When I start ubuntu this message shows: GNU GRUB: [Minimal Bash-like....

Is this a fresh install or a standing install gone bad?

Are you using wubi?

My main OS is Vista I downloaded ubuntu 9.10 from a CD.
In the morning I shut down ubuntu. In the afternoon i tried to restart ubuntu. I came as far as where i could decide between windows and ubuntu. Selecting ubuntu I got the GNU Grub message.
In the morning I was reading in the ubuntu forum about GUF and i changed my settings to medium. But I doubt that this could have coursed the problem. I also put a command into the terminal. For the moment I'm still searching for the command I've wrote in the terminal. I can't find the paper.

This is the command i wrote in the terminal:

unlink ~/.wine/dosdevices/z:

and this is the content the command is related to:

So what do you need to know about Windows viruses if you want to run wine?

1. First, the "golden rule" : DO NOT RUN WINE AS ROOT. If you are NOT running wine as root then wine will not have the necessary permissions to affect system files.

2. So, if you are running wine as a user, a Windows virus will be confined to your home directory.

3. You can further confine the "fake c drive" located at ~/.wine if you remove any symbolic links outside ~/.wine. With a default installation there is link with a default installation / configuration of wine :
~/.wine/dosdevices/z: -> links to /

A link from ~/.wine/dosdevices to the root directory ( / ) should concern you for obvious reasons.

You can remove it with :

Code:
unlink ~/.wine/dosdevices/z:

Do not worry, that command will not affect wine at all, I run it all the time.

That will not affect the boot, it will simply kill symlinks from th wine virtual windows partition to outside stuff so it is accessible from within wine apps

I suggest you boot to LiveCD and reinstall grub2. There are docs all over the place for it so won't be hard to find

with boot to live CD i assume you mean the CD i used in the first place for the installation?

> the CD i used in the first place for the installation?
Yes.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20GRUB%202

Thanks for the link I'll go through it and let you know how i get on.

Hi :)

I am curious how this is progressing? Have you managed to solve the problem? There is a handy guide for getting your Ubuntu installer cd to act as a "LiveCd"
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Here the latest news:

    to make a long story short i selected the wrong option from my live CD. So now i can say i've
    only ubuntu installed(can call myself now a proper ubuntu user).
    I believe that i cant recover my original vista and ubuntu installation. When I now start my
    computer he doesnt give me anymore the choice between vista and ubuntu.

                                                       You learn by your mistakes.

    I like the idea of ubuntu and I can see the big support from the ubuntu community.
    But sitting on your own and reading all this information about ubuntu is a different matter.

    Right now I'm using only ubuntu. But I would like to reinstall my vista(from ext. hard drive) and
    afterwards i would like to install ubuntu "without changes to my computer".
    (No idea how to do this! It was quiet handy to have still the access to a OS you now until
    you're used to a new OS)

    So far I've not lost important information only my configurations and settings. I ony missed the
    opportunity to see if it would be possible to recover my ubuntu installation.

    How do I install vista from an external hard drive and do I've to delete first ubuntu ?

Thanks for your help and interest

Hi :)

The guide does only suggest that it is usually easier to start off with Windows and then add Ubuntu as the 2nd one but it does also show how to add Windows to an existing Ubuntu machine.

The key for your situation will be this part of the guide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

There is another option earlier but i prefer the section i linked to there.

The main problem with installing Windows 2nd is purely that Windows is horrible to install. Usually you get a machine with Windows already pre-installed and tweaked and updated with all the extra program added, tweaked and updated by a team of experts usually doing a batch of machine where they can ditch the quirky one where things go wrong. If you have never installed Windows before then i seriously recommend avoiding it.

In hindsight the way i would do it nowadays is to use the Ubuntu LiveCd (or other LiveCd), go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

Resize the Ubuntu partition to give Windows plenty of room but leave enough for Ubuntu too. As a guide i would say that Ubuntu doesn't really need more than 25Gb and is quite happy with 15Gb. The linux-swap partition should be about 2xRam (which you can find out by typing "free -m" onto a command-line) anywhere between Ram and 2xRam is ideal. When you are happy click "Apply" and leave it to get on with it. Resizing does take a very long time.

Then i would reboot the machine and switch the Ubuntu Cd for the Windows (sometimes called "recovery") one and start a fairly normal Windows install. Just installing the basic Windows OS typically takes quite a while. They keep changing the splash screen to make you think something is happening and then stick a section where you have to enter some information in the middle of the process.

After the first batch of updates demands you reboot switch the Windows Cd for the Ubuntu one again and boot into a LiveCd of Ubuntu (or any other linux distro) and get to a command-line. Err my knowledge for this is a little out-of-date because we have mostly moved to grub2 & this is really for grub1 but it should still work as we have both on our systems by default for a while.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

Just to make it clear that what i advise is not necessarily the advice i would have taken when i was new & probably each linux-user has their own ways of dealing with all of this. Linux is about freedom of choice more than anything which is why i advise against doing something and then describe how i would try to mitigate against problems i encountered when going against my own advice.

I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

Ignore my last answer for now!

When you say you have Vista on an external hard-drive does this drive plug into a usb socket on your machine?

If so you might be able to change the boot-order in the bios to something like this:
1. external/usb drives
2. Cd/dvd-drives
3. Hard-drive (ide or sata)

This would hugely simplify everything and avoid the need to reinstall Windows. You could boot into Windows by simply plugging the drive in and rebooting. To boot into Ubuntu you would shutdown, unplug the external drive and boootup straight into ubuntu.

I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

the first answer would be to advantageous.
(sounds complicated for a amateur like me)
I prefer your second answer as my external hard drive connects by usb.
But I'll do this on the weekend of the 20.-21./02/10 as I've sometime off.
(not enough time in the evenings after work)
For the moment I'll use ubuntu just as I do now.
I'll let you know how I manage and if it works.

Thanks
for your help

Hi :)

Yes, if Ubuntu is working and it just needs time to get used to it then avoid Windows completely. This guide might help with finding equivalents
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows

I would ignore that 1st answer entirely then. If you want to take baby-steps towards the 2nd answer slowly over a few days then that is fine with me although i might vanish for a few days/week getting back just before your week-end off.

The 1st step would be to plug the external drive in and get to a command-line in Ubuntu. Try this command and copy&paste the output of it into here

sudo fdisk -l

where "-l" is a lower-case "-L" and sudo asks for your normal user password, not your SuperUser one and it gives you no stars as you type. The output shows us how your drives are addressed by linux. More importantly it would show us that you have arrived and used a command-line :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

I didnt wait until my weekend off.
.
I did put the command into the terminal and got this answer:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9327 74919096 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9328 9729 3229065 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9328 9729 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

looking at it i think this is my ext. hard drive:
/dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also visited the website you recommended and found the LinuxCommand.org site here I started reading and came across a problem i had when downloading a file. Ubuntu offers me to open a file with the Archivmanager but then I'm not able to open it via the terminal.

Script library
----------------

LinuxCommand.org for Off-Line Viewing

This is a downloadable version of LinuxCommand.org you can view without an Internet connection. Simply download this file(X1) and expand it with the following command:
tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz

and point your browser to the index.html file contained within the linuxcommand.org directory.

For those of you without access to the tar and gzip programs, the site is also available in
zip file format(X2).

I did downloaded first: (X1) this file into Archivmanager

than I've put the command "tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz" in the terminal
but i got a error message.

Than I tried second option (X2) zip file format into Archivmanager

 put the command "tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz" in the terminal
but i get a error message too.

