Paritioner messages about hard drives

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#1

When I run Partitioner I get the message:

"The partitioning on /dev./sdb is not readable by the partitioning tool ‘parted’, which is used to change the partition table.

You can use partitions on /dev/sdb as they are. You can format them and assign mount points to them, but you cannot add, edit, resize, or remove partitions from that disk with this tool"

The same message comes out for /dev/sdc, but evidently /dev/sda is fine with ‘parted’.

I have Minitools, EaseUS, and Acronis Diskl Director 11, all of which, running under Windows or booting up standalone, can read all the partitions on my hard disks. Furthermore when I use Clonezilla if can also find all the partitions on all my hard disks. Finall;y when ‘parted’ does come up it shows all the partitons on all my hard drives.

Does anyone know why Linuix ‘parted’ cannot read the partitioning on the last two of my hard disks. The hard disks are all 2 TB disks, formatted as MBR, and divided up into various partitions for Linix and Windows.

#2

So I can’t say why but there must be some sort of data in the partition table that is not standard to parted. I can say the first time I saw this on a drive that was working, I removed all of the partitions with another tool and reloaded openSUSE and did not see this issue come up again. I also have Acronis and it is possible it did something that the openSUSE Partitioner did not like. In general, I have decided to keep Windows on one hard disk and openSUSE on another hard disk and I use Windows for NTFS partitions and openSUSE Partitioner for all things Linux, and this has avoided such messages. As long as all is working, you can keep on trucking, but the day you get tired of the message, you will need to take a similar action as I did. I must also add that on a different computer, I got this message from a SSD, formatted with openSUSE. Later, that SSD disk just died and was even replaced under warranty. It was kind of strange to have this (SSD fail and a Partitioner error message before it failed) happen at all.

Thank You,

#3

When you want any comments on this, as allways we need computer evidence, Let us start with the old well known

fdisk -l
#4

Here is the fdisk -l output:

"WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sda’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000001

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 469274714 234637326 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 469274715 1159025489 344875387+ 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 1159041555 1169499869 5229157+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 3904758900 3907024064 1132582+ 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1159041618 1161146069 1052226 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 1161146133 1163202389 1028128+ bb Boot Wizard hidden
/dev/sda7 1163202453 1165306904 1052226 bb Boot Wizard hidden
/dev/sda8 1165306968 1167411419 1052226 bb Boot Wizard hidden
/dev/sda9 1167411483 1169499869 1044193+ bb Boot Wizard hidden

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdb’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd5f572fe

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 16065 1063711844 531847890 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb2 * 3479646870 3907024064 213688597+ 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb5 16128 104872319 52428096 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 104872383 209728574 52428096 bb Boot Wizard hidden
Partition 6 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb7 209728638 314584829 52428096 bb Boot Wizard hidden
Partition 7 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb8 314584893 419441084 52428096 bb Boot Wizard hidden
Partition 8 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb9 419441148 524297339 52428096 83 Linux
Partition 9 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb10 524297403 626695649 51199123+ bb Boot Wizard hidden
Partition 10 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb11 626695713 729110024 51207156 bb Boot Wizard hidden
Partition 11 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb12 729110088 831508334 51199123+ bb Boot Wizard hidden
/dev/sdb13 831508398 947851064 58171333+ 83 Linux
Partition 13 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sdb14 947851128 1055534759 53841816 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb15 1055534823 1063711844 4088511 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 15 does not start on physical sector boundary.

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdc’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1aeffb21

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 16065 207302759 103643347+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 16128 102494699 51239286 bb Boot Wizard hidden
/dev/sdc6 102494763 207302759 52403998+ bb Boot Wizard hidden"

I do not know why the fdisk -l command thinks I have GPT drives. They are all MBR drives and show as such in all the partition managers I mentioned in my OP.

Edward Diener

#5

Let us try using parted instead:

sudo parted -l

When you post the results here, use the Advanced Message Editor, highlight the new text and press the Code # option so that it looks like the command above, only larger.

