Ubuntu

Upgraded dual boot installation from 8.04 to 9.04 and now can't access XP

Asked by Ted Pritchard

In the course of upgrading 8.04 to 9.04 somehow I have inadvertently lost my access to XP.

I have three HDs on my PC [scsi0 (160 GB), scsi1 (320GB) and scsi (320 GB)] and originally XP was installed on scsi0 and 8.04 on scsi1. From Ubuntu I could see and access the Windows XP files.

I have now upgraded to 9.04 but in the process somehow I have lost all access to Windows. I'm fairly certain the Windows partition in scsi0 has not been overwritten as scsi0 now only shows 6.4GB.

How do I fix this?

Ted

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Ted Pritchard (pritcharded) said : 		#1

Unfortunately this is not my only problem. When I first start the PC and select 9.04, my screen won't activate. Turning the screen off/on has no impact. I can enter my user name and password and 9.04 loads but still no screen. Starting in safe mode and then activating repair didn't fix it. I then tried starting in 8.04 and this time it worked. I then restarted in 9.04 and it worked.
My PC is a Dell Precision 390 with a Core 2 Duo processor.
As this was an upgrade of an existing dual boot arrangement, I assumed that the upgrade to 8.10 and then 9.04 would preserve the dual boot arrangement - especially as Ubuntu was loaded on its own hard drive. At one stage I was asked whether or not I wanted 9.04 to use the whole disc. As 8.04 was on its own disc I said yes assuming 9.04 would simply replace it.

Ted

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Ted Pritchard (pritcharded) said : 		#2

I have opened Gparted and have taken screen shots of each drive. They are as follows:
/home/ted/Desktop/Screenshot--dev-sda - GParted-1.png
/home/ted/Desktop/Screenshot--dev-sdb - GParted.png
/home/ted/Desktop/Screenshot--dev-sdc - GParted.png

If I have inadvertently deleted the partition containing XP, has anyone experience with "TestDisk" as described here
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk ?

Thanks.

Ted Pritchard

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Ted Pritchard (pritcharded) said : 		#3

Mmm. That didn't work. Can I attach screenshots and if so how do I do it?

Thanks

Ted Pritchard

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Ted Pritchard (pritcharded) said : 		#4

Reinstalling Grub has fixed my screen activation problem during boot-up but my other serious problem remains (serious as XP is used for a couple of important apps that don't have a suitable linux alternative).

I've also posted the problem on the community help site here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7390612#post7390612 . The screen shots are attached there.

Thanks for your help.

Ted

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Ted Pritchard (pritcharded) said : 		#5

The application "TestDisk" got me out of trouble as it enabled me to recover my vital NTFS files. This time I reinstalled using the 9.04 on a CD method. The installation script that goes with it makes it very clear what happens if the "use whole disc" option is selected. It might be a matter of me having a "senior's moment" at a very inopportune time, but it could be worth checking that the warning appears with both methods as I can't see how I could have missed it the first time.
It could also be worth adding a reminder that if multiple operating systems are present, use the slider to adjust the size of partition to suit, before proceeding.

Ted