Thanks for sending me the link. I think this is the right point to start with for using the terminal.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

I didnt wait until my weekend off.
.
I did put the command into the terminal and got this answer:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9327 74919096 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9328 9729 3229065 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9328 9729 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

looking at it i think this is my ext. hard drive:
/dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also visited the website you recommended and found the LinuxCommand.org site here I started reading and came across a problem i had when downloading a file. Ubuntu offers me to open a file with the Archivmanager but then I'm not able to open it via the terminal.

Script library
----------------

LinuxCommand.org for Off-Line Viewing

This is a downloadable version of LinuxCommand.org you can view without an Internet connection. Simply download this file(X1) and expand it with the following command:
tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz

and point your browser to the index.html file contained within the linuxcommand.org directory.

For those of you without access to the tar and gzip programs, the site is also available in
zip file format(X2).

I did downloaded first: (X1) this file into Archivmanager

than I've put the command "tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz" in the terminal
but i got a error message.

Than I tried second option (X2) zip file format into Archivmanager

 put the command "tar xzvf linuxcommand.org-20080510.tar.gz" in the terminal
but i get a error message too.

Thanks for sending me the link. I think this is the right point to start with for using the terminal.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Yes, i agree sdb does seem to be your external drive. It's a 1Tb drive?

Fat32 is a really really bad format to be using especially now there are so many other options. Do you have large chunks of the drive as free-space? Hopefully you might be able to split the drive into a couple of partitions with your data safely on the 2nd one which would ideally be an ntfs partition.

Obviously i would have to say that ext4 or ext3 are far better formats but Windows can't read them so it might be better to make the 2nd partition ntfs instead. Ntfs is journalised, fat32 isn't. Data is more recoverable and less prone to accidents on a journalised format.

I try to avoid the terminal where possible but sometimes things are much easier. Still i try to stick to a gui. Here is a recent thread about learning the linux command-line
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+question/100755

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again

The fdisk command showed us that you have only 3 partitions on your main hard-drive and all of them are for linux.

The next step towards making a separate partition for you /home would be to resize sda1 and make it very much smaller. Alternatively you might only need to shave 10Gb off the end of it. From a LiveCd of Ubuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
Go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

My preference would be to get to this ...

sda1 Primary Partition 40Gb ext3 but otherwise unchanged
empty space 35Gb
sda2 Extended Partition
 . sda5 Logical Partition 3.3Gb (approx) linux-swap

Then right-click on sda5 and choose "SwapOff" unless it doesn't give you that option in which case swap is already off. Then delete sda5, and then delete sda3. Note that all you data is on sda1 so that is the important one to keep safe. Once you have deleted those partitions and clicked "Apply" it will take ages to do the resizing but you can leave it to get on with that itself.

Later on we will be resizing sda1 down to about 10-15Gb but first we need to have somewhere to move your data onto safely.

The next step would be to use the partition editor again to make 2 new partitions like this

sda1 unchanged
sda2 Primary Partition filling most of the rest of the drive, ext3 format
sda3 Primary Partition approx 3Gb formatted as linux-swap

Note that sda2 is where we will be copying the /home folder to in order to get all your data and settings somewhere safe.

There is probably enough to do there for 2 or 3 sessions after work. At all points through this you should be able to reboot which allows you to remove the LiveCd from the cd/dvd-drive and then find yourself booting into your working Ubuntu quite fine.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again again :)

To add functionality to a program, such as Archive Manager, simply open up Synaptic Package Manager

System - Administration - Synaptic

and then use either search tool to try to find to end-result you want. I tend to prefer the search button and i would try to search for "zip" or "tar" or soemthing and then have a look through for some program or else perhaps just a library to add in. Libraries tend to have filenames starting with "lib...".

However, it might be even easier to try t solve that problem by deliberately opening Archive Manager from the Applications menu and then click on it's "Edit" menu to change it's preferences or "Tools" might give you relevant add-ons.

Either way should fix that problem but really it should already e allowing you to access those type s of files, they are hardly unusual types.

Good luck again and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thanks for answering so soon and you're right it is a 1Tb drive.

Tomorrow I'll study more the link You've send me for the terminal.I would like to learn using the commands for the terminal.

How would I open the 1Tb drive in the terminal to find the right backup without damaging any of
my files I cant effort to loose them.

Under system - administration I've found the "Palmimpsest Disk Utility" this seems to be my partition editor
the partitions look like this:

                                                - 80 Gb Hard Disk
                                                              ATA.... MBA Partition Table
                 [sda1] - 77 GB Filesystem
                                                              linux ext.4(version 1.0)
                 [sda2] - 3.3Gb Extended
                                                              contains logical partitions
                 [sda5] - 3.3Gb Swap space

In the brackets i show as what i recognize the partitions.
as you explained i should now delete sda5 and sda3 but which one is the sda3 the one i recognize as: "sda2 = 3.3Gb Extended" is this correct?

You say the resizing will take "ages" will this work in the background or can't i use my laptop
until the resizing is finished? Than i would prefer to start the resizing first tomorrow evening and hopefully the process of resizing will finish until Monday evening.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Sorry i am away for a few days now. The resize takes ages and you really shouldn't be using your machine for anything else while doing that. The best plan is to leave it for a time you dont really need to use your machine but feel safe leaving it on.

I meant delete sda5 & sda2 (not sda3 which doesn't exist yet).

To see what is in a artition from the command-line try something like this

cd /dev/sdb1
ls

where "ls" is a lower-case "LS". This will allow you to LiSt what is in the root folder of the 1Tb drive and hopefully mght colour-code the output so you can see what the subfolders are called. To move into a sub-folder try

cd subfoldername

or alternatively

cd /dev/sdb1/subfoldername

I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

when i am deleting sda2+sda5 will i be able to use ubuntu?
If not it would be difficult as this my only access to the web.
Here a copy of the answers i get in the terminal:

lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1/subfoldername
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1/subfoldername: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1/subfoldername
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1/subfoldername: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1 ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd subfoldername
bash: cd: subfoldername: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ subfoldername
subfoldername: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1/subfoldername
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1/subfoldername: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1/subfoldername: Not a directory
bash: /dev/sdb1/subfoldername:: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sda1
bash: /dev/sda1: Permission denied
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1
bash: /dev/sdb1: Permission denied

The last two commands are the copie's of the devices
I tried also this:

lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ ls cd /dev/sdb1
ls: cannot access cd: No such file or directory
/dev/sdb1
lazybug@laptop1:~$ ls /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1
lazybug@laptop1:~$ ls/dev/sdb1
bash: ls/dev/sdb1: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1/subfoldername
bash: /dev/sdb1/subfoldername: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /dev/sdb1/ls
bash: cd: /dev/sdb1/ls: Not a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1 ls
bash: /dev/sdb1: Permission denied
lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1ls
bash: /dev/sdb1ls: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$

Where you see permission denied is there maybe a option for access?

Doing a right click in the terminal choosing: profile - profile preference
In the editing profile "default" under command i find three option:
1.run command as a login shell
2.update login records when command is launched
3.run a custom command instead of my shell

The second option is selected.

I'll also look into the linux command link you've send maybe i can find a different command to
open the ext. hard drive.

What would happen when i copy the folder with the backup into my ubuntu documents would it be easier to access the vista backup file?

Thanks for answering
and
with regards

Ronnie

lazybug@laptop1:~$ /dev/sdb1 ls
bash: /dev/sdb1: Permission denied

This looks for me as i've found the list for my ext. hard drive but for some reason i do not have a permission to access. Is this because the ext. hard drive is not recognizing my laptop?

   <and by the way yesterday i used the terminal to install my "kbluetooth" applet and it works>

Hi Ronnie

I am in an internet cafe right now. I think we need to leave this until i get back and you have the weekend free to read up a few things about the terminal. I might get back slightly earlier but i think we both need a break from this right now.

