Kubuntu has nicked some of my NTFS partition to complete the v10 u/g!!!

[Guest]

I had Kubuntu 9 working pretty well on a dual boot (Sony Vaio) with Vista. I'd split one 250GB (using GParted IIRC) into 3 partitions, 1 x125GB for Windows (C boot, 100Gn for a Windows data drive and the rest for Kubuntu.

However, when I booted into KK and decided to just let it u/g itself when I was prompted, I found v 10 wouldn't boot and I'd lost my second half of my HDD in Windows.

Would Kubuntu reformat an additional partition if it didn't have enough room in the existing one (about 20Gb) to upgrade? That wouldn't make any sense to me and I wasn't prompted to agree to this. The only prompt during the u/g process asked me if I wanted to keep my Grub setup and I said I did.

There's photos of my kids I think on the Windows partition which I can't now access, so pretty upset about it at the moment.

Any ideas on how I can access the drive?

On how I can get KK booting? (I have now sent off for the free v10 CD so could wait until I get to try again to upgrade). I'm more concerned about accessing the Windows partition again.

I'm running Windows btw, with mobile broadband if that's any help, so I don't think telling Kubuntu to get and update would work or am I wrong?

There can't have been a hardware failure as I'm using Vista right now on the 1st half of the HDD.

Pls help.

I'm a Kubuntu novice, if u hadn't guessed, so please keep your suggestions straight fwd if poss.

Thanks,

Matt.

[Guest]

Re: Missing HDD in Windows and Kubuntu 10 not booting

I've managed to get into Kubuntu 10 now by editing the command line and taking out the 'recordfail' line before booting.

then it boots fine and works well.

however, it seems to now have a useful drive utility under system and this seems to confirm my worst fears that kubuntu 10 required more space than the partition i'd set up for K9 (20GB) and it now seems to have taken up 40GB and encroached on the Windows partition (NTFS) partition I had used for some music files and other stuff. Whats left (about 80GB) is now simply showing as free space and the only option the utliity gives me is to create a new partition in this space.

Pre-Upgrade:
<<Windows 125GB>><<NTFS 100GB>>*<<20GB K9>><<Linux Swap>>
Post Installation:
<<Windows 125GB>><<NTFS 80GB>>**<<40GB K10>><<Linux Swap>>

* - visible in Windows and K9
** - only showing as free space in K10 and not visible in Vista

How can I access the files if they're still on that partition now showing as free space in K10?
Would create partition format that 80GB?
Why would an u/g process do this (grab room from another NTFS partition)?

Any help would be appreciated, guys....

[GreyGeek]

Re: Kubuntu has nicked some of my NTFS partition to complete the v10 u/g!!!

I'm curious ... were those primary or logical partitions?

I just did a brief search of the Internet and couldn't find any example of Kubuntu or any other distro expanding its assigned partition by stealing from another partition, and in over 12 years of using Linux I've never heard of such a thing.

A fresh Kbuntu LL can be installed in under 4 GB. If you pointed the install program to your 20GB K9 partition that is all it should/would/will use.

I suspect that your ntfs partition was corrupt in some way. Did you use CCleaner, chkdsk and a defragger to clean things up before you attempted the install?

IF indeed the K10 install resized your 20GB K9 into 40GB by taking 20GB from an ntfs partition that pretty much separates the file allocation table on the ntfs partition from the data residing in the stolen section. It would be a stretch to assume the photos are stored sequentially across tracks and sectors in such a way a tool like dd could be used to pick them off by reading the hex characters signifying the start and ending of photos.

When folks asked me how often they should back up I respond by asking them how much data they want to lose? While I have never lost any data while using Linux, years of experience with computers (especially Windows) has taught me that anything is possible, and when you least expect it. So, when ever I do my personal accounting or create or modify other important data I always back up the data to three USB sticks. I also regularly create a set of backup DVDs which go into the fireproof safe. And, I have a 320GB USB HD which into which I rsync my home account.

[geezer]

Re: Kubuntu has nicked some of my NTFS partition to complete the v10 u/g!!!

I think your problem may be your response to the question about keeping your Grub setup.

This question is totally nonsensical unless it is explained in detail beforehand.

What the question is asking is if you want to update the Grub boot files to the new boot kernal for 10.04.

If you respond "YES" to the question about "keeping" your Grub setup, then the Grub files are not changed and you are expected to update the Grub boot files yourself. If you do not update the Grub boot files yourself before the next boot, Grub will look for the previous kernal and not find them and the boot will fail.

If you answer "NO" to the question, the Grub boot files are updated to reflect the upgraded system and the boot process will be okay.

I had the same problem in a previous upgrade.

The question is TOTALLY nonsensical and there should be a detailed explanation of the question when it is asked.

My personal opinion is that whoever designed the question did so in a language other than English in which the question was asked properly, but in translation something that seems to ask the same question but doesn't really got asked.

If the English version of the question was rephrased as: "Do you wish to have the Grub boot files updated for the upgraded version?", then the answer is obvious: YES

But asking if you want to keep the Grub files is a rather devious method of almost guaranteeing the wrong answer since the prudent answer to a non-expert is not to change anything and hence answer "YES" to the different question and thus not updating as you should.

I think that when tings get translated to different languages, what is seemingly the same thing can be subtly different.

Of course, there is also the chance that the question was designed by an English speaker whose mindset is totally different from that of the non-expert.

PS: if the above is the source of your problem, use the Live-Cd to boot into a terminal and execute "sudo update-grub" and that should fix the problem. At least I think it should, but being a non-expert myself who was also bitten by this, I could be totally wrong.