Restoring Default Partition Settings

[stripedtomato]

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to view my post:

I am a two year Linux / Kununtu user.......first time poster. Not too bad for a newbie.

While trying to teach myself how to mount / unmount my external USB drive, (or any drive for that matter), I believe I blew my second default partition setting by accident.....ooops.

I installed Kubuntu on my backup system so I am able to view the default partition settings.

I am "assuming" a default Kubuntu install, allowing it to utilize the whole drive, has the same Mount Point, Type and Device settings, eventhough the size of the partitions may be different depending upon the size of the hdd.

So, how do Imodify / correct the partition settings in my main system using GRUB during the boot process?

Thanks in advance.

Kindest Regards - Stripedtomato


Linux Migration Meter:

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[integr8e]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

See HOW TO: GRUB Methods.

There is also a tool in the repos called startupmanager that allows you to modify GRUB. Before you do anything, though, I would suggest backing up all your important data to an external source.

[Snowhog]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

And, if you want, posting your /boot/grub/menu.lst file, /etc/fstab file, sudo fdisk -l, and output of df -h -T would tell us a lot about 'what you have now.'

[Qqmike]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

I'm not clear what the problem is.
I'm not familiar with the term "default partition setting."

What is you system doing (that you don't like) when you turn it on? What happens, what do you see?


Maybe, a wild guess, because I don't see the question yet, maybe you simply installed GRUB to the MBR of the internal hard drive when you installed Kubuntu to the external USB drive?

If so, you need to re-install GRUB to the MBR of your main, first-in-order internal drive. Grub should also be installed to the MBR of the external drive so it will boot when it's connected and when you power-up your machine.


How To Make GRUB Thumb Drive
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081748.0
Scroll down to:
How to install K/Ubuntu 7.04 to an external USB hard disk drive (HDD), 8-14-07
USB experiment: USB drive shifting, 8-19-07 post.

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
Includes re-installing GRUB.

[stripedtomato]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

Gang,

Qqmike:
"Default (my word) Partition Settings" for Kubuntu 7.10 is at: K>System Settings>(Advance Tab)>Disk & Filesystems. Here you will see the "default" partition settings for partitions 1,2 & 5. I blew out the settings on #2 causing GRUB to error out, and not booting into the OS.

The MBR information was on the correct drive and partition with GRUB, the USB external came into play while I was teaching myself to mount / unmount drives.

I did not know GRUB needed to be installed on the MBR of the external drive as well, I thought this was only for primary drives. Thanks for the tip, that will save me a lot of book time!

Also, thanks for the links, they have been helpful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowhog:
I would have gladly posted the information you asked for, except I was not able to mount the drive to obtain it, which is what I was trying to teach myself, mount / unmount drives. What a catch 22.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

interg8e:
Since I was not in the OS, I was not able to use the repos to obtain startupmanager, but the How To: GRUB Methods did lead me to try Super Grub Disk, and that was unable to help either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I am still learning Linux, I was expecting something like this to happen eventually, that is why I always use my thumb drive to store my important files. :^)

Thanks one and all for your time!

Kindest Regards,

Stripedtomato
www.stripedtomato.com

[Snowhog]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

Hey, learning is part of the fun (for some of us!)

[Qqmike]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

A few responses to points you mentioned:

Using flash drives is very smart for this experimenting! I think most of us do the same, in addition to any CD/DVD back-ups.

Most of us crazies also install extra instances of OSs on separate partitions, used only for such experimenting.

Don't worry about being shut out of your OS, I do it all the time. Keep that How-To handy for emergencies like that, along with Super Grub Disk, and a live Kubuntu CD (any version of them) so you can get booted back into the OS one way or the other or at least investigate/fix things. Cryptic Tips: (1) The geometry command, and (2) TAB completion (see How-to, at the end somewhere).

External USB HDD: You can install GRUB anywhere, including to the MBR of the external drive and/or to the root partition of the OS you put there. So, when you boot up the external drive, it sees itself as hd0 (every booted drive does; that is, BIOS sees it as hd0; the GRUB on the external drive sees the external drive as hd0 all WHEN you have booted the PC from the external drive). The notation (hd0), with parentheses refers to the MBR of that drive. If the OS is in the first partition, that is (hd0,0). You may put GRUB in both/either (hd0) and/or (hd0,0). Now, if you get into Kubuntu on an internal drive and get a GRUB prompt (sudo grub), and your external drive is connected and On, that external drive will be named different. If you already have 2 internal hard drives, the external drive, viewed from the GRUB in Kubuntu on an internal drive, will be placed at the end of the list, and so will be (hd2) (where hd0 is the first internal drive and hd1 is the second internal drive). So, if you are working from the GRUB prompt you got from the internal Kubuntu, you would refer to the MBR of the external drive as (hd2). Wherever you are, whenever, however, you can always find out how GRUB sees your drives by using the geometry command: grub> geometry (hd<press the TAB key now>, that returns a list of your drives as GRUB (and BIOS) sees them; now investigate each one using geometry (hd0), geometry (hd1), etc. Note the space after the word geometry. See the GRUB Thumb Drive How-To thread for this drive-shifting stuff.

[stripedtomato]

Re: Restoring Default Partition Settings

Thanks for the tips. I think it is one of the easily difficult situations Windows migrants have a "fun" time with. I suspect, once a person finally gets it, it will be one of those "duh" moments, wondering why it was not understood before.

I do not mine taking the time to learn.....it is fun in a difficult, techie kind of way. It reminds me of my learning curve when Windows '95 was first released....I reinstalled that OS quite a bit in the learning process, and now I am self sufficient.

Thanks for the help. :^)