Deleting sda5 & sda3 wont destroy your ubuntu but it will make it slower temporarily. Once we have created a new swap then it will be faster again, possibly faster than you have seen it so far by a small margin.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Okay, no problem i'm not in the hurry as i'm quiet busy at work.
I'll not delete the sda's yet

Just say hi when you've the time.

thanks
Ronnie

Hi :)

When you go up to the top tasbar and click on

System - Adminstration

do you get a "System Monitor"? Sorry i can't remember what is left out of the standard install to hard-drive right now. System Monitor can show how often and how much your swap gets used. It might be handy to have it running and just have a quick look every once in a while just to see.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

a quick answer.

In System Monitor: Memory approx 294MiB(14.6%) of 2.0GiB
                                 Swap 0 bytes(0.0%) of 3.1GiB

This looks empty no problems space wise for partition it will be more: i'm capable to do it!?
Enjoyed working with ubuntu but still struggling as I'm lacking knowledge about starting downloads
and using the terminal.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, to see what is in the different partitions on your hard-drive it might be easier just to look from normal desktop gui rather than try using the command-line. At least for now ...

When you open your "Documents" folder go up to the "View" menu and make sure that "Side-pane" is ticked. When you look down at the panel/pane at the side of the window showing your documents notice the curious downward arrow? Click on that and change it to "Tree" so that you get roughly the same as "Explorer" (not internet explorer) in Windows. This way you get to see all the different drives you can read from Ubuntu and you can navigate better around in there probably. I use that setup a lot.

It might not be so easy to work out exactly which partition it is referring to but you can work it out from the approximate sizes.

Congrats on getting the kbluetooth applet to work. It sounds like you can use the command-line for some quite complex stuff but the simple stuff isn't obvious yet. Don't worry, that is amazingly normal for people who are any good at the command-line.

I can't remember what the outstanding remaining problems are now? Seems like you are solving problems before they arise at the moment. Have you installed System Monitor to see if you do ever use your swap space?

Please let us know how you are doing!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Okay canged side pane to tree.

So to update you: i found my ext hard drive via the terminal but unfortunately i cant open the list in the terminal. terminal tells me i've no permission. so i wonder if there is another way. what happens if i move the files just on to ubuntu? can i start vista? or can i run vista from the ext. hard drive?
But i would like to partition my laptop as i realize that learning it with your help could be useful for the future.

thanks for answering so soon
Ronnie

Hi :)

Please ignore my last comment. Our messages crossed in the mail.

Don't worry about not being able to use the terminal. You seem very adept at some of the complex stuff. The easier stuff can be done from gui so don't worry.

Your swap is not being used because your Ram is able to cope quite happily without getting over-full. The swap is over-flow space for Ram to use when Ram can't quite cope on it's own. It seems that your cpu speed is so high that Ram is barely getting used anyway :) So that is all good. :)

I am not sure about the download problem. If you are using FireFox as your web-browser then go up to it's "Edit" menu, choose "Preferences" from the bottom of that menu and then the "Main" 'tab' should allow you to set where you want downloads to go by default. I usually make a folder inside "Documents" and call the new folder "Downloads" so that i only need to hunt around in there when i download something. Does that solve the Download problem?

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Lol, we are both typing at the same time as each other. This is getting a little confusing, sorry about this.

I thought we decided that it would be better not to partition your laptop. Instead of re-installing Windows onto your laptop's main drive i thought we were going to try to ...
1. get Windows working from your external drive?
2. get enough things working in Ubuntu so that you didn't really need to go back to Windows much.

It seems like you have already got a lot done for 2. but just can't quite access the data that is on the external drive yet? Also we haven't tried to sort out anything for 1 yet but hope to sort that this weekend.

Regards from
Tom :)

thank's

i downloade yesterday google earth linux it's in my download folder but what have i to do now?
doing right click(mouse) seleting open: could not display/home/lazybugs/downloads
                                                              /googleearthlinux.bin

                                            open with: choosing firefox is only duplicating the file in my
                                                             downloads-file browser

i believe i miss a view apps.

i downloaded also stellarium but that's as far as i came trying to use the terminal to complicated(need more time)

i got my second monitor working as far as possible with ubuntu and with my knowledge.

i found on debian website a kernel(no idea what that is think it's some kind of app support) for my webcam as i it does not work video wise only audio works.

my major problem currently is the partition and then i can work around a few more problems(adjusting myself to linux).

Ronnie

lol / lol

yes if it's possible. how can i do that?

Ahah

Ok, for the most part try to avoid downloading programs to install from places around the internet. Try to search for them in your Package Manager first as it searches approved sites to see what will work well in Ubuntu. Google Earth should be in there already if you have worked through the Medibuntu worksheet
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
If you haven't already worked through Medibuntu worksheet then it might be a good idea to do that soon.

While Debian is the linux family that Ubuntu is part of some programs are quite different so it is worth trying the package managers first to see if there is a special version already tweaked for Ubuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
Mostly things written to work for Debian 'should' work in Ubuntu but it's not always the best version of the program to use.

Regards from
Tom :)

i'll be happy to use windows from my ext. hard drive and then step by step get ubuntu working with all my hardware and to my wishes.

okay i'll search in my package manager and visit the link you've send. thanks for the advise.

time wise it might be a bit difficult this weekend as my planes changed. i have to work tomorrow. I'll be a live around 20:00 . Depending how tomorrow is running i might be home on sunday. if you are busy we can continue in the week(evening) as ubuntu works fine so far and everything needs some time and i've to read muh more.

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I don't read the Medibuntu thing too much, just use copy&paste when you are vaguely sure about which bits you need.

To start on getting the Windows working from the external hard-drive please get to a command-line and try

cd /boot/grub
ls
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.190210
ls

the cp command should makea 'backup copy' of "menu.lst" and give the backup the new name of "menu.lst.190210". The 2nd ls command should show the new file there. Next try

gedit menu.lst

and then copy&paste all of that into here. CtrlA, CtrlC should copy it all and then click into here to do CtrlV to paste it.

Good luck with these steps
Regards from
Tom :)

thanks tom

but for today i've to finish a new day starts tomorrow at 06:00 but i'll be back at 20:00 and hopefully i can enjoy the sunday. when you do not have the time on the weekend we can continue in the week(evening). i'm to tired cant focus any more, sorry.

thanks for all the help so far.

Ronnie

Hi :)

That is ok, just post in here when you are able to. There's no need to push this too far too fast. It is better to do a little when you are in the right mood for it, rather than trying too much. Safer when you are not sleepy :)

Sleep well and see you Sunday probably :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

today i'm able to spend my time on my laptop.

"gedit menu.lst"
this command worked in the terminal and it opened a different window similar as when i open my files via places in the top panel. non of the commands showed a list in the terminal.

but then opening my ext,hd: - appdata: - local - memeo
                                             - autorun: - autorun.bat
                                                              - autorun.inf
                                                              - autorun.run
                                                              - wdlogo.ico
                                             - backup16/05/08
                                             - wd_mac_tools 24/01/08
                                             - wd_windows_tools 24/01/08
                                             - autorun.inf 18/05/07
                                             - setup.exe 26/06/07

i can send you screenshots of what i see or we use screenshare. but i dont know how that works with ubuntu
my ext.hd came with synchronisation software and i had a trial period there i used this software to backup my laptop. but i'm not sure if it backed up the vista installation or only my files.

By the way do i've to mount my ext.hd's?

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Please can you open menu.lst as before but this time copy&paste everything that is in it into here?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

In "menu.lst" i was hoping to find something like ...

title Microsoft Windows
root (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

in the end section. Hmmm, actually i was hoping to find it missing so that we could see where to add it in to the end section of the file. Just using "gedit" does allow you to read from the file but protects you from accidentally making changes & saving anything. If you could not boot up your machine after editing "menu.lst" then you would need to use a LiveCd session to replace "menu.lst" with the backup you made and called "menu.lst.190210".

