how to recover data from unbootable FC5 installation?

bazzoon · #1 1st September 2006, 06:54 AM

My FC5 installation is messed up after a motherboard+cpu change. kernel panic and hang. I ran the Fc5 installation disk with the option update current installation and to my surprise, fedora downgraded the kernel to the one supplied in the disk. The new kernel booted (some modules did not work) but got to a hard lockup after the HAL daemon thing. I came to beleive I need to reinstall FC5 but would like to have tons of custom src.rpms and personal files recovered first.

I used knoppix, Ubuntu, mepis and slax live cds but none of them could mount the partion which has the FC5 installation(at /dev/sda2). They only could mount the boot partition (/dev/sda1). They could also mount the ntfs hard drive (/dev/sdb1)

For example, knoppix says:

Quote:

Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was specified

I thought it is ext3, isn't it?

Please help. What am I missing?

[EDIT 1] My drives are sata. One has windows on it and the other has the FC5.

[EDIT 2] Problem solved through linux installation disk in the rescue mode (linux resque). One I am in, I did:
# chroot /mnt/sysimage (or where ever the installation tree is mounted)
The I did
# yum update
This brought the newest kernel as well as bunch of othersoftware which was propably downgraded too with the kernel. The I logged out, then logged in and it worked.

hurray.

Seve · #2 1st September 2006, 08:04 AM

Hello:
Yes, likely it is ext3, however the problem you are having is probably due to LVM (just a guess)
You will need a live CD that supports LVM so you can mount the logical volumes.
I read somewhere that Knoppix 5.0.1 does, but I don't know for sure.

Seve

fozner · #3 1st September 2006, 08:52 AM

Seve is right. I had to do something similar and what I did was turn my old hard drive into a slave and install a new hard drive as master. Then I installed Fedora on the master drive, making sure to RENAME the /rootvol00/logvol00 crap to something different to avoid a stupid LVM naming conflict. After that, I was able to mount and access the other disk just fine.

Omega Blue · #4 1st September 2006, 09:49 AM

That's why I have always avoided LVM. For me the disadvantages are greater.

fozner · #5 1st September 2006, 10:25 AM

LVM is actually very handy for advanced users. The idea of combining several small disks into one large one or being able to mix and match raid arrays with various sized drives is a good one. I hear there are some very nice GUI front-ends for LVM available for download that do not come with the default Fedora install, but I always just go "lvm help" and curse my way through it...

bazzoon · #6 1st September 2006, 04:00 PM

ok Thank you all for the information. But how can I access the LVM? If anaconda (the fedora installer) could mount it, then their must be a way, no?

bazzoon · #7 1st September 2006, 10:18 PM

Ok I solved the problem, not by molunting an lvm through live cd, but by entering the rescue mode. issue yum update and bring the computer to where it was before the change. It worked well, so far.

Thanks for the help.

the poi · #8 1st September 2006, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bazzoon

Ok I solved the problem, not by molunting an lvm through live cd, but by entering the rescue mode. issue yum update and bring the computer to where it was before the change. It worked well, so far.

Thanks for the help.

I just had to comment on your incredible luck. I've had enough trouble upgrading lots of packages on a perfectly fine system! geez!