Lost FC6 Partition (was Re: This is just amazing...not)

landon kelsey landonmkelsey at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 8 05:08:30 UTC 2010


lost access?  Create a Fedora version on a DVD and boot to it
then you may be able to access your "lost" files

OR even after chroot /mnt/sysimage, look for the files and copy to
 some medium or maybe even ftp

WOW Haven't done FORTRAN since the early 90s

> From: blann at gte.net
> To: redhat-install-list at redhat.com
> Subject: Re: Lost FC6 Partition (was Re: This is just amazing...not)
> Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 03:24:53 -1000
> 
> I tried going thru steps in an earlier reply from a link given to archive by 
> gonzalo76 on this topic. Had problems with the
> grub> root(hd0,x) commands.
> Finally went to the Fedora12 DVD kindly sent awhile back by a kind forum 
> member. The install went extremely smoothly.
> I lost home directory files, but will add from back-up. Of importance to me, 
> the FORTRAN compiler is there and working
> on files imported from a USB. I think that this LINUX system is up and 
> working (and the winXP boots fine) and thank those
> who offered help on this. Best wishes to all- always a great group of folks 
> generous with your time- best wishes,Marshall
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rick Stevens" <ricks at nerd.com>
> To: "Getting started with Red Hat Linux" <redhat-install-list at redhat.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 7:17 AM
> Subject: Re: Lost FC6 Partition (was Re: This is just amazing...not)
> 
> 
> > On 09/06/2010 10:45 PM, Karl Pearson wrote:
> >> On Mon, September 6, 2010 9:53 am, blann wrote:
> >>> Aloha Karl,
> >>>    Below some answers I may have failed to make in text ( and thanks for
> >>> your
> >>> input):
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: "Karl Pearson"<karlp at ourldsfamily.com>
> >>> To: "Getting started with Red Hat Linux"<redhat-install-list at redhat.com>
> >>> Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 11:00 AM
> >>> Subject: Re: This is just amazing...
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Please forgive my top-post, but also forgive my response:
> >>>>
> >>>> If you are going to "If I may change the subject" to us, please 
> >>>> actually
> >>>> CHANGE THE SUBJECT (line above).
> >>>>
> >>>> This is called Hijacking A Thread, and isn't very good manners.
> >>>>
> >>>> Now to your email (see below):
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Fri, September 3, 2010 2:58 pm, blann wrote:
> >>>>> If I may change the subject and, as usual ask for help (and thanks for
> >>>>> past
> >>>>> responses):
> >>>>>   Many moons back I must have damaged my MBR (winXP,FC6). A helpful
> >>>>> member
> >>>>> sent a cd with ubuntu , and now there is a boot choice(grub) between
> >>>>> that
> >>>>> OS
> >>>>> and  XP.
> >>>>
> >>>> fdisk /mbr will 'fix' a broken master boot record so you can boot into
> >>>> WinXP again, though why anyone would without being coerced to, I don't
> >>>> know.
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I am trying to see if I can restore the grub loader to get into my old
> >>>>> FC
> >>>>> installation which is likely
> >>>>> still on my HD. I have tried my disk1 from  FC6 to do a reinstall, it
> >>>>> seems to go thru motions,
> >>>>> but a revised grub loader does not come up- even tho I get a message
> >>>>> during
> >>>>> install
> >>>>> that boot loader is being installed- and an installation complete msg.
> >>>>
> >>>> When you installed Ubuntu (Linux Mint is much better IMHO), do you
> >>>> remember being asked if you wanted to put it side-by-side with BOTH
> >>>> WinXP
> >>>> and FC?
> >>> I DO NOT RECALL_ MY OLD MEMORY IS BAD<  BUT AT STARTUP A GRUB
> >>> LOADER APPEARS<  IT CONTAINS UBUNTU,WINXP, UBUNTU RESCUE, AND
> >>> A COUPLE OF MEMORY CHECK OPTIONS. SO THE 'LIVE UBUNTU' SEEMS MOUNTED
> >>> WITH WINXP OPTION. The HD organization coming up shows a /dev/hdb with
> >>> hdb1
> >>> ext3(102mb),
> >>> and hdb2 LVM PV (117138 mb)- and /dev/sda with sda1-3 and 5-7
> >>> partitions,ntfs,ext3,extended,ntfs,
> >>> ext3,swap partitions. I need now after some years to go back and review 
> >>> my
> >>> partitions to ID.
> >>
> >> If you are seeing Grub, then you aren't booting from a Live CD, which you
> >> would have to do to use the disk tools necessary to see what partitions
> >> can be found.
> >>
> >> I suspect, sadly, that your FC6 partition was over-written by the Ubuntu
> >> install.
> >>
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Is there a way to repair or replace what I am assuming is a damaged
> >>>>> mbr/grub
> >>>>> loader due to having
> >>>>> turned off a hung up XP with AC button?
> >>>>
> >>>> as I wrote above: fdisk /mbr
> >>> FDISK sounds like what I may have used years ago to repartition; is it 
> >>> on
> >>> disk 1 of my FC6
> >>> install?
> >>
> >> I doubt it. FC6 wasn't a live CD. You can use fdisk from any version of
> >> Linux to see the partition table, however, and that may be what you need
> >> to do.
> >>
> >> Just run Ubuntu and run fdisk as root (sudo fdisk should work). If you
> >> have more than one hard disk in the PC, you will want to run it against
> >> each disk to see what partitions.
> >>
> >> FC6 defaulted to ext3, I believe (that may have been FC8???). Rick will
> >> know for sure, as well as a few others on this list. It's been a while
> >> since I happened on an FC6 install to check.
> >>
> >> In any case, I would recommend that if you are going to use a multiple-OS
> >> PC, that you get a new hard disk for each OS, unless you know you'll be
> >> using one very sparingly. If that's the case, just run that OS in
> >> VirtualBox and be done with it. That's how I run XP at work and home. I
> >> think I boot them up about once a week, or less.
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have, via generosity of an active member of the group, an FC12 set 
> >>>>> of
> >>>>> install disks; have hesitated
> >>>>> running this for fear I would overwrite /home directory, whereas the 
> >>>>> FC
> >>>>> Bible advises that simple
> >>>>> re-install of FC6 should not do this.
> >>>>>    Any comments greatly appreciated! Thanks- Marshall
> >>
> >> You can always download new ISOs from any distributions downloads page,
> >> and burn them to DVDs or CDs and take them for a test drive. I use CentOS
> >> and FC9 on my servers, and Linux Mint (a derivative of Ubuntu, without 
> >> all
> >> the restrictions) for my desktops and laptop.
> >>
> >> Karl
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>> Any install of FC will overwrite the home directory, unless 
> >>>> specifically
> >>>> told not to. What I do in these cases is boot to a "live CD" such as
> >>>> Mint
> >>>> or another Knoppix-like release, then mount the Linux partition, and
> >>>> copy
> >>>> /home/ME to a USB-attached external device, such as a disk or flash
> >>>> drive
> >>>> that's big enough to hold the data. With some distributions, you could
> >>>> even burn your home directory to a DVD. I also recommend not worrying
> >>>> about copying anything other than Documents, etc. Settings are pretty
> >>>> easy
> >>>> to recreate, actually, and you get to use the functionality of the new
> >>>> OS
> >>>> better that way, too.
> >>>> BETWEEN COMPUTER IN SD AND SOME USB"S I LIKELY HAVE HOME
> >>> DIRECTORY BACKED UP- SO MAYBE I'LL GAMBLE.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks again for your help on this- best wishes,Marshall
> >
> > It was I who sent a bunch of CDs to you, Blann.  And you sent me return
> > postage.  Not at all necessary, but kudos to you!
> >
> > Anyway, FC6 defaults to ext2 filesystems and, if you used logical volumes, 
> > LVM1.  A live CD of a more current system may not see your
> > items because of that (FC8 and later went to ext3 and LVM2).
> >
> > If you have a CD of FC6, try booting that in rescue mode and see if it
> > spots your FC6 installation.  If it does, let it mount it (it'll be
> > mounted at /mnt/sysimage).  You can then "chroot /mnt/sysimage" and
> > try to reinstall grub to your MBR at that point.  Note that this will
> > screw up your existing MBR, so back that up before doing this.  To
> > back up the MBR, put some removable, writable media in your machine
> > somewhere and copy the first block of your boot drive to it using dd:
> >
> > dd if=/dev/sda of=/path/to/removable/media/mbr.bak bs=512 count=1
> >
> > If you can't find appropriate bootable FC6 media, (rummaging through my
> > stock of CDs and HD archives of ISO images), I have copies of every
> > Fedora release.  To be honest, several I only have DVD images of some
> > of them, but I can make copies and shoot them to you as I did before.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, C2 Hosting          ricks at nerd.com -
> > - AIM/Skype: therps2        ICQ: 22643734            Yahoo: origrps2 -
> > -                                                                    -
> > -   Trying to make digital files uncopyable is like trying to make   -
> > -                    water not wet. -- Bruce Schneier                -
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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