I assumed that copying the contents of "menu.lst" was a trivial task but if it is at all difficult then don't bother with it, we can find another way.

It looks as tho the external hard-drive does have a lot of data backed up onto it but it does not look as though you are going to be able to boot into Windows on it. However, you should be able to read the data that is in the backups by just using the "Places" menu. The external drive should have been mounted automatically when you plugged it in.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,
and another day of ubuntu mystery starts.

When i plug my ext.hd in he is automatically mounted and works straight away.
Yes i'm using about 600gb from the ext.hd.
But the only backup with my vista on is the one dating back to the16/05/08.

When i open my ext.hd i find this of interest regarding the problem i've:

This is shown in the terminal after selecting file auto run:
1. autorun.bat
attrib ..\autorun.inf -h

attrib autorun.run -h

copy autorun.run ..\autorun.inf /y

attrib ..\autorun.inf +h

2. autorun.info
[autorun]

ICON=AUTORUN\WDLOGO.ICO

3. autorun.run
[autorun]

open=WD_Windows_Tools\Setup.exe

ICON=AUTORUN\WDLOGO.ICO

Then i've the file wd_windows_tools which but this seems to be the main file for the ext.hd .

In my oldest backup 16/05/08 i found:

1.File 17/05/2008 [following this file:
2.file config
3.file_store
4. do not modify!!.txt
5.MemeoOneClickRestore.exe
6.OCR.exe.config
7.readMe.xml

Could this be the one we're looking for?

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I think everything you have shown about the external hard-drive are Windows files so they are not much use to us. The "autorun" type names are definitely Windows things. I'm a little worried that we are not seeing folders such as "Windows" and "Programs Files" which are typically found in Windows installs so i suspect we are not going to be able to get Windows to boot on the external drive at all. However, it's worth a try in case there's something i am missing, i think.

When you had a look in "menu.lst" there were a lot of lines starting with # or ##. These are the same in every "menu.lst" created by Ubuntu on every machine. There are other lines that don't have a # at the start that are different. It's those lines i am most interested in especially the ones at the end of the file. Could you copy&paste them into the comment section here?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

when i enter: gedit menu.lst

in the terminal a different window opens called autorun.inf - gedit
then i open the folder and a second window opens called: open files [showing all my files]

i believe yhis is not really what you're looking for.

I ryed this command: sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.190210.ls
the terminal ask me at least for a password but tell's me then: No such file or directory

you may have a different command i could try?
for me it looks like as i do not have the right name for the destination folder.

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok it looks like things are a little confusing right now so i will write <enter> when i want you to press the enter key to enter the command. Just try this

cd /boot/grub<enter>
ls<enter>
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.190210<enter>
ls<enter>

The first ls should show a list of what is in the folder. It should show you that one of the files is called "menu.lst". The 2nd time should show the new file you created by using the "cp" command. Note that the command "cd" should Change Directory (directory = folder).

Good luck with this, please let us know how this goes :)
Regard from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

sorry for my low knowledge.

first command worked fine putting second in answer is: no such file directory
then entering ls i think i get the same list again

lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /boot/grub
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$ ls
915resolution.mod efiemu64.o lspci.mod reiserfs.mod
acpi.mod efiemu.mod lvm.mod scsi.mod
affs.mod elf.mod mdraid.mod search.mod
afs_be.mod ext2.mod memdisk.mod serial.mod
afs.mod extcmd.mod memrw.mod setjmp.mod
aout.mod fat.mod minicmd.mod sfs.mod
ata.mod font.mod minix.mod sh.mod
ata_pthru.mod fs_file.mod mmap.mod sleep.mod
at_keyboard.mod fshelp.mod moddep.lst tar.mod
befs_be.mod fs.lst msdospart.mod terminfo.mod
befs.mod fs_uuid.mod multiboot.mod test.mod
biosdisk.mod gfxterm.mod normal.mod tga.mod
bitmap.mod gptsync.mod ntfscomp.mod true.mod
blocklist.mod grub.cfg ntfs.mod udf.mod
boot.img grubenv ohci.mod ufs1.mod
boot.mod gzio.mod part_acorn.mod ufs2.mod
bsd.mod halt.mod part_amiga.mod uhci.mod
bufio.mod handler.lst part_apple.mod unicode.pf2
cat.mod handler.mod part_gpt.mod usb_keyboard.mod
cdboot.img hdparm.mod partmap.lst usb.mod
chain.mod hello.mod part_msdos.mod usbms.mod
cmp.mod help.mod part_sun.mod usbtest.mod
command.lst hexdump.mod parttool.lst vbeinfo.mod
configfile.mod hfs.mod parttool.mod vbe.mod
core.img hfsplus.mod password.mod vbetest.mod
cpio.mod iso9660.mod pci.mod vga.mod
cpuid.mod jfs.mod play.mod vga_text.mod
crc.mod jpeg.mod png.mod video_fb.mod
datehook.mod kernel.img probe.mod video.mod
date.mod keystatus.mod pxeboot.img videotest.mod
datetime.mod linux16.mod pxecmd.mod xfs.mod
device.map linux.mod pxe.mod xnu.mod
diskboot.img lnxboot.img raid5rec.mod xnu_uuid.mod
dm_nv.mod loadenv.mod raid6rec.mod zfsinfo.mod
drivemap.mod loopback.mod raid.mod zfs.mod
echo.mod lsmmap.mod read.mod
efiemu32.o ls.mod reboot.mod
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$ sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.190210
cp: cannot stat `menu.lst': No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$ ls
915resolution.mod efiemu64.o lspci.mod reiserfs.mod
acpi.mod efiemu.mod lvm.mod scsi.mod
affs.mod elf.mod mdraid.mod search.mod
afs_be.mod ext2.mod memdisk.mod serial.mod
afs.mod extcmd.mod memrw.mod setjmp.mod
aout.mod fat.mod minicmd.mod sfs.mod
ata.mod font.mod minix.mod sh.mod
ata_pthru.mod fs_file.mod mmap.mod sleep.mod
at_keyboard.mod fshelp.mod moddep.lst tar.mod
befs_be.mod fs.lst msdospart.mod terminfo.mod
befs.mod fs_uuid.mod multiboot.mod test.mod
biosdisk.mod gfxterm.mod normal.mod tga.mod
bitmap.mod gptsync.mod ntfscomp.mod true.mod
blocklist.mod grub.cfg ntfs.mod udf.mod
boot.img grubenv ohci.mod ufs1.mod
boot.mod gzio.mod part_acorn.mod ufs2.mod
bsd.mod halt.mod part_amiga.mod uhci.mod
bufio.mod handler.lst part_apple.mod unicode.pf2
cat.mod handler.mod part_gpt.mod usb_keyboard.mod
cdboot.img hdparm.mod partmap.lst usb.mod
chain.mod hello.mod part_msdos.mod usbms.mod
cmp.mod help.mod part_sun.mod usbtest.mod
command.lst hexdump.mod parttool.lst vbeinfo.mod
configfile.mod hfs.mod parttool.mod vbe.mod
core.img hfsplus.mod password.mod vbetest.mod
cpio.mod iso9660.mod pci.mod vga.mod
cpuid.mod jfs.mod play.mod vga_text.mod
crc.mod jpeg.mod png.mod video_fb.mod
datehook.mod kernel.img probe.mod video.mod
date.mod keystatus.mod pxeboot.img videotest.mod
datetime.mod linux16.mod pxecmd.mod xfs.mod
device.map linux.mod pxe.mod xnu.mod
diskboot.img lnxboot.img raid5rec.mod xnu_uuid.mod
dm_nv.mod loadenv.mod raid6rec.mod zfsinfo.mod
drivemap.mod loopback.mod raid.mod zfs.mod
echo.mod lsmmap.mod read.mod
efiemu32.o ls.mod reboot.mod
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

You seem to be doing this part fine

cd /boot/grub<enter>
ls<enter>

but it's then giving us a very unusual answer. The /boot/grub folder should be almost empty with only about 10 files in it. From the line you gave saying
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$
We can see that you are in the right folder so it's not you making mistakes.

