alt.os.linux - Any partitioning expert around?

Author

Any partitioning expert around?

Jack

2002-12-19, 4:25 am

Hello,
Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.

I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I use
Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
Mandrake).

Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
sector 26218080 on disk 1.
The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can fix
the CHS value.
Would you like drive Image to fix this error?

As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for detecting
these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those errors
after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?

Thanks again ,
Peter

Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.

Joseph

2002-12-19, 7:25 am

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:35:35 +0200, "Jack" <web888@lycos.co.uk> wrote:

>Hello,
>Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.
>
>I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I use
>Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
>following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
>Mandrake).
>
>Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
>sector 26218080 on disk 1.
>The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
>The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
>Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can fix
>the CHS value.
>Would you like drive Image to fix this error?
>
>As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for detecting
>these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
>Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those errors
>after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?
>
>Thanks again ,
>Peter
>
>Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.
>

I would like to know also since if you have the PM fix it....you lose
both OS's.

I quit using PM for this reason.

Joseph

Andy Clayton

2002-12-19, 10:25 am

Joe Fredrickson

2002-12-19, 3:25 pm

Thu, 19 Dec 2002 08:35 pm will from hence forward be known as the day Jack
blabbered:

> I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I use
> Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> Mandrake).

Well what you should do when doing a Linux install is have blank space on the
drive you wish to install it to. If this means u need to resize a partition
then use Partition Magic to resize it.

Once you have blank space restart your machine and install Linux, since you
have a partition allready in existence perform a "Expert" Install and make
the partitions your self.

*MAKE* *LINUX* *PARTITIONS* *WITH* *THE* *LINUX* *INSTALLATION*

> Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> sector 26218080 on disk 1.

I got these errors all the time under windows but never had a problem using
the drive under Linux. Just ignore it as I think it is derived from the
defunct way that windows (or DOS) designed partition layout.

If you try to fix this you will actually be corrupting the Linux filesystem
and most likely the entire partition table -- kinda nasty.

--
Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

Registered Linux User 282072
<www.volutin.net -- everything irrelevant>

Heinrich du Toit

2002-12-20, 12:24 am

Joe Fredrickson wrote:
<snip>
>
> *MAKE* *LINUX* *PARTITIONS* *WITH* *THE* *LINUX* *INSTALLATION*
>
<snip>

YES THIS IS VERY TRUE!
But I just like to add that you should avoid windows/dos fdisk and
format! all of them

I lost my partition table more than once due to bugs in dos fdisk and
format.
Just install the linux versions of these packages and use them.
Linux vfat format (mkfs.vfat) is faster than dos format anyways :-)

The only thing that windows fdisk seem to do correctly is setting the
active partition.. But this too is proabably a gamble.

Chris F.A. Johnson

2002-12-20, 2:24 am

On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 at 05:39 GMT, Heinrich du Toit wrote:
> Joe Fredrickson wrote:
><snip>
>>
>> *MAKE* *LINUX* *PARTITIONS* *WITH* *THE* *LINUX* *INSTALLATION*
>>
><snip>
>
> YES THIS IS VERY TRUE!
> But I just like to add that you should avoid windows/dos fdisk and
> format! all of them
>
> I lost my partition table more than once due to bugs in dos fdisk and
> format.

I lost my partition table while using the Mandrake installation CD.

I rebuilt it with a shell script that called fdisk (after booting
with a Knoppix CD).

--
Chris F.A. Johnson bq933@torfree.net
==============================
==============================
=====
c.f.a.johnson@rogers.com http://cfaj.freeshell.org
cfaj@freeshell.org http://members.rogers.com/c.f.a.johnson

Jack

2002-12-20, 8:25 am

I was thinking about that, too. However I corrected those "errors" with
Partition Magic 7 today but it seems I was lucky, cause nothing happened to
my Linux partitions. I have even restored the Linux partitions with Drive
Image 6 and it worked, less the SWAP partition (error1802, not enough space)
which I had to rebuild it with PM7.
Now I have an error when booting Linux:

"Activating swap: swapon /dev/hda10 invalid argument FAIL"

and few lines below:

"Enabling swap partition. swapon /dev/hda10 Invalid argument OK"

What would that mean??
And by the way, how do you see whether Linux is using the SWAP partition.
Can it work without SWAP partition? Can Linux use other partitions on the
disk, let's say a FAT partition, if it couldn't find the SWAP one?

