Ubuntu

Lost disk space after deleting partition in GParted

Asked by Doepie

Hi

I purchased an 8 GB flashdisk to install Ubuntu 8.04 on.

Used the live CD and started the installation process on the flashdisk, however for some reason the install froze midway. I suspect the cd drive stopped functioning midway.

So I moved to another pc, but before stating the install again, opened Gparted and started deleting the partitions that was created on the flashdisk in the previous install.

The swap partition (about 320 odd MB) was deleted, but for some reason has now gone missing.

The device originally showed up as 8.2 GB storage in GParted, but now only has 7.61 GB?

How can I receover the missing space before I start my install again?

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Albert Damen
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said : 		#1

Hello

1. Boot using Ubuntu CD
2. System --> Administration --> partition editor
3. Unmount the disk partition which needs formatting
4. Format the hdd partition by selecting the format option.

More info on gparted:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/documentation.php

If you want to recover swap then refer:

http://www.techbol.com/2008/05/12/recovering-swap-partition-on-ubuntu/

More info on data recovery:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Regards

Revision history for this message
Doepie (doepie) said : 		#2

Ok,

Thanks for the quick response.

I tried this, but I still don't see the missing space.

fdisk -l:

Disk: /dev/sdb: 8178MB, 8178892800 bytes
252 heads, 62 sectors/tracks, 1022 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15624 * 512 = 7999488 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0009b3d2

No headings under Device, Boot, Start, End, Blocks, Id and System as the space is curently unallocated. I deleted the partitiion again after formatting.

Maybe it is because I deleted two partitions at once without committing one at a time when I originally deleted the partitions?

I checked windows and booted Kubuntu Live CD and the results are the same. Kubuntu did however pick up a 8.2 GB drive before I did the format etc, although it still only registered a 7.61 GB partition.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Best Albert Damen (albrt) said : 		#3

I don't think you have really lost disk space. It seems to be the famous 1024 versus 1000 problem.

With the numbers shown by fdisk -l above, we can calculate the capacity of your flash disk as:
252 heads * 62 sector/track * 1022 cylinder * 512 bytes per sector = 8,175,476,736 bytes.

To calculate from bytes to Gigabyte, sometimes the bytes are divided by 1000*1000*1000, which gives 8.2 GB (rounded).
Disk vendors usually do this, as it gives higher numbers.

In computers however, it is also usual to divide by 1024*1024*1024 (1024 is 2^10), which gives 7.614 GB.

So the difference you see is very likely caused by the different meanings of Giga.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte for some background information.

Revision history for this message
Doepie (doepie) said : 		#4

Thanks Albert

That must be it...

Revision history for this message
Scotty Michaelsen (pwillis) said : 		#5

It is also possible that there some hidden folders after deleting. Try 'control h' to check.