Can we try a fresh install of Ubuntu without losing the install you already have? To try this i would use the LiveCd of Ubuntu and resize sda1 down by 15Gb. Then the installer should have a partitioning section where you can choose to install Ubuntu into that space. Take care not to install to the whole drive!

At the end of the install it should sort out a new grub menu that includes the new and the old installs of Ubuntu and should also automatically check the external drive to see if it can find something bootable there.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom
sorry this didn't work tried to send you the list i got in the terminal.

entering the second command i get this answer:
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$ sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.190210
cp: cannot stat `menu.lst': No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:/boot/grub$ ls

and then it shows the first list again.

i do not have a file called menu list.

here everything ending with ls or lst:

- command.lst
- fs.lst
- handler.lst
- ls.mod
- lspci.mod
- moddep.lst
- partmap.lst
- parttool.lst

this are all the lists shown.

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It's not your low-knowledge being the problem here. There appears to be something wrong with the system and that is extremely unlikely to have been caused by you. On my own system i get these results

user@Ubuntu904:~$ cd /boot/grub
user@Ubuntu904:/boot/grub$ ls
default installed-version menu.lst.021209 stage2
device.map jfs_stage1_5 minix_stage1_5 xfs_stage1_5
e2fs_stage1_5 menu.lst reiserfs_stage1_5
fat_stage1_5 menu.lst~ stage1

So you can see from the bit before the $ sign that the "cd" command changes the folder i am in from ~ to /boot/grub and that also happens the same on your machine. So that is ok so far. However, at the next command my "ls" gives me a very short output that includes "menu.lst". I don't know why your result is so very different.

Are you willing to try installing a 2nd Ubuntu onto the same drive? If so then the partitions should end up something like this

sda1 Primary Partition, very large. This keeps your main install of Ubuntu
sda3 Primary Partition, 15Gb ext3 for your new 'new' Ubuntu
sda2 Extended Partition = no change
 . sda5 Logical Partition with linux-swap = unchanged too.

Is this worth trying? I think there might be a few weird things going on with your first install and it would be interesting to see if this 2nd attempt works better.

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i dont mine but i might need some guidance.

i've put the cd[ubuntu 9.10] in the drive and in my disk utility manager i can see:

80gb hard drive [laptop]
1tb ext hard drive
and
cd ubuntu mountable filesystem

i selected also the cd icon on the desktop it opened cdrom0 - file browser

i'm not sure where to do the partitioning. i remember that you said something about downsizing in the utility disk manager.

or should i shut down then start and put the disk in and choose:
 "install without changes to my computer"

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Sorry i keep getting distracted. Yes, to run the LiveCd you reboot the machine so that it boots up from the Cd and then choose "..without making changes .. "
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

The link is just there to help in case you need reassurance but it sounds like you know what you are doing for this already :)

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i'have now launched ubuntu from the cd.

How do i now change the partition for the hard drive to 15gb?

i've now in different window/app called: dev/sdb - gparted
here i find my hard drive;
/dev/sda1 ext4 71.45gb
/dev/sda2 extended
      /dev/sda5 linux-swap

and my ext.hard drive:
/dev/sdb1 931gb

trying to edit a partition table gives me this warning:

this will erase all data on the entire disk/dev/sdb
default is to create a msdos partition table

option for advanced gives me a choice of table types for the partition

selecting > create will immediately erase all data on disk /dev/sdab

i'll now disconnect my ext.hd and see what happens then.

regards
Ronnie

Hi

disconnected my ext.hd now i get the warning

    This will erase all data on the entire disk/dev/sda

regards
Ronnie

Hi

remembering the early stages of our conversation i belief you will do the downsizing in the utility disk manager.

regards
Ronnie

Hi

I don't know which utility you are using. When you boot up into a LiveCd session you should get the type of desktop shown in the screenshots in the link

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

Those screenshots show you how to access the Partition Editor that is part of Ubuntu. Using a Windows utility to do this wont work very well.

The aim is not to wipe or delete any partition at all! Please just use the Ubuntu Partition Editor as shown. You will see 3 coloured blocks representing the partitions on your laptop's hard-drive. The one on the far left should be blue and will be labelled sda1. Right-click on it and choose "Resize". A pop-up box will appear and you will be able to drag the right-hand edge of the box to shrink the partition down by 15Gb (approx)

Good luck with this!
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

GPartEd or QtPartEd is the Partition Editor that needs to be used here. When you have booted up a LiveCd session you should be able to find the right one by going up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

That will open the appropriate one for you
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

i'm in the GPartEd doing the right click window opens but "Resize/Move" is there but cant select it.
only unmount ; "manage; flags & information" are an option to select.

you've a idea how to activate resize/move so that i could use it?
or is there a option to do it via the utility disk manager?

regards
Ronnie

Hi,

got it activated will downsize now

regards
Ronnie

Hi

thats down resized to 56.59gb and it's applyed
but might take some time says now 05min

regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

sorry that was a error resized /dev/sda1 to 14.72gb

regards
Ronnie

Hi

Brilliant :) You unmounted the partition and then found you could resize it? 5mins is quite fast for a resizing but 50mins sounds a lot more normal.

Once the resize is applied and completed GPartEd will rescan the drives to check the partitions are ok. Then you should be able to install Ubuntu using the icon on the desktop.

When you get to the partitioning section of the installer you will need to carefully read what the options are. I am fairly sure there is one of the middle options allowing you to use the 15Gb space you made but if there isn't then we might need to try the "Advanced/manual" partitioning at the bottom.

Congrats on getting this far!
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, that sounds like it worked fine. You just have a lot more space for the new install than it really needed but that is not a problem. Go ahead with installing Ubuntu into the large empty space using the icon that is on the LiveCd's desktop as it's easier from where you are now i think?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

operation successfully compliteted

how we proceed now?

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Congrats on that stage. Messing around with partitions is one of the toughest challenges facing people when they first arrive from Windows-land. It seems you have conquered that already :)

Next step is re-installing to just the empty space where there is no partition yet. Hopefully this should be fairly easy through the installer from the Live Cd's desktop but you might be forced to use the "Advanced/manual" partitioning section in the installer.

Good luck now :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi
i'm quiet happy that i managed it but i've to say a big Thank's to my mentor and his patient's.

Could you please explain how to reinsatll to the empty space.

i really do not have any idea.

do i have to install the ubuntu live cd in to the free space?

regards
Ronnie

Hi

Sorry again. Yes, on the desktop of the LiveCd there should be an icon called "installer". Just use that to install Ubuntu and when you get to the Partitioning section at about stage 6 then just take care not to install to the whole hard-drive. One of the other options should allow you to choose which partition Ubuntu gets installed to.

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi
sorry to be a nuisance.

how do i recognize the old partition?
will it still be: /dev/sda1?

but anyway i see the app and i'll start it.
in the worsed case i'll have to cancel the installation.
still wondering where i could see the ubuntu i used before
shouldnt there be a file or something?

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

You are not a nuisance, don't worry. I had a lot of help when i first started with Ubuntu and still get help fom time-to-time when something intrigues me.