Thanks,
Peter

"Joe Fredrickson" <joe@volutin.net> wrote in message
news:%JqM9.5067$W51.15466@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Thu, 19 Dec 2002 08:35 pm will from hence forward be known as the day Jack
> blabbered:
>
> > I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I
use
> > Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> > following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> > Mandrake).
>
> Well what you should do when doing a Linux install is have blank space on
the
> drive you wish to install it to. If this means u need to resize a
partition
> then use Partition Magic to resize it.
>
> Once you have blank space restart your machine and install Linux, since
you
> have a partition allready in existence perform a "Expert" Install and make
> the partitions your self.
>
> *MAKE* *LINUX* *PARTITIONS* *WITH* *THE* *LINUX* *INSTALLATION*
>
> > Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> > sector 26218080 on disk 1.
>
> I got these errors all the time under windows but never had a problem
using
> the drive under Linux. Just ignore it as I think it is derived from the
> defunct way that windows (or DOS) designed partition layout.
>
> If you try to fix this you will actually be corrupting the Linux
filesystem
> and most likely the entire partition table -- kinda nasty.
>
> --
> Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.
>
> Registered Linux User 282072
> <www.volutin.net -- everything irrelevant>

Jack

2002-12-20, 8:25 am

Hi again,
Sorry for delay, but I'm on Dialup.
Well I dared to correct it but happily for me everything went OK. I have
even managed to restore the Linux partitions with DI6, less the SWAP
partition (error1802, not enough space) which I had to rebuild it with PM7.
Now I have an error when booting Linux:

"Activating swap: swapon /dev/hda10 invalid argument FAIL"

and few lines below:

"Enabling swap partition. swapon /dev/hda10 Invalid argument OK"

What would that mean??
And by the way, how do you see whether Linux is using the SWAP partition.
Can it work without SWAP partition? Can Linux use other partitions on the
disk, let's say a FAT partition, if it couldn't find the SWAP one?

Thanks,
Peter

"Andy Clayton" <working@home.net> wrote in message
news:%6mM9.148726$%A6.1478894@news.easynews.com...
> Jack wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.
> >
> > I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I
use
> > Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> > following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> > Mandrake).
> >
> > Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> > sector 26218080 on disk 1.
> > The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
> > The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
> > Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can
fix
> > the CHS value.
> > Would you like drive Image to fix this error?
> >
> > As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for
detecting
> > these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
> > Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those
errors
> > after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?
> >
> > Thanks again ,
> > Peter
> >
> > Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.
>
> This is normal after a Linux install... If PMagic7 or DrImage ask to
correct
> the error reply: NO! or you may loose everything...

Jack

2002-12-20, 8:25 am

Sorry for being late. I'm on Dialup...
Miracle!! The PM fixed it and nothing happened, not to my Windowses nor
Linux. However, I've experienced some errors with PM7/8 and DI6, as well.
For example if I used PM7/8 to "Secure delete" a partition it would totally
scramble the Windows XP's boot.ini file. Not a pleasure.
I have even had DI6 restoring an RedHat 8 image today and it worked, less
the swap file (error 1802 not enough space) which I had to rebuilt it with
PM7. Now I have a SWAP error when booting Linux:

"Activanting swap: swapon /dev/hda10 invalid argument FAIL"

and few lines below:

"Enabling swap partition. swapon /dev/hda10 Invalid argument OK"

What would that mean??
And by the way, how do you see whether Linux is using the SWAP partition.
Can it work without SWAP partition? Can Linux use other partitions on the
disk, let's say a FAT partition, if it couldn't find the SWAP one?

Thanks again,
Peter

"Joseph" < 1on1(removeallandparenthesis)@
email.com> wrote in message
news:deh30vckkim4asn9hu8hlvhs6
5fgdma3j3@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:35:35 +0200, "Jack" <web888@lycos.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.
> >
> >I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I
use
> >Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> >following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> >Mandrake).
> >
> >Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> >sector 26218080 on disk 1.
> >The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
> >The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
> >Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can
fix
> >the CHS value.
> >Would you like drive Image to fix this error?
> >
> >As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for
detecting
> >these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
> >Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those
errors
> >after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?
> >
> >Thanks again ,
> >Peter
> >
> >Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.
> >
>
>
> I would like to know also since if you have the PM fix it....you lose
> both OS's.
>
> I quit using PM for this reason.
>
> Joseph

Joe Fredrickson

2002-12-20, 5:24 pm

Sat, 21 Dec 2002 12:46 am will from hence forward be known as the day Jack
blabbered:

> I was thinking about that, too. However I corrected those "errors" with
> Partition Magic 7 today but it seems I was lucky, cause nothing happened to
> my Linux partitions. I have even restored the Linux partitions with Drive
> Image 6 and it worked, less the SWAP partition (error1802, not enough
> space) which I had to rebuild it with PM7.

