[lug] windows reformatting linux disks?

D. Stimits stimits at idcomm.com
Tue Apr 30 16:37:43 MDT 2002


Neal McBurnett wrote:
> 
> I recently got a new Maxtor USB drive.  I plugged it into a redhat 7.1
> system and formatted it into 4 partitions - 3 linux and one "0xda
> Non-FS data"
> partition.  I put some good stuff on it.
> 
> I then plugged it into a Windows ME box.  [Yeah - dumb move.  Just
> trying to help a non-profit save some data....]  ME seems to have
> instantly, without asking, taken the liberty of mucking with the
> layout, creating a new disk which it labels "new storage" in the "My
> Computer" window.  Fearing further destruction, I pulled it out without
> trying to "unmount" the disk [assuming there is a way to do that].
> 
> Now when I plug it back into linux, it causes a kernel error: "Apr 21
> 18:33:49 pearl kernel: sda:<1>Unable to handle kernel paging request
> at virtual address a05b05b1" and I can't see anything.

I would guess you still have an fstab entry to mount that drive in the
format it was in before ME decided it was smarter than you and "fixed"
it. Boot up the system without that drive, even if it is from a rescue
disk, and edit /etc/fstab to remove the attempt to mount that disk's
partitions. Then you can work on it. What you might want to do is make
the first partition on the disk suitable for win, perhaps even doing the
partitioning from win...throw it a bone to chew on. Then use the rest
under linux, perhaps it'll leave the rest alone.

> 
> I would have thought it would never reformat a disk without asking,
> but that would assume it wasn't trying to actively destroy anything
> non-MS.

Usually boot records are the only big risk, though win certainly loves
to mess with partitions of other non-MS types.

> 
> Nothing obvious pops up in google when I look there.
> 
> Any insight into either the perceived tendency of Windows to
> opportunisticly reformat enemy disks, or ways to get an old Linux
> to read it, especially what was there before?

Probably the best you can hope for is to use dd to dump the raw contents
of the old partitions...if you know their boundaries. And maybe read
part of it. Files that are raw dumps of ext2 or other linux types can be
mounted as if they are partitions by use of the -oloop option of mount.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Neal McBurnett <neal at bcn.boulder.co.us>
> http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
> GPG/PGP signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  Keyid: 2C9EBA60
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> Join us on IRC: lug.boulder.co.us port=6667 channel=#colug



More information about the LUG mailing list