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    #91
    What about the commands in the starman link:
    NOTE: The Windows 7 (or 8) Logical Disk Manager does not distinguish between disks partitioned as MBR or GPT; both disk types are simply listed as "Basic"! One quick way to determine if a disk is GPT partitioned is to use the List Disk command of the "DISKPART" tool under a Command Prompt (may require Administrator rights). Simply enter the commands shown in GREEN below. If any attached disk has been GPT partitioned, an asterisk (*) will appear under the "Gpt" column; as shown in YELLOW for Disk 0 below:
    Did you try those?
    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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      #92
      Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
      What about the commands in the starman link:


      Did you try those?
      Yes, those are the ones listed in the Dell link you posted.

      It's interesting, because it also says I have all 465 GB on the disk free.
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        #93
        I thought so -- same commands.

        It's interesting, because it also says I have all 465 GB on the disk free.
        Yes, that fact continue to appear through this. The partition table is not seen. If it is not GPT, then what is it?!
        If it is GPT but the GPT header is damaged, then I would think it won't be seen by some utilities. But some GPT-aware utilities should then see the backup header and partition table at the end of the disk. That's why I wondered if gdisk would go ahead and try to do something. Did Windows encode some crap in that Protective MBR we talked about, a code causing this NOT to be seen as anything standard? A rhetorical question, but something about this makes no sense.

        I don't know. Very unusual. As you saw in some posts, some people wipe their disks of this Dell-Windows stuff, but then that's another major commitment and risk.

        Stumped, at this point.
        An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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          #94
          TestDisk also autodetects the offending HDD to have an intel map. Ay!

          Also, when I plug it into my spare laptop and open DiskManager, I get a notice that says,

          you must initialize a disk before logical disk manager can access it
          It then gives me an option to do MBR or GPT.

          Apparently that means that Windows thinks it is a brand new disk that has never been used, and needs to be pre-formatted before I go any further.

          http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...4-ac2d59078008

          I will look into this, and see what Google has to offer.

          Thanks,
          TM
          Last edited by technomancer; Jul 24, 2015, 09:51 AM.
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            #95
            Also, when my hard drive worked, it would boot up and offer a menu to pick which OS I wanted. The strange thing is, if I picked Windows, it would take me to another menu that asked me what version of Windows I wanted.

            Prior to my upgrade to Kubuntu 15.04, that secondary menu would offer WIndows 8 AND Kubuntu.

            After my upgrade, the secondary menu only offered windows 8.

            Heres a question. Could MBR be nested within a GPT, or vice versa? Is it possible that I have BOTH MBR and GPT?
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              #96
              Heres a question. Could MBR be nested within a GPT, or vice versa? Is it possible that I have BOTH MBR and GPT?
              I reviewed you history getting the new laptop with Windows 8. It is completely inconceivable to me that with Windows 8 it would NOT come with UEFI+GPT. That is, surely it did not ship with Windows 8 installed to anything but GPT?

              Between Dell and Windows, I'm beginning to think anything is possible; thus, my occasional references to the possibility of a "hybrid" partition table. It would not be both MBR and GPT; but it would be a hybrid MBR, which may only be a matter of terminology.

              Your changing boot menus is not too big a deal, it happens, and usually it can be adjusted or changed after upgrades. You can adjust GRUB, and you can (in theory) adjust Windows' boot menus.

              Here's another test--and maybe solution (though I'm beginning to loose faith in such): install the boot manager rEFInd. Authored by Rod Smith (the author of gdsik). rEFInd is a boot manager: it would use Windows boot loader and GRUB and the Kubuntu kernel to get things booted for you. If it can.

              Now the big issue is how to get it installed! You can't boot into Kubuntu, you can't boot into Windows 8, can you? Can it be installed into Windows from a live CD? I have no clue. I'm 100% Linux here. Can you use it on a Live CD/USB and make it boot your OSs (I think so, but have never taken time to read the fine print).


              http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html

              Btw, you do not want to "initialize" that disk -- that usually/always means you would lose your existing data/partitions. TestDisk, though, might still "see" it all, but recovery could be a mess.

              Remember the starman link, how he explains the entries: did Dell/Windows mess with one of those settings in the Protective MBR so this disk is not seen as it should be seen? BUT, your computer and this HDD did, once upon a time, work OK. Did some setting in that MBR get damaged now? Questions.
              An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                #97
                re GPT vs MBR, I must admit that with a GPT one sees a special partition, the ESP = EFI System Partition, and we don't see such a thing listed. It may be listed as EF00, boot_esp, Windows System Partitions, etc. It is usually 100-500 MB, and always FAT32, and you usually find it as sda1 or sda2.

                TestDisk did find some partitions, they just don't seem to have a home.
                An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                  #98
                  For example, post #92: if you can't boot into the Windows 8 on the bad HDD, how are you running those Windows disk commands?
                  An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                    #99
                    Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                    For example, post #92: if you can't boot into the Windows 8 on the bad HDD, how are you running those Windows disk commands?
                    By plugging it into my spare laptop, the one that runs on Win 7.
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                      #100
                      I figured. Just curious if you had found/rigged up a live Windows CD or something, as we do in Linux.
                      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                        #101
                        Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                        I figured. Just curious if you had found/rigged up a live Windows CD or something, as we do in Linux.
                        Thanks for making sure! ;-)

                        Also, I had trouble getting rEFInd to run off a liveCD.

                        In the meantime, I need a good computer soon so I can continue applying for jobs. I put an older spare HDD into my broken laptop, and I have installed Kubuntu 15.04 onto it. I know there are tutorials about migrating a home folder from an old Linux system into a new one.

                        Given the problems on my broken HDD, could I still replace my new home folder with the one on my broken HDD, and still have it work? Also, does it matter that my broken HDD is a dual-boot system, and the new install is single-boot?

                        If we get the broken one working again, I will just switch it out again. If we cannot, I'll have to re-install a dual boot Win8/Linux system.

                        Thanks,
                        TM
                        Last edited by technomancer; Jul 24, 2015, 02:48 PM.
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                          #102
                          could I still replace my new home folder with the one on my broken HDD, and still have it work? Also, does it matter that my broken HDD is a dual-boot system, and the new install is single-boot?
                          It would not matter that it was a dual boot--those settings are under /boot.

                          re your /home:
                          There are two classes of things there: your data (pics, docs, etc.) and your configuration settings.
                          Presumably -- -- you have backups of your personal data. The issue is about your configurations-settings: all you can do is try! In theory, people like to think you can re-use your home; but you only have to follow this kubuntuforum to see people encountering problems when doing so, when re-using their home settings. In your case, you are still using the same OS and same versions of apps: 15.04, so that should increase the probability of success.
                          An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                            #103
                            His CD-R image,
                            http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html
                            works like a breeze. Extract the files to a folder (with a right-click), see the refind-cd-0.8.7.iso, use k3b to burn it to a CD, re-boot with it, and it sees all my OSs (several), and it boots them, as selected.

                            You could also do this in Windows. BUT, then, ... how would it see your non-functioning, invisible bad hard drive? would it?
                            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                              #104
                              Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                              His CD-R image,
                              http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html
                              works like a breeze. Extract the files to a folder (with a right-click), see the refind-cd-0.8.7.iso, use k3b to burn it to a CD, re-boot with it, and it sees all my OSs (several), and it boots them, as selected.

                              You could also do this in Windows. BUT, then, ... how would it see your non-functioning, invisible bad hard drive? would it?
                              Yeah, I did all of that, but with Roxio on my spare laptop. I'll give open source a try ;-)
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                                #105
                                https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...838#post376838
                                I know you know, but what the heck ...
                                An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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