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Topic: Need some help with a harddrive mounting issue., Can't get on to my harddrive!

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Cammo

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Mar. 20 2006,02:10

Hi. I've been off and on using DSL for a long time now. I originally got it just to try out linux... then had it installed on an old computer, got frustrated, uninstalled... repeat a few times :P I've also done a from scratch Debian installation a few times on the old one. I've gotten the hang of a lot of stuff in Linux all on my own, and I'm proud to say this is the first post I've ever had to make on any linux forum!

Anyways, I've taken lately to using DSL on my main XP rig, because it just runs SO much better than my aging XP install. I've got a pretty sweet setup going now. I boot it off the CD (latest DSL version) with the toram option, and as well I have my backup files and .DSL's on my USB stick. It boots successfully into an XFCE4 desktop environment

I've learned so much over time and tweaked it just the way I like it. Love the quick startup and program opening times, beats XP any day.

I was proud today too, I successfully made a .DSL of GNU Backgammon off of apt-get!!

Anyways, on to my problem. This happened with older versions of DSL as well, but does not occur on my older computer. It also does not occur with a Knoppix boot disc. Basically, during bootup, I notice a bunch of insmod errors relating to the creation of /etc/fstab. There's also an error message relating to my harddrive partition. When I get into linux, I try to mount my HDA1 (one harddrive on this computer, one partition, and it shows up in the list.) It gives the error:
"wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
or too many mounted file systems"
This is a killer for me. I want to drop my permanent home on my harddrive so that it won't destroy my usb key anymore :P Also, all my music and stuff is on my HD. Now, my harddrive IS fat32, so I know the NTFS thing can't be the problem.

Please, please, please help my mount my harddrive!!

Thanks for being such a great community and I look forward to the replies.

Cammo

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Mar. 20 2006,20:04

Just wanted to add that I found an old Knoppix disk kicking around. The livecd was able to detect and mount my harddrive perfectly fine.

anaconda

Group: Members
Posts: 96
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Mar. 20 2006,21:31

Have you tried mounting it manually?

open a terminal and get root rigths

Code Sample

sudo su

then try manual mounting.

Code Sample

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1

that should do the trick.

now you should find your hda1 in /mnt/hda1 (maybe it would be a good idea to check that the directory exist before mounting... yes it does.. should..)

If that didn't help read on:
you wrote:

Quote

Basically, during bootup, I notice a bunch of insmod errors relating to the creation of /etc/fstab

I have had similar errors with partitions that weren't formatted (which propably isn't the problem now)
AND with disks that have a corrupted partition table! !
to check this open a terminal and get root rights

Code Sample

sudo su

then write:

Code Sample

sfdisk -l /dev/hda

prints the current partition table.
it should have 1 line / partition, telling the starting and ending cylinders of each partition.

Some windows partitioning programs can sometimes write the partition table full of BS, which windows sometimes miraculously understands.. how? beats me! DSL doesn't read corrupted partition tables as well.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki....endrive

From the above link you can find some instructions of how to repair corrupted partitiontable (just DONT change the number of cyls/heads/sectors of your hard drive!! it would stop working), but if you know what you are doin you could fix the partition table.

Or you could do the "sfdisk -l /dev/hda" command and post the output of that command here.
And I could look if there is anything wrong with it..
_
anaconda

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anaconda

anaconda

Group: Members
Posts: 96
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Mar. 20 2006,21:36

And with my corrupted partition table:
both knoppix and windows could still read the drive (in my case a USB-stick, but the partition table is the same in USB-stick and hard-disk..)

but the partition table was full of BS, which distracted DSL..

After repartitioning it has worked perfectly

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anaconda

Cammo

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Mar. 20 2006,21:45

Thanks for the reply!

Manual mounting didn't work. That geometry thing sounds kinda right though... knoppix was fine but 3 different DSL's I had didn't work at all.

my sfdisk -l /dev/hda looks like this:
Disk /dev/hda: 7476 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 0+ 7475 7476- 60050938+ c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/hda3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/hda4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty

Not sure what it all means.
Could you elaborate further on the process of fixing it, if it IS the partition table? Because I have my and my family's whole computer life on 30 gigs and I cannot afford to mess it up in any way. (No backup methods either.)

By the way, I managed to catch the errors. They occured when creating Fstab, and said modules xfs.o, minix.o, efs.o and hfs.o could not be found (or something along those lines.)

Thanks again!

14 replies since Mar. 20 2006,02:10

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Other Help Topics » Need some help with a harddrive mounting issue.