F16's Stolen My Drive!

[PabloTwo]

I don't know... maybe you need to download the newest version of the Gparted Live CD, if that' s not what you're using now. The gdisk command line utility is very akin to fdisk (interactive command line). Maybe that would work to "remove" that GPT partition, but if so, would it then screw up your MBR partition tables??

Sticky situation. I'd hate to see you lose everything and have to start over with a totally wiped disk.

What happens when you run "sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda" ?? You may need to "yum install gdisk" first.

---------- Post added at 02:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------

Also, if /dev/sda6 is already mounted (if not, you could manually mount it) you could have a look at what's actually there, and verify there is nothing from your F16 64 bit install on there.

[bob]

I'm using it, but lvm p2 is showing as the one thing that GParted can't handle or modify in any way. Just checked that and verified it's not the tool for the job. So, here's 'gdisk -l'

[root@localhost ~]# gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.4

Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present


************************************************** *************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format.
************************************************** *************

Disk /dev/sda: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 90CEE6D4-F5F8-4DBF-83CF-A0B5A14031AC
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 4181 sectors (2.0 MiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 63 204796619 97.7 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
2 204796620 208893194 2.0 GiB 8200 Linux swap
3 208893195 413689814 97.7 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
5 413691904 414715903 500.0 MiB 8300 Linux filesystem
6 414717952 976773119 268.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem

I'm confident that this is from the 32 bit first/borked install 'way back when', however it doesn't seem that it's able to be modified in any way that won't destroy the entire drive's contents.

[PabloTwo]

************************************************** *************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format.
************************************************** *************

Oh Geez! Looks like you've got GTP partitioning scheme NOW.
Did you try a reboot yet, to see what flies, or dies? Or maybe it just did the "conversion" in memory only, not on the hardware itself?

[bob]

Reboots have been just fine. Also gave 'gdisk /dev/sda6' a crack, using command "d" which reports "no partitions". Jeez, I LOVE lvm!

[PabloTwo]

That's good news ( "Reboots have been just fine." ). I turned the laptop off awhile back. I don't have gdisk installed on my desktop PC, so can't refer to the gdisk man page without booting the laptop or installing it on the Desktop. Yeah, I dropped using LVM when I installed F16, and am glad I did.

[bob]

So, since this is a weird problem which I've caused by dumping a 32 bit "default" install and going with my normal 64bit/multi-distro installs, it's not going to help the Average User to know the outcome.

Frankly, with all the issues involved, I've got to believe that a full wipe/format is the best final solution. I'll do it, but I'll wait a bit before biting the bullet.

[Dan]

Hmmmmm.

I recommend a multi-part solution roughly similar to the steps below.

• Back up all data and needed configuration files.
• Physically disconnect backup storage media.
• Nuke the drive.
• Use Gparted LiveCD to re-partition the drive as you wish. (Using ext4 as often as possible.)
• Install F16 using the special/archaic non-LVM custom layout. Assign only one Swap space. Write F16's grub to the MBR.
• Install MINT 12/13 to an existing partition. Install it's own GRUB to its own root partition.
• Install other optional systems to their own (non-LVM) existing partitions, and their grubs to their own roots.
• Let fedora 16 handle the initial booting chores.
• Police the entire system regularly for any odour of LVM. If any stink/indication of LVM is found anywhere on the drive ... return to step 3.

[bob]

Well, it turned out that the problem did have another solution!

Since I can be just a BIT impatient with unfinished projects and problems, I decided to replace Mint 12 with F17 on sda3, however once I started with the custom installation, I noticed that the LVM sections were mentioned along with a tempting "delete" key. Yup! Deleted the LVM config and then I could delete sda6 and construct a new ext4 partition (60 gig) for F17.

And, I'm now typing from my new F17 installation! Good, huh?.......Well, so-so, actually. It turns out that the F16 installation did key on the LVM swap (despite my separate swap partition) and it refuses to boot. OTOH, I can mount and drag the data to F17, so all's not lost.

Now, time to explore!

[PabloTwo]

I'm glad to hear you found a working solution, without losing any data. Yeah, my F16 custom partition install (no LVM) onto /dev/sda grabbed the swap partition from my F12 install in LVM on /dev/sdb even though I never asked it to. In the output below, from F16, vg_speedi-vg_swap is from my F12 install.

BASH:~/-> cat /etc/fstab | grep swap
/dev/mapper/vg_speedie-lv_swap  	  swap			  swap    defaults        0 0
UUID=68d50902-802b-4d67-a8e8-8fcd2852298b swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

Edit: Darn.. old habits are sometimes hard to break. I meant: "grep swap /etc/fstab"

[Dan]

Mine did something similar, but I turned the swap partition off in Gparted, (LiveCD) blew it to magnetic chaos, then edited the F16 /etc/fstab with a text editor and ripped the swap entry out by the roots, and all was well again.

[bob]

Yup, typing from my restored F16 right now. All's well once again in Fedora-Town.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by bob

Yup, typing from my restored F16 right now. All's well once again in Fedora-Town.

Nuh, uh! No siree! You ain't sellin' that bridge here!

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