Yes, sda1, sda2 & sda5 will still retain the same names. When you get to the partitioning section i think it defaults to the top option which tries to use the entire drive. However i think the 2nd or 3rd option should show you the partitions that already exist on the drive. A couple of steps on from the partitioning section you get a summary of what you set the installer to do, and at that point is the last chance to cancel or go back a few steps. When you do get to the summary it is always worth checking as it makes more sense each time.

Hopefully that might help
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

installation nearly finished 60% at the moment.
i keep the fingers crossed that it works.
i found the old partition and i've put it in the free space.

regards
Ronnie

Hi

good news installation finished and i'm now in my /dev/sda1

it works fine

big thank's & i'm really impressed as this is my first time playing around with a operating system.

for today i would like to say good night and the next week i shouldn't be to late home then we can continue.

with regards & enjoy the rest of the weekend
Ronnie

Hi :)

Superb!! Nicely done :)) Definitely time for a good break :)

You should now have a choice between booting into the Ubuntu you installed previously or the new one.

Sometime when you boot into the new one please run through the Medibuntu worksheet again
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
This should sort out almost all your multimedia and will also lay the foundations for building up other things in the future, such as cameras, google-earth and various other things. It's not urgent but it's always good to do within a day or 2 of installing Ubuntu.

Congrats and regards from
Tom :)

Congrats to you too Tom :D

good job

Hi

Yes you a right i've now the choice between the new & old ubuntu. i'm not sure that i really miss my vista but still if it would be possible i would like to start even from the ext.hd.

you're right the next step will be the set up of my soft- and hardware.

but this all not before tomorrow.

with regards
Ronnie

ActionParsnip, thanks chap :)

Ronnie, yep, once you have a system that basically works and can do enough to keep you busy enough there is little need to tweak it further.

Finding how to get a LiveCd session working on my own and other machines has been a huge relief. It really takes away a lot of the tension i used to feel with Windows where a slowly dying machine could easily become "completely dead" during the process of trying to revive it. Since finding linux i now find a huge range of tools that can help revive Windows machines safely, or at least allow me to use a "dead" machine for most office tasks and perhaps even recover data.

When you do have time to "play" again sorting the multimedia would be good to do. After that we could look again at trying to sort the "menu.lst" but see how different that is in the new install! Also after sorting the multimedia we could look at reading data saved through WIndows on the external drive and also perhaps reinstall all the programs you had added to the old install but there is a fast trick to doing the whole lot in one easy go.

Until then the basics should be fine to work with, at least there is internet access through firefox, office tasks, cd/dvd tools, some multimedia, torrenting and a few other things. Hopefully enough for most people's immediate needs!

Good luck and regards as always from
Tom :)

Hi Tom
that sounds very interesting and looks as if i could learn from you.

Here my ubuntu approach:
at the last new years party i was introduced to a friend of a friend and he mentioned linux one week later we met and thats where my ubuntu story starts with a home made copy from
ubuntu 9.10(my life cd) and some curiosity i entered the world of ubuntu and with me i brought my wish to learn more about hard- & software. two day's later i installed ubuntu and opening the account on canonical was something what i managed. but i do not have an idea how it all worked, what i did and how i encrypted that message for acessing canonical. all that happened 6 weeks ago.

You are right i have to sort my multimedia there is some pressure already and this is my
webcam. I had even a question about it published on this site and i got also answers and decided to buy a new one. but then i got curious, searched and red more and my idea is/was
to make it work some how:

- webcam: microsoft vx-1000
- i can receive a signal video&audio but i can't send a video signal only audio works
- i do not have proper graphic card only what came with my laptop and thats gone with my vista
- there is a option to install "xine" tried it via the terminal but no response for the first
  command(backup)
- i also did some research and i found a kernel for this webcam on the debian site but what you
  are doing with a kernel??? scratching my head and again everything works via the terminal
- and there would be the option to buy a camera recommended by ubuntu, could be easy too
  lol
- my preferred option is still to fiddle around with what i have and make it work
  learning by doing

Another problem is my printer(this might not be a ubuntu problem):
- BX310FN ethernet , worked fine on vista
- installed on ubuntu printer is recognized, test print seleted but produces a endless print
- pages are loaded and running through printer but nothing is printed and printer stops when
  paper is finished

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Yes, the first thing to do is to work through this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Worry about the rest of it later
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i've downloaded from the medibuntu site nearly everything.
Here what i have not installed:

 - Removing Non-Free Software
 - Note about Adobe Acrobat Reader (acroread)

Playing Non-Native Media Formats
here i have downloaded only:

 - sudo apt-get install w32code

i'm not sure if i need this is too:

-sudo apt-get install w64codecs
-sudo apt-get install ppc-codecs

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It sounds as though you have done everything right there. Presumably the

sudo apt-get install w32code

worked fine? If so the ones following it are the wrong ones. Only 1 of those 3 lines works so it seems you picked the right one first time :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi

yeah i associated the 32 to 32bit and the terminal tell's me it is installed.
how do i continue now ?
and how will i see what i installed because i believe most of it runs in the background.

i'm really exited to see everything work.

regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I don't think it even is "on" in the background. It works when you try to watch movies or anything that needs those codecs and then the appropriate app will call it. Yeh, it is great to have a system working :)

Congrats and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

after a few busy week's i've this weekend off and i've nothing better to do i try to solve my webcam problem.

I visited this link: Ubuntu Documentation > Community Documentation > Webcam
from this site i installed:
1. mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0
2. sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

webcam still doesnt work then i tried to start this command:

- sudo apt-get install ld.so.preload-manager

the answer is this:

lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo apt-get install ld.so.preload-manager
[sudo] password for lazybug:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package ld.so.preload-manager is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package ld.so.preload-manager has no installation candidate

so i'm not sure which package i should search for and would this solve my problem.

in
system > administration > software source >other software
i selected: Medibuntu(source)-ubuntu9.10"karmic koala" free non-free(source code)

i'm also searching through my "package manager".

may you could help me.

Debian has a kernel which supports my webcam microsoft vx1000. I lost the link for it due to the loss of my previous ubuntu installation.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Please try asking this as a new question
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

I have no idea about multimedia except that the Medibuntu page usually solves everything or makes it easier to solve things. With cameras its worth installing "cheese", of course, but beyond that i am lost & you've already done both those things already so it's time to throw the question to a lot of other people.

Another good forum worth asking about this sort of thing, especially since you found a partial answer through Debian is
http://www.linuxquestions.org

Good luck with this!
Regards from
Tom :)

Thanks Tom

i'll will ask in the forum

with regards
Ronnie

hi Tom,

reading in this link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=73885
terminal for beginners

i started using my terminal and i came as far as this:

lazybug@laptop1:~$ /home
bash: /home: is a directory
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /home
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ ls
freevo lazybug lazybuga lazybugs
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ freevo
The program 'freevo' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install freevo
freevo: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ lazybug
lazybug: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ lazybug
lazybug: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ ls
freevo lazybug lazybuga lazybugs
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ lazybugs
lazybugs: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ pwd
/home
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ cd /usr/bin
lazybug@laptop1:/usr/bin$ pwd
/usr/bin
lazybug@laptop1:/usr/bin$
lazybug@laptop1:/usr/bin$ cd ~
lazybug@laptop1:~$ pwd
/home/lazybug
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd /
lazybug@laptop1:/$ ls
bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old
lazybug@laptop1:/$ ls
bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old
lazybug@laptop1:/$ ls
bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old
lazybug@laptop1:/$ pwd
/
lazybug@laptop1:/$ cd ..
lazybug@laptop1:/$ cd..
cd..: command not found
lazybug@laptop1:/$ pwd
/
lazybug@laptop1:/$ cd ..
lazybug@laptop1:/$ cd ~
lazybug@laptop1:~$ cd ..
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ cd ../workspace
bash: cd: ../workspace: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ cd ../lazybugs
bash: cd: ../lazybugs: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ ls
freevo lazybug lazybuga lazybugs
lazybug@laptop1:/home$
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ cd/
bash: cd/: No such file or directory
lazybug@laptop1:/home$ cd /
lazybug@laptop1:/$ ls
bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old

My goal was to open a list but i'm quiet not sure that what i see here is right.
and here:

lazybug@laptop1:/home$ ls
freevo lazybug lazybuga lazybugs

I do not recognize freevo and i do wonder where i should see my ext. hard drive.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

freevo is a "user" that gets added when/if you install a certain program. I think it's something to do with watching some multimedia over the internet but i can't remember details.

