Mandrake formated my fat32 partition. HELP

Prev		Next

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=4FfF6.33270%24RF1.2842427%40bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net

Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.mandrake
Date: 2001-04-24 07:04:02 PST

> Please help me. During instalation of Mandrake 8.0 one of the most
> important partition was formated. It is formated, thus it mean that
> partition table was deleted but data are still there, please can anybody
> tell how to get disk working. Please help me.
> I am using Linux from 1995, and it happen first time in my life.

I had a similar problem with a RH installation and was able to recover everything. The problem appeared to be caused by lilo. Here are a few tips.

Do not let scandisk 'fix' anything or you may loose all your data.
Boot to DOS using a boot floppy. Are the directories and files in tact?
If they are you will probably be able to recover everything.

Try restoring the disk to its original condition by:

    A. FDISK /MBR (will restore your MBR to pre lilo (or grub)
    B. Run SYS on your disk partition (usually SYS C:) to restore the FAT
boot sector. It is very important that you use the sys command that was on
original windows partition.

In the unlikely event that this does not work, I will give you a few more tips about FAT32 files system that might help.

Good luck

Bill

Mandrake formated my fat32 partition. HELP

> Did you do an expert install?
>
> I'm sorry for the anguish that you are suffering.
>
> Just exactly how did this happen? Normally it wouldn't happen.

Yes I instaled in expert mode, when I choosed partition to instal Linux, and than I choosed swap, it asked me if I want to format, I thought it will format only linux and swap. But it formated linux and one of the windows partition.

I was working long time to try to recover it, but without any result. Fat tables are all zeros "0", but all data are on disk, but if I am using norton disk doctor it could not find the names for the files, all files recover as the text files, but this way I will work all life to find the names of the files on my 12 GB fat32 partition.