Rebuilding any Linux partition with PM7 is not going to work for you.
Just ignore the errors and boot into Linux then go through these steps

mkswap /dev/hda10 (if 10 is your swap device)

You may now want to optionally format this device, probably not a bad idea.

Now activate your swap partition again with the command
swapon -a (this will read from /etc/fstab so will use correct partition)

> And by the way, how do you see whether Linux is using the SWAP partition.

Use the command : free

This will show you all your available memory RAM and swap

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 450308 443780 6528 0 28 280740
-/+ buffers/cache: 163012 287296
Swap: 1124468 304 1124164

Use the -m option to get the values in Meg as opposed to bytes

> Can it work without SWAP partition? Can Linux use other partitions on the
> disk, let's say a FAT partition, if it couldn't find the SWAP one?

Linux can work with out a swap partition but if you are compiling something
or using a lot of processes and you run out of RAM then you will have all
sorts of problems, its best to have a swap partition available for the odd
case that it is needed. Like with my example above, 160M roughly of my RAM
is being used currently, but sometime in this boot 433Meg has been used now
that means I was 5Meg of running out of RAM, with a total of 1Gig of swap
though I am not going to have any problems.

The swap partition is a very unique filesystem so FAT cannot reasonably be
used, you can use it but performance is overall .... dodgy. You cant expect
Linux to automatically assume a different partition to use if the swap one
is unavailable you have to specify them yourself from the commandline with
swapon /dev/hdXY

If you wanted FAT or something else used permanently you could add another
swap line to your /etc/fstab

--
Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

Registered Linux User 282072
<www.volutin.net -- everything irrelevant>

Counterspy

2002-12-20, 8:24 pm

Jack wrote:
> Hello,
> Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.
>
> I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I use
> Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> Mandrake).
>
> Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> sector 26218080 on disk 1.
> The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
> The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
> Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can fix
> the CHS value.
> Would you like drive Image to fix this error?
>
> As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for detecting
> these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
> Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those errors
> after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?
>
> Thanks again ,
> Peter
>
> Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.
>
>

You now have found out why others said do not use Windows partitioners
on Linux and NEVER let Partition Magic correct its errors for you. It
will create the kind off error you are now experiencing. Linux is not
seeing the swap partition is what the error is showing you. Since you
have just installed Linux, you have no data to protect in Linux, so the
quick and dirty method can be used.
1) Using Partition Magic, delete your Linux partitions.
2) After you delete them, format them to Fat32 to make sure all of
Linux is gone.
3) Using PM, create one large extended partition. Put PM away and
never use it again unless you want to reconfigure your box.
4) Install Linux in the extended partition. To gain control of the
partitioning during the install, choose custom (Redhat) or expert
(Mandrake).
5) Make the following partitions:
"/" root, "/swap" - up to double your memory size, "/home" at a minimum.
I have not specified sizes because I don't know your disk size. You can
create more partitions if you feel you need them, but the separate home
partition will let you upgrade or reinstall by not formatting it again
preserving any custom settings, bookmarks etc.

If you wish to find out what's going on here, read the Large Disk How-To
and the Partitioning Mini-How-to at http://www.tldp.org.

Best of luck,

Counterspy

Jack

2002-12-20, 11:25 pm

All cristal clear for the moment, Joe. Thanks for all yr help. There would
be one last question as the fstab file came into discussion. What are the
rules of adding lines in fstab?
Also, yesterday, when trying to mount a cdrom or floppy I received an error
message "No new line in fstab", although everything went OK. Why would that
be?
Thanks,
Peter
GMT+2

"Joe Fredrickson" <joe@volutin.net> wrote in message
news:gyNM9.1253$Fi2.1826@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Sat, 21 Dec 2002 12:46 am will from hence forward be known as the day Jack
> blabbered:
>
> > I was thinking about that, too. However I corrected those "errors" with
> > Partition Magic 7 today but it seems I was lucky, cause nothing happened
to
> > my Linux partitions. I have even restored the Linux partitions with
Drive

> > Image 6 and it worked, less the SWAP partition (error1802, not enough
> > space) which I had to rebuild it with PM7.
>
> Rebuilding any Linux partition with PM7 is not going to work for you.
> Just ignore the errors and boot into Linux then go through these steps
>
> mkswap /dev/hda10 (if 10 is your swap device)
>
> You may now want to optionally format this device, probably not a bad
idea.
>
> Now activate your swap partition again with the command
> swapon -a (this will read from /etc/fstab so will use correct partition)
>
> > And by the way, how do you see whether Linux is using the SWAP
partition.
>
> Use the command : free
>
> This will show you all your available memory RAM and swap
>
> total used free shared buffers cached
> Mem: 450308 443780 6528 0 28 280740
> -/+ buffers/cache: 163012 287296
> Swap: 1124468 304 1124164
>
> Use the -m option to get the values in Meg as opposed to bytes
>
> > Can it work without SWAP partition? Can Linux use other partitions on
the
> > disk, let's say a FAT partition, if it couldn't find the SWAP one?
>
> Linux can work with out a swap partition but if you are compiling
something
> or using a lot of processes and you run out of RAM then you will have all
> sorts of problems, its best to have a swap partition available for the odd
> case that it is needed. Like with my example above, 160M roughly of my RAM
> is being used currently, but sometime in this boot 433Meg has been used
now
> that means I was 5Meg of running out of RAM, with a total of 1Gig of swap
> though I am not going to have any problems.
>
> The swap partition is a very unique filesystem so FAT cannot reasonably be
> used, you can use it but performance is overall .... dodgy. You cant
expect
> Linux to automatically assume a different partition to use if the swap one
> is unavailable you have to specify them yourself from the commandline with
> swapon /dev/hdXY
>
> If you wanted FAT or something else used permanently you could add another
> swap line to your /etc/fstab
>
> --
> Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.
>
> Registered Linux User 282072
> <www.volutin.net -- everything irrelevant>

Jack

2002-12-20, 11:25 pm

Good tip with /home. Thanks for everything.
Peter

"Counterspy" <Counterspy@theagency.us> wrote in message
news:3E03CA23.3060504@theagency.us...
> Jack wrote:
> > Hello,
> > Thanks in advance for spending some time in writing to me.
> >
> > I've been performing some Linux installations for some time. Whether I
use
> > Partition Magic 7 or Disk Druid for partitioning I still receive the
> > following errors (about 8 of them) after Linux installations (Red Hat or
> > Mandrake).
> >
> > Drive Image 2002 has detected an error 116 on the partition starting at
> > sector 26218080 on disk 1.
> > The starting LBA value is 26218080 and the CHS value is 16450559.
> > The LBA and CHS values must be equal.
> > Drive Image 2002 has verified that and the LBA value is correct and can
fix
> > the CHS value.
> > Would you like drive Image to fix this error?
> >
> > As you can see the Drive Image run on Windows is responsible for
detecting
> > these errors. But Partition Magic 7 (not 8!) does the same.
> > Now, I believe these are some powerful tools. Why would I get those
errors
> > after a Linux installations (Red Hat or Mandrake)?
> >
> > Thanks again ,
> > Peter
> >
> > Please reply to group. My email address is not functioning anymore.
> >
> >
>
> You now have found out why others said do not use Windows partitioners
> on Linux and NEVER let Partition Magic correct its errors for you. It
> will create the kind off error you are now experiencing. Linux is not
> seeing the swap partition is what the error is showing you. Since you
> have just installed Linux, you have no data to protect in Linux, so the
> quick and dirty method can be used.
> 1) Using Partition Magic, delete your Linux partitions.
> 2) After you delete them, format them to Fat32 to make sure all of
> Linux is gone.
> 3) Using PM, create one large extended partition. Put PM away and
> never use it again unless you want to reconfigure your box.
> 4) Install Linux in the extended partition. To gain control of the
> partitioning during the install, choose custom (Redhat) or expert
> (Mandrake).
> 5) Make the following partitions:
> "/" root, "/swap" - up to double your memory size, "/home" at a minimum.
> I have not specified sizes because I don't know your disk size. You can
> create more partitions if you feel you need them, but the separate home
> partition will let you upgrade or reinstall by not formatting it again
> preserving any custom settings, bookmarks etc.
>
> If you wish to find out what's going on here, read the Large Disk How-To
> and the Partitioning Mini-How-to at http://www.tldp.org.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> Counterspy
>

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