Lost data on hda2


Forum: HD Install
Topic: Lost data on hda2
started by: lovdsl

Posted by lovdsl on Mar. 20 2006,20:06
One hd..hda1=boot, hda2=storage. hda3=swap
install dsl to hda1
store all installed extensions on hda2
mess up attempt to apt-get abiword w/spell
reinstall dsl to hda1
all data on hda2 lost
was able to reboot first install and access data
noticed that on second install hda2 is unmounted in slit
forgot..did not click mount on the first install but had access

1-does this explain the loss of data?

2-why was I able to access and store/retreive unmounted on the first install even after reboot

had a second drive on the other machine for storage, data was not lost to reinstalls

any help to better understand would be much appreciated..thanks

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 20 2006,21:12
Not quite sure what you did, but if you repartitioned as part of the install process, that would wipe out everything including hda2.

It's possible that you had part of your main filesystem on hda2 (other than just data files...a persistent /home, for example). If so, this would explain why it was automatically mounted.

The second physical drive (hdb) will never be harmed with a reinstall to hda, even if you are repartitioning.

Posted by roberts on Mar. 20 2006,22:35
I believe lovds is doing a traditional hard drive install.
I suspect not having mounted hda2 is his problem.

In which case /mnt/hda2 not being "mounted" is just a directory on the root filesystem hda1. Reinstalling on hda1 will of course wipe out all directories on hda1 including the /mnt/hda2 directory containing his downloads.

It is not until a mount command or the mount gui is used to mount the other partition, hda2, does it actually write there.

Posted by lovdsl on Mar. 21 2006,00:14
Thanks..yes..this is a non frugal hd install..both offer something..I did add two directories to the partition hda2. inbox & archive...inbox had a syslink and chown.. so I could save personal files with ease and not loose to reinstall, the archive was storage for downloads..for the same reason. likely the syslink auto mounted but since the partition was not mounted via the slit each boot may have been considered part of the hda1 root directory when I reinstalled...if that seems right
1-if I mount by clicking hda2 in the slit after boot with the inbox syslink/chown..can I reinstall without lose?
is this sufficiant information ?

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 21 2006,01:54
I hadn't thought of that....If hda2 was not actually mounted, you can still add files to /mnt/hda2, but they will actually reside on hda1.  A format of hda1 will remove them.  

Yeah...i know i just repeated what you just said.  It was...ummm...for emphasis, because it seems like lovdsl didn't catch what you were saying.
lovdsl: We're thinking there was no auto-mounting, or any mounting of hda2.  What you thought was the hda2 partition was actually just the /mnt/hda2 directory on the hda1 partition.
You will need to mount hda2 before you can put anything on that partition.  Otherwise you're creating files in just another directory on hda1.

Posted by lovdsl on Mar. 21 2006,20:39
I think it could be screamed from the street corner a few times...it is such a simple error with nasty consequences..finally back where I was...The slit pops up the second drive on the dx2 unmounted..red..the hda1 pops up on this one..green..ya..ya..how stupid can I get...well loss of data wakes ya up...thanks for the clarification. did not know this about partitions
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