It looks like you have 3 normal users on your system.

The "cd" command is "Change Directory" and directory is the old word for what we normally call "folder" nowadays.

Please take care about copying your command-lines into here, this is a public access forum that pretty much anyone can visit. Luckily when you used pwd it didn't reveal anything but still please take care about keeping that sort of thing quiet.

There is a Community Documentation page about using the terminal
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal#More%20Information
this link is to the end section that has a list of possibly interesting places to find tutorials of some type.

Good luck and enjoy :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

your're right i've three users and the "freevo" could this be my yahoo messenger?
I realized with windows how dominating yahoo tries to be took me quiet a while to make messenger working without any extras.

looking at my files:

lazybug@laptop1:/$ ls
bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old

it looks not familiar to me. Thanks for your advise regarding the link you've send and i'll work through it.
Yes, you're right with the public place.

Yesterday i run the"klamav" and the result is that i've already files on my new installation carrying possible viruses and again in "wine" and i'm using only the yahoomessenger.
There are also viruses shown in my ext. hard drives. I'm not sure what to do now.

Is there a way where i could connect to a yahoo messenger user without using
myself the yahoo messenger? I'm using empathy IM client and i still need a yahoo account.

Sorry, for all my questions.
Shall i mark my original question as solved?

Thanks for all your help i'm really impressed by the seriousness and the effort you all put in to the community.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

No, Yahoo will be in your own user account, probably inside firefox settings somewhere if that's the web-browser you use.

Freevo description from the package managers ...
"
Freevo is an open-source home theatre PC platform based on Linux and a number of open-source audio/video tools. Freevo can be used both for a standalone PVR computer with a TV+remote, as well as on a regular desktop computer using the monitor and keyboard.
"

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

Thanks for the answer.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Sorry i am not really sure about IMs, i tend to avoid that type of thing myself as i feel it's more intrusive than i like. I also don't like phones tho. Texting and emails are great and forum threads help hold things together a bit imo.

As for viruses i find it extremely unlikely that you have real viruses in your system but even if you do then just don't run them using "sudo" then you should be fine
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Antivirus

Quite why the Windows world is so rife with viruses when so many people spend so much money on trying to make their systems secure is beyond me. Perhaps some companies profit from them?

Regards as always from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i dont think that i've a virus i realized that the program shows zip folders as a possible infection.
Thanks for the antivirus link. I just did a scan by using a command in the terminal.
I still feel not confident by using the terminal or adding software from the package manger.
It will take some time until i've worked my self through the basics of linux and ubuntu.

Thinking of all the companies providing security software you might be right as it always was and will be a good business to provide protection to someone who cant protect his interests. This is quiet a interesting subject as i had security problems with my windows but you can do a lot to protect or at least to minimize the risk of infection.

I use the IM because some people using only the yahoo messenger & some google talk for a video chat and the IM is a good cross plattform.

I'll be in touch soon as i still have a few question(hope you don't mine). I've done some research for my webcam and i found a kernel on a ubuntu site and more bug reports about my problem now i need time to read everything.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I gather your system now works but you have a spare partition left over fom when we were fixing things? Please get to a command-line and try

sudo fdisk -l

Also please could you look in GPartEd and tell us the "Mount POints" of the various partitions?

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

here what i found:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1940 15430432+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1941 9729 62565142+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9328 9729 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 1941 9020 56870037 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

80GB Hard Disk
 - 16GB Filesystem (this was the new installation from live CD)
 - 64GB Extended
    - 3.3GB swap space
    - 58GB Filesystem (this is the one I use)
    - 2.5GB swap space

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, so in GPartEd, which you might need to install through Synaptic Package Manager
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto
Really just go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Synaptic

Ok, once you have found and installed it then Gparted will be in

System - Administration - Partition Editor

Or alternatively it migh be better to use gparted from the LiveCd since it's already there on the LiveCd. Anyway, once you are there right-click on the swap space that is in the middle of the drive (i think that's sda7 isn't it?) and do "Swap Off" and then "Delete" it. You only need the one that is at the end of the drive now.

With sda6 it is quite different because it would be smarter to use sda6 as your /home partition. Also it probably already has data on it that you want to keep. These 2 guides might give you some clues but your set-up is already quite different from what they describe
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving

I think i would first of all use their guidance to copy the current /home off the 16Gb partition. Although it might be better to try copying the data in the 58Gb partition down 1 level first, if you see what i mean, and then copy across the /home from the main partition you use so that the relevant parts get overwritten with the newer ones that work.

Sorry, i should be able to help you with this better tomorrow
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks Tom,

I'll read the links and then I'll be in touch as today it is to late and the problem is not absolutely urgent.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Please can you use Gparted to find out the "Mount Points" of the various partitions? I think you need to install GPartEd into the hard-drive install of Ubuntu in order to get a sensible answer to this.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

I deleted the swap space in the middle and it was the sda7.
I used the System - Administration - Partition Editor was not available and I did deleted it in the disk utility. So far worked everything fine but then i shut my laptop down. When starting again
i got this message on the grub screen:

Grub loading.
error: unknown filesystem
grub rescue>

I don't know the command to start a grub rescue.

I'm using now the live CD and here i can access GParted and the partitions are:

1. unallocated 149.9Mib
2./dev/sda1 14.72GiB 7.04GiB
3./dev/sda2 59.67GiB
4. /dev/sda5 54.24GiB 3.05Gib
6. /dev/sda6 2.35Gib
7. unallocated3.08Gib

The third partition is the one I used until now and I need your help to access
the partition again.

I selected bootable for the the 64GB and for 58GB Filesystem(/dev/sda5) in Disk Utility and when applied I get this message:

Error modifying partition

Error modifying partition: helper exited with exit code 1: In part_change_partition: device_file=/dev/sda, start=15957107712, new_start=15957107712, new_size=58234917888, type=0x83
Entering MS-DOS parser (offset=0, size=80026361856)
MSDOS_MAGIC found
looking at part 0 (offset 156280320, size 15800762880, type 0x83)
new part entry
looking at part 1 (offset 15957043200, size 64066705920, type 0x05)
Entering MS-DOS extended parser (offset=15957043200, size=64066705920)
readfrom = 15957043200
MSDOS_MAGIC found
readfrom = 74192025600
MSDOS_MAGIC found
Exiting MS-DOS extended parser
looking at part 2 (offset 0, size 0, type 0x00)
new part entry
looking at part 3 (offset 0, size 0, type 0x00)
new part entry
Exiting MS-DOS parser
MSDOS partition table detected
containing partition table scheme = 1
got it
got disk
got partition
changed partition to start=15957075456 size=58234950144
committed to disk
ugh, offset or size changed
offset: 15957107712
size: 58234917888
new_offset: 15957075456
new_size: 58234950144

This looks not good at all I haven't done so well.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

here i you can see the partition shown in the terminal after i deleted the sda7:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1940 15430432+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1941 9729 62565142+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 * 1941 9020 56870068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

I mounted the 58GB and 16GB Filesystem .
When I opened this Filesystems I realized that I use the 16GB instead of the 58GB. This could mean I've deleted the wrong swap space.

It looks as if I'm not doing so well within the grubs/partitions.
Any chance to sort this?

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

A few points ...

Sorry i haven't been around yesterday. I will try today but it could be tricky. Things are not quite as bad as they may appear ...

You haven't deleted the "wrong" swap. A drive only needs 1 swap and that can be shared by all the linux installs on the machine.

It worries me when you use the disk utility because it gives MsDos outputs which we really don't want so please avoid using the disk utility.

Don't try mounting an "Extended Partition" or doing anything with these as they are very different from the normal types of partition that we can mess around with.

There is a 150(ish) Gb unallocated space at the beginning of 1 of your drives that we really need to leave alone until we can work at this together. I think it's just a deleted Windows partition but we might be able to recover it as long as we avoid messing around with that space until we have a definite plan for recovery data from there.

Although the hard-drive installs of Ubuntu don't have a Partition Editor you can install Gparted through Synaptic Package Manager but there are good reasons for not having a partition editor.

To fix the grub again these instructions might help
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows
although if step 4 does fail then it's probably because you are using the Grub2. In which case we might need to work through that together.

Sorry i haven't been much help and left you in a precarious position but it is much better than it feels and there's always the LiveCd until we can fix a few things

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

what i didn't really mount the filesystems I only had them on my desktop.
Time wise it might be not so easy as I'll be on my laptop again in about 11h.
Okay I'll not use the Disk Utility. (There is still so much more to learn)

So I hope to do the right steps now I'll will use form your link:

Recovering GRUB after reinstalling Windows

here a copy from the terminal:

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub
sudo: grub: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ find /boot/grub/stage1
find: `/boot/grub/stage1': No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ root (hdA,B)
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `hdA,B'
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ root (hd0,1)
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `hd0,1'
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ root grub
The program 'root' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install root-system-bin
You will have to enable the component called 'universe'
root: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install root-system-bin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package root-system-bin

I didn't enable the component called 'universe'

When I checked the GParted i realized that i miss now 3.05GiB usage of the
/dev/sda5 58.24GiB partition and there is attention mark.

Okay this is all I can do at the moment the rest later today.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

sorry the last message i've sent doesnt make any sense sorry i'm a bit in a rush i'll do it again later.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It does make sense to me.
Perhaps i need a cuppa tea.

I think the 1st error message
"sudo: grub: command not found"
is sying that you are already using Grub2 so don't try installing "root-system-bin" as that is taking us in the wrong direction. We need to read up about Grub2. I will hunt out a link for that.

11 hours sounds better to me :)
Hopefully see you around then
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

just home and the rest of the week will be the same.
So i could effort another 2h to fix this problem or at least get started.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

I install nothing it could make only worse. Therefore you could tell me what I should do this is
not so easy to understand.

On my desktop in places I can see my 16GB Filesystem when opening it shows me the three users
which I had set up. The 58GB Filesystem where yesterday there but I opened a few files in the hope to find and start my internet browser with all my bookmarks.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

On the 58Gb partition your bookmarks are hopefully inside the folder in

home/username/.mozilla/firefox

the . at the front of mozilla there makes it a hidden folder because it is a system folder. If you are using the normal file-browser to search through then

Edit - Show hidden

should allow you to see it. When you double-click on the "bookmarks.html" it should open as a web-page but if you go up to

Bookmarks - "Oraganise Bookmarks" - "Import & Backup" button at top

then it should allow you to import all the bookmarks, although you would have to navigate to where you copied the "bookmarks.html" to again
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi

This is my terminal showing the partition on07/03/10

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1940 15430432+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1941 9729 62565142+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9328 9729 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 1941 9020 56870037 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris

and here on 10/03/10

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x07e51415

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1940 15430432+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1941 9729 62565142+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1941 9020 56870068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris

do you have an idea how I could solve this problem as I would prefer to fix it instead of
reinstalling and configuring ubuntu.
There is a lot more for me to learn about the partition until I understand what's going on.

In the Gparted i recognize my files in the /dev/sda1 (16GB).
The /dev/sda5 (58GB) is now empty.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

The 58Gb partition was where all the data was on your previous install of Ubuntu? The plan was to copy the data down a folder level so that (for example)

/home/username/Documents

would become

/username/Documents

I didn't describe that at all and just left vague links to guidelines that i had hoped would be a bit clearer. To try to recover the data on the 58Gb partition it would be good to have a separate/external drive to copy the data onto. This link might help recover stuff
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

That should have been ...

/home/username/Documents

would become

username/Documents

as i don't think there would be / at the beginning. I thought the main problem about the copying would be trying to copy all the hidden/system data so i thought this link would have helped with that
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving#Copy%20/home%20to%20the%20New%20Partition
The problem with those sorts of links is that it assumes generalised set-up where you have something quite unique already. The problem with that is that they probably tell you to reformat when you didn't want to do that. However, since it sounds like a freshly formatted partition the DataRecovery link
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery
should cover exactly what you have for that partition. Also the same link should be able to help recover data from the 160Gb "unallocated" space near the start of the drive

Good luck with this!!
Regards from
Tom

Hi Tom

just started mine weekend and solved my problem by simply installing ubuntu from live cd as a new partition in the next to the existing partitions and as i restarted i found the old partition and everything works fine nothing changed or lost. The new installation fixed the problem with the swap space.
There wasn't anytime to read the links you have send as I'm to busy at work until easter.

I solved my webcam problem too by buying a logitech C200(works out of the box).

I'm sorry for the trouble i coursed.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It is not you causing problems it's stupid fake-world problems outside of launchpad. Sorry i haven't been much help in last week or more.

Glad to hear you have fixed a lot of the problems with a reinstall

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thanks, you did well as I had to use my own brain and "senses". You're right the world is crazy.

This are my new partition:

  Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1276 10096852+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1277 9327 64669657+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1941 9020 56870068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 1277 1904 5044347 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 1905 1940 289138+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I'll try to change nothing within the partitions but I would like to focus for the future on the reovering from the vista partition. This could be good for learning "How to recover data" in general. For the beginning I'll read the links you've send.
More important is the sorting of my partition as they appear not in the right order on the GRUB screen. I would like to change the order so that I can start my laptop without changing the automatically selected partition to the one I need and adjusting the size.
When downsizing a partition(the one in use) to a size which is just needed to accommodate all my installation could this speed up my laptop?
By searching 50GB(70% not used) instead of 15GB really used space a computer will find everything immediately close together.
I'm right when I assume that I've to change the order of the partitions in Gparted and I do this by using the live CD?

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok.

1. The data recovery link is the main issue to deal with right now i think.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

The 2 other issues are more difficult to sort out than is really worth spending the time on right now.

2. The grub menu is sorted by editing Grub2 which i do not yet understand. With Grub it was easy but i haven't looked into Grub2 yet.

3. The idea of "having everything closer together" will not affect the speed of your machine. Windows ntfs partitions keep everything cramped up very close and all that does is creates them fragmentation problems which the linux inode structure neatly avoids. Think about a train journey in a carriage crammed full of people. Trying to get something out of your bag is likely to be much trickier. (A deeply flawed analogy but more elbow room can be handy)

GPartEd makes it all look much easier to understand (and prettier) but re-arranging the order of the partitions is a non-trivial issue that does nothing to solve the problem about the grub menu. Fdisk always lays it out chronologically but by looking at the "start", "end" we can see that the real order on the drive is
sda1 = Ubuntu
sda2 Extended, containing ...
 . sda7 = Ubuntu, new install
 . sda8 = swap that you don't need
 . sda5 = Ubuntu, previous one that you are probably using mostly
 . sda6 = swap, the good one
Total of 76Gb this time, that's 3Gb less than