[lug] windows reformatting linux disks?

[Neal McBurnett]

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

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?

Thanks,

Neal McBurnett <neal at bcn.boulder.co.us>
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
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