Partition Reorganization / unsuccessfull ;-(

[Nils Kassube]

i-ubux at synass.net wrote:
> With GParted and the Super Grub Disk I was able to recognize and use
> either the old (sda2) or the new (sd7) Ubuntu 7.1 installation. ;-)

What I don't understand - sorry, I didn't ask before: What for do you need 
that supergrub disk? If you have installed the system, you should somehow 
be able to boot without extra disk / cd.

> After creating one more "copy" with GParted in a separate partition and
> assuming that everything will work now ...
> ... I erased the UN-needed sd2-partition and like Derek wrote:

You should have tested that it works - just assuming it works is more like 
playing Russian roulette. However, now it is too late for testing.

> Since Sunday I am trying and trying my frustrating efforts to
> get my Ubuntu back running or save all it's "personal" data:

To save your data, I would suggest to us the Ubuntu Live CD. From the Live 
CD you can mount the relevant partitions and copy the data preferably to 
another machine.

> I am sure (now, new) sd3 is a ext3 partition.
> Sometimes I see it displayed as ext3sf !?!?
> How comes ??

Where do you see it as ext3sf? Can you mount the partition from a Live CD? 
If so, open a terminal and use the mount command to find out what file 
system it is. But I suppose it is not ext3sf but ext3fs and ext3 is the 
same as ext3fs - with fs being the abbreviation for "file system".

> Well, Super Grub Disk always confirms a positive result but
> restarting the system always ends with
>
> Error 22: No such partition !
>
> Of course it still points to sda2 (hd0,1) which is wrong
> because it shall be hd0.2 !?

I'm not sure what happens here because I never used the super grub disk. 
But I think it restores your MBR to make it boot with grub. Then you 
should be able to boot without the super grub disk. At the boot prompt 
you could edit the kernel and initrd lines to point to the right 
partitions. Of course that only works if you have a working installation 
on that partition. See <https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto> for 
infos how to use the grub menu.

If you really made a copy of a working partition to your sda3 partition, 
you should at least edit the /etc/fstab file of that partition (using a 
live CD). Otherwise you will not be able to boot, even if you got the 
command line correct in the grub menu.


Nils