Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 13:50:04 +0200 From: Ruslan Ermilov <ru@ucb.crimea.ua> To: Micke Josefsson <mj@isy.liu.se> Cc: Ernst de Haan <ernst@znerd.demon.nl>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Boot record repair program? Message-ID: <20000210135004.A82756@relay.ucb.crimea.ua> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.000210122931.mj@isy.liu.se>; from Micke Josefsson on Thu, Feb 10, 2000 at 12:29:31PM %2B0100 References: <38A28D6F.DE8BADDF@znerd.demon.nl> <XFMail.000210122931.mj@isy.liu.se>
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On Thu, Feb 10, 2000 at 12:29:31PM +0100, Micke Josefsson wrote: > > On 10-Feb-00 Ernst de Haan wrote: > > It was in `compatible' mode, cuz Winblows didn't start up if me 2nd disk > > was in `dangerously dedicated mode'. > > > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to install a new harddisk > > now and install FreeBSD on that one and then try to copy all data from the > > old disk to the new. Problem is, I don't know where the partitions start > >:( > > > > I used to have my partitions like this (for what I recall): > > > > 1st FreeBSD (about 3 GB) > > 2nd Linux (about 3 GB?) > > 3rd Linux swap (about 120 MB) > > > > But this is what FIPS gives me under DOS (i compressed the table): > > > > -------------------- > > Which Drive (1=0x80/2=0x81/_)? 2 > > > > Partition table: > > > > |boot| Start | | End | Start |Number of| > >#|able|Hd Cyl Sec|System|Hd Cyl Sec| Sector |Sectors | MB > > -+----+----------+------+------------+--------+---------+---- > > 1|yes | 1 768 63| FFh|254 1917 63|16711935| 16753663|8180 > > 2| no | 0 894 63| FFh|254 1807 63|16753663| 16747519|8177 > > 3| no | 0 768 63| FFh| 0 1792 63|16711935| 16711935|8160 > > 4| no | 0 768 63| FFh| 0 1792 63|16711935| 16711935|8160 > > > > Checking root sector ... > > Error: Invalid root sector signature: FF AA > > -------------------- > > > > > > This is weird as I dont recall havig _4_ partitions (but it could be I > > created different partitions for / and /usr (?) ) and the size of the > > partitions are way out of bounds for my Quantum Fireball 6.4A (6.4 GB) > > > > > > A partition table always have 4 entries, even if they are not used. (This is > why the 1st partition in an extended partition is number 5). > > (A dangerously dedicated disk has no partition table at all. The sector used by > the partition table is used by FreeBSD instead.) > This is not true. In dedicated mode we have a fake partition table, with /boot/boot1 in sector 0 instead of standard /boot/mbr code. > If this is the only partition info you have, you must have messed up your disk > somehow. It states there is one (1) partition which starts at cylinder 768 and > goes on till cylinder 1917. And possibly one partition inside this one (does > not make sense for now). > > If this is the disk which contained the above FreeBSD/Linux/LinuxSwap then > there should have been more info in this table or in the MasterBootRecord. You > should have some info where cylindernumber is 0, this is where the 1st > partition would start. > > The layout you claim should have been something like this: > > FreeBSD 1 0 63 | 254 xx 63 | > Linux 0 xx+1 63 | 254 yy 63 | > > where xx is cylinder boundary and yy is ending cylinder (which may NOT need to > be the actually max available cylinders, DOS/FAT-partitions may not be able to > allocate all). I'm here assuming that 1) you have set up linux and FreeBSD in > primary partitions and 2) the linux swap is contained within the linux > partition (dunno if this is the way linux actually does it). > > > If the linux partition is inside an extended partition then the 2nd entry above > would have been of type EXTENDED and been pointing to yet another partition > table. This latter table would also have had 4 entries, the 1st specifying the > size of your linux partition, the 2nd pointing to possibly another extended > partition. Entries 3 and 4 would have been empty. > > FreeBSD does not install in an extended partition, linux does. > > The usage of the word 'partition' above is in the DOS/FAT-language, a FreeBSD > buff would have called them slices (slicii?) instead. > > > If you don't touch anything and can boot off a boot floppy a friend of mine has > a little hack to identify zombie partition tables laying around. With this info > you should be able to make copies of possible partition table candidates and by > time consuming (I know!) and careful bitfiddling make new partition tables. > > More (all!) info about your drive would also be neccassary to continue. What > does BIOS see it as (C/H/S)? Have you repartitioned the drive before or are the > partition tables inserted only once and on a fresh drive? > > Restoring partition tables is quite fun once you get the hang of it. It's a bit > like archaeology or decryption, if that's your cup of tea! > > I'd like to hear of any success > (and good luck!) > /Micke > > > PS. Perhaps you find it easier to start from a clean slate instead of going > through all this trouble... > > PS2. The discussion above has got nothing at all to do with the partitions > FreeBSD sets up inside a slice. > > ---------------------------------- > Michael Josefsson, MSEE > mj@isy.liu.se > > This message was sent by XFMail > running on FreeBSD 3.1 > ---------------------------------- > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Ruslan Ermilov Sysadmin and DBA of the ru@ucb.crimea.ua United Commercial Bank, ru@FreeBSD.org FreeBSD committer, +380.652.247.647 Simferopol, Ukraine http://www.FreeBSD.org The Power To Serve http://www.oracle.com Enabling The Information Age To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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