Need help fixing partition table

mossygiraffe · 02-23-2005, 02:26 PM

Not sure where this post really belongs, feel free to move it if necessary...

I tried to delete a partition using W2K disk management and it looks
like it corrupted the partition table. Disk management said that I
needed to change the partition number of my W2K system partition in
boot.ini, which I did. I had Fedora Linux and W2K installed. Neither one
boots anymore and grub can't find the linux system partition. (Fedora
should be unaffected by boot.ini) Does anyone know of a tool that can
restore partition tables ?

batty_professor · 02-24-2005, 05:24 PM

Need to know: do you need the files that were on the drive? or is it ok to re-partition/format? Is the drive still recognized in bios? If not, it might well pay to enter the bios utility and set the defaults so the system can find the drive once again. Then perhaps you can access the filesystem(s) as before, and manage them accordingly. If the drive is seen in bios, but no partitions are found, you might try using a win98 bootdisk, and the fdisk utility. Even if it says it can't find the C drive, delete partitions, starting with non-dos, then extended dos, and finally a primary dos. Even if it says it's not finding partitions, do it anyway. Then exit fdisk, and restart, and try the fdisk utility again and see if it finds a drive. It's been a while since I've had something like this, but I think this worked at the time.

**gotissues68** · 02-26-2005, 05:27 AM

boot with either the win2k cd and use the recovery console or use a win98 boot disk ... if you the rc then you just need to type "fixmbr" if you use the win98 bootdisk then type fdisk /mbr

when you deleted the linux partition you removed the file grub is looking for that it uses to determine which devices it uses to boot from. Grub itself is installed in the MBR but reads a file on your hard drive in order to boot to either linux or windows, you removed it when you deleted that partition.

02-23-2005, 02:26 PM	#1 (permalink)
mossygiraffe Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 36 OS: Win2k	Need help fixing partition table Not sure where this post really belongs, feel free to move it if necessary... I tried to delete a partition using W2K disk management and it looks like it corrupted the partition table. Disk management said that I needed to change the partition number of my W2K system partition in boot.ini, which I did. I had Fedora Linux and W2K installed. Neither one boots anymore and grub can't find the linux system partition. (Fedora should be unaffected by boot.ini) Does anyone know of a tool that can restore partition tables ?

02-24-2005, 05:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	Need to know: do you need the files that were on the drive? or is it ok to re-partition/format? Is the drive still recognized in bios? If not, it might well pay to enter the bios utility and set the defaults so the system can find the drive once again. Then perhaps you can access the filesystem(s) as before, and manage them accordingly. If the drive is seen in bios, but no partitions are found, you might try using a win98 bootdisk, and the fdisk utility. Even if it says it can't find the C drive, delete partitions, starting with non-dos, then extended dos, and finally a primary dos. Even if it says it's not finding partitions, do it anyway. Then exit fdisk, and restart, and try the fdisk utility again and see if it finds a drive. It's been a while since I've had something like this, but I think this worked at the time. __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

02-26-2005, 05:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
gotissues68 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver Washington, Mountain View CA and Atlanta GA you pick the week! Posts: 716 OS: Linux/FreeBSD	boot with either the win2k cd and use the recovery console or use a win98 boot disk ... if you the rc then you just need to type "fixmbr" if you use the win98 bootdisk then type fdisk /mbr when you deleted the linux partition you removed the file grub is looking for that it uses to determine which devices it uses to boot from. Grub itself is installed in the MBR but reads a file on your hard drive in order to boot to either linux or windows, you removed it when you deleted that partition. __________________