'm all ready to wipe the Hard Drive.

Back when I'm done, ... 

[Tony]

Just checking: I can access backup of Bookmarks, Passwords, run Firefox, from Live CD.o.k.

Unhook all external, plus internal drives [Done] and:
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l                            <Enter>

You should see only the 40 GB drive. Next the dd zero command;

[root@localhost ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096                     <Enter>

See you on the other-side, fingers crossed 

...

[Tony]

Done !

[root@localhost root]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096
dd: writing `/dev/sda': No space left on device
10036657+0 records in
10036656+0 records out
41110142976 bytes (41 GB) copied, 805.328 s, 51.0 MB/s
[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 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

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table
[root@localhost root]#

[Old-Polack]

Done !

[root@localhost root]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096
dd: writing `/dev/sda': No space left on device
10036657+0 records in
10036656+0 records out
41110142976 bytes (41 GB) copied, 805.328 s, 51.0 MB/s
[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 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

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table
[root@localhost root]#

Now that's starting with a clean slate.

The first think I would make is the swap partition, followed by two partitions to be used as the / partitions of the two installations. 40 GB is not much room these days, so I would not recommend separate /home partitions.

Taking into account your external hard drive, every thing you may wish to save, from downloads to work product, should be saved there, long term. While working on a project it should be fine saving to directories in your /home/<you> directory. To conserve space, those directories can later be moved to the larger drive when no longer current, (but still needed for future reference) freeing up the limited space on the smaller 40 GB drive.

I don't see where you mentioned how much physical RAM you have on that machine. We need to know that, and whether you ever intend to use hibernation, to determine how large the swap partition should be. From there, I would divide the rest of the drive into two approximately equal parts for the two / partitions. That would give you the greatest efficiency of drive space usage.

If you have other ideas as to the partitioning, now is the time to discuss different strategies.

Post the RAM size, and any other partitioning possibilities you may feel would be beneficial.