July 2004 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 I restored with: dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 I think maybe I picked the wrong one. I also tried restoring with debug.exe, according to a long set of instructions that I could provide but not explain. Unfortunately, the only copies of the linux versions were on the hard drive, so I couldn't repeat that unless (until) I can suck the files off the lost drive. There's a good possibility of retrieving those files, along with the data files I want, thanks to a friend. And I probably won't even keep the drive as a win/linux combo, but start over again with two drives. But I'd still like to know where I went wrong and if there's a way to reverse it. Thanks, Greg doug waud wrote: > Hi Greg > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> Yup. I blew it away. I had win98 and suse 8.2 on the same hard drive, >> booting linux from floppy. Noticed that I could no longer boot windows >> from the hard drive, so I attemted to restore the mbr that I'd saved >> earlier. > > > You don't say how you tried to "restore" but it sounds like you might > have tried to do it within SuSE by copying the mbr copy SuSE makes into > the mbr space. If so, you still have another option. You can use windows > fdisk as > fdisk /mbr > You may then have to do something to get command.com and msdos.sys files > back into place; I think the command is > > sys c: > > but am not sure (long time since I have played with Windows) (i.e. > sometimes just the fdisk /mbr is not enough). I believe all this > requires a dos/windows boot disk which should have the requisite tools > on it. Read the manual to confirm that sys command :-) > > Also, can you boot into Linux (you made a boot disk didn't you) and > simply run LILO. > > Try the simple things before screwing around with parted. > > Finally, it is generally a good idea to be more specific about what you > did to get into trouble and what you have tried. It makes Dx and Rx > easier for the reader. > > doug > > PS now you know why it is a good idea to have a hard copy of /etc/fstab > and of the output of fdisk -l for each hard drive in your system! :-) > > PPS My spelling checker thinks fdisk should be frisk and sys should be > sighs. :-) > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

July 24, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by doug waud

Hi Greg Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Yup. I blew it away. I had win98 and suse 8.2 on the same hard drive, > booting linux from floppy. Noticed that I could no longer boot windows > from the hard drive, so I attemted to restore the mbr that I'd saved > earlier. You don't say how you tried to "restore" but it sounds like you might have tried to do it within SuSE by copying the mbr copy SuSE makes into the mbr space. If so, you still have another option. You can use windows fdisk as fdisk /mbr You may then have to do something to get command.com and msdos.sys files back into place; I think the command is sys c: but am not sure (long time since I have played with Windows) (i.e. sometimes just the fdisk /mbr is not enough). I believe all this requires a dos/windows boot disk which should have the requisite tools on it. Read the manual to confirm that sys command :-) Also, can you boot into Linux (you made a boot disk didn't you) and simply run LILO. Try the simple things before screwing around with parted. Finally, it is generally a good idea to be more specific about what you did to get into trouble and what you have tried. It makes Dx and Rx easier for the reader. doug PS now you know why it is a good idea to have a hard copy of /etc/fstab and of the output of fdisk -l for each hard drive in your system! :-) PPS My spelling checker thinks fdisk should be frisk and sys should be sighs. :-)

July 24, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Mike Leo

are you looking for a way to recover the files or to rebuild the mbr? What filesystem was it? ext3? fat? Several ways to recover files if fat/ntfs through software...one program i have heard of to recover ext2 filesystem...ill try and find the name. --- Gregory Avedissian <gma2004(a)verizon.net> wrote: > Yup. I blew it away. I had win98 and suse 8.2 on > the same hard drive, > booting linux from floppy. Noticed that I could no > longer boot windows > from the hard drive, so I attemted to restore the > mbr that I'd saved > earlier. That didn't work, my partition table is > gone, and I can't get > there from here. > > Parted has a function called something like 'Guess > at partition near START > and END'. I assume it's looking for cylindar > numbers. Is there a way to > get those if I didn't write them down when I > partitioned the drive? I do > have the sizes of the partitions, to the nearest 0.1 > GB. > > Looking for a free solution here. I did find a $90 > solution that runs in > windows and teases me by showing the files but not > letting me copy or view > them. > > Thanks, > Greg > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now. http://messenger.yahoo.com

July 24, 2004

Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

Yup. I blew it away. I had win98 and suse 8.2 on the same hard drive, booting linux from floppy. Noticed that I could no longer boot windows from the hard drive, so I attemted to restore the mbr that I'd saved earlier. That didn't work, my partition table is gone, and I can't get there from here. Parted has a function called something like 'Guess at partition near START and END'. I assume it's looking for cylindar numbers. Is there a way to get those if I didn't write them down when I partitioned the drive? I do have the sizes of the partitions, to the nearest 0.1 GB. Looking for a free solution here. I did find a $90 solution that runs in windows and teases me by showing the files but not letting me copy or view them. Thanks, Greg

July 24, 2004

nice use of graphics in a web page

by doug waud

Hi all I suppose this is a non-rant. I usually bitch about unecessary complexity in web sites. A friend showed me this one (he is a decendant of one of the kids kidnapped there by the French and Indians) and I thought the picture of the change with time of the area was very well done. http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/ doug

July 23, 2004