Thank You,

#6

Here is the output from parted -l

linux:~ # parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72302 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  240GB   240GB   primary   ntfs         hidden, type=17
 2      240GB   593GB   353GB   primary   ntfs         boot, hidden, type=17
 3      593GB   599GB   5355MB  extended               type=05
 5      593GB   595GB   1077MB  logical   ext3         type=83
 6      595GB   596GB   1053MB  logical   ext3         type=bb
 7      596GB   597GB   1077MB  logical   ext3         type=bb
 8      597GB   598GB   1077MB  logical   ext3         type=bb
 9      598GB   599GB   1069MB  logical   ext3         type=bb
 4      1999GB  2000GB  1160MB  primary   fat32        hidden, lba, type=1c


Warning: /dev/sdb contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should.
Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT
partition tables.  Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an
msdos partition table.  Is this a GPT partition table?
Yes/No? No                                                                
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B

Warning: /dev/sdc contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.  However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition ta
corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT partition tables.  Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using
partition table?
Yes/No? No                                                                
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Warning: Unable to open /dev/fd0 read-write (Read-only file system).  /dev/fd0 has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/fd0: unrecognised disk label                                  
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

I do not know why it thinks that the drive(s) contain a GPT signature. I may have once had them as GPT and then converted them to MBR, but surely that would have removed any GPT signatures.

#7

Yes, I regularly get that message.

I’m pretty sure that it is because I am installing from a USB, and “/dev/sdb” is that install USB. It uses a hybrid format so that the iso can be booted when written to a CD/DVD or to a USB. And “parted” does not seem to like that hybrid format.

If I wanted to install to that USB, I would write a block of binary zero over the MBR, then repartition with “fdisk” before starting.

#8

My hard disks are not USBs. I have read about “hybrid” formats but I know I have a MBR hard drive and I am pretty disappointed that a core Linux program like ‘parted’ does not recognize it as such. All the other partitioning programs I use, largely Windows based, clearly recognize my hard drives as MBR. I believe Linux ‘parted’ needs to be updated to correctly understand MBR and GPT drives. Its lack in correctly identifying the difference has already affected me on some Linux distro installations and, in one case, wiped out my hard disk’s MBR partition table. This is not good for Linux distros, to say the least.

#9

On 2012-10-08 14:56, eldiener wrote:

> My hard disks are not USBs. I have read about “hybrid” formats but I
> know I have a MBR hard drive and I am pretty disappointed that a core
> Linux program like ‘parted’ does not recognize it as such. All the other
> partitioning programs I use, largely Windows based, clearly recognize my
> hard drives as MBR. I believe Linux ‘parted’ needs to be updated to
> correctly understand MBR and GPT drives. Its lack in correctly
> identifying the difference has already affected me on some Linux distro
> installations and, in one case, wiped out my hard disk’s MBR partition
> table. This is not good for Linux distros, to say the least.

No, both fdisk and parted say that you have a GPT table. Windows partitioning software has been
known for ages to interpret things differently than their Linux counterparts.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#10

Both fdisk and parted are right. My brother in law saw exactly this on a 1TB disk he had used and transformed through windows, fdisk and parted kept complaining. After he “dd”-ed the entire disk to zeros, the problem was gone. But then again, he only had stored about 120GBs on the disk, so backup was easy and quite fast.

#11

I think both fdisk and parted are wrong. I am looking at a host of other programs which treat my disks as MBR, which show me primary and logical partitions as in MBR, which show me MBR partition types, and which allow me to create, delete, extend, copy, and move partitions as MBR partitions, either primary or logical. I do not believe that all these programs are just misguided and only Linux fdisk and parted are correct.

Now I agree that fdisk and parted think I have a GPT disk with GPT partitions but I do not know why this is this case.

#12

Your brother-in-law wiping his hard disk with zeros does not prove to me that fdisk and parted are correct. I have a plethora of other disk partitioning programs which treats the hard disk as MBR, with its extended, logical, and primary partitions and partition types. It is impossible for me to believe that these programs, creating, deleting, copying, and moving partitions around on what it says are MBR drives, can possible work correctly or report the exact same results if the disks are really GPT.

#13

On 2012-10-09 02:26, eldiener wrote:

> I think both fdisk and parted are wrong. I am looking at a host of
> other programs which treat my disks as MBR, which show me primary and
> logical partitions as in MBR, which show me MBR partition types, and
> which allow me to create, delete, extend, copy, and move partitions as
> MBR partitions, either primary or logical. I do not believe that all
> these programs are just misguided and only Linux fdisk and parted are
> correct.

You want to use Linux? Then do it our way.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#14

eldiener wrote:
> I think both fdisk and parted are wrong. I am looking at a host of
> other programs which treat my disks as MBR, which show me primary and
> logical partitions as in MBR, which show me MBR partition types, and
> which allow me to create, delete, extend, copy, and move partitions as
> MBR partitions, either primary or logical. I do not believe that all
> these programs are just misguided and only Linux fdisk and parted are
> correct.
>
> Now I agree that fdisk and parted think I have a GPT disk with GPT
> partitions but I do not know why this is this case.

I don’t think people are claiming that the disks are GPT on the basis of
what fdisk and parted are reporting, they are claiming that the disks
are corrupt. It seems possible that a GPT disk has been partially
overwritten by msdos information or something like that. In that
circumstance it is unlikely that the situation can be recovered except
by completely wiping the disks.

It seems unlikely that two such established and heavily used programs as
fdisk and parted would both have similar serious bugs that only occur in
your particular circumstances and have not affected anybody else, but it
is possible.

If you want to continue to use linux with the disks, you will need to
resolve the problem somehow. If you wish to determine what the bug is in
parted, please go to http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/ and join the
bug-parted@gnu.org mailing list and ask how to help diagnose the
problem. As and when the source of the problem is found in parted, I
feel sure the fix can be quickly applied to fdisk as well.

#15

It is equally unlikely that a host of other partitioning software could work correctly if the disks were corrupt.

I ran ‘parted’, version 3.0, from my fedora 17 distro and it correctly reported the disks as MBR showing all partitons correctly. So at least in my estimation the problem is in earlier versions of ‘parted’. The version of ‘fdisk’ in fedora 17 still acts like the disks are GPT.

I will go to the ‘parted’ site and file my results from ‘parted’ in Suse 11.4 and fedora 17. Thanks for the link.

#16

On 2012-10-12 14:36, eldiener wrote:
> I will go to the ‘parted’ site and file my results from ‘parted’ in
> Suse 11.4 and fedora 17. Thanks for the link.

openSUSE 11.4 is now (almost) obsolete, you should try with a newer version.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#17

Also notice that by default, Fedora creates a GPT on a blank HDD, even on non UEFI systems (!) and wants to boot with a BIOS partition (similar to the ESP, but binary). At least Fedora 16 did that.

Maybe you booted Fedora install disk once (with all primary partitions hidden lol!), and it created a GPT. So you might have GPT headers left … or your boot manager fakes or even creates GPT headers on the first track. This is the kind of issues you get when you use a third part boot manager without exactly knowing what it does. That it hides partitions is just the result that you see (more exactly that you don’t see). But you don’t know which information it writes on the first track. I don’t want to advocate Grub2, as I happen to be aware of some of its bugs and limitations, but it is IMO the safest and simplest approach to multi boot several Linux distros + Windows noawdays. We occasionally see people in this forum who use other boot managers, but they rarely get answers to their questions nor solutions to their problems.

#18

No. GPT disks still have MBR, at least on x86 platforms and MBR/GPT control structures are non-overlapping. Changing MBR does not have any effect on GPT header. The only correct way to convert from GPT to MBR is to zap GPT header. Which apparently did not happen here.

#19

There was an “EFI PART” in LBA 1 on both sdb and sdc. Once I zeroed out those sectors, ‘parted -l’ works correctly on Suse, and all other Linux distros I have installed, in identifying my disks as MBR. What is still a bit amusing is that 'fdisk -l" still returns the “WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdb’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.” message. But since ‘parted’ appears to be the way to manipulate partitions in modern Linux systems I can live with ‘fdisk’ still thinking I have GPT.

#20

On 2012-10-14 15:26, eldiener wrote:

> But since ‘parted’ appears to be the way
> to manipulate partitions in modern Linux systems I can live with ‘fdisk’
> still thinking I have GPT.

Search for
Subject: [opensuse-project] GSoC 2012 Redesign fdisk to be more
extensible and implement GPT support

and the 13 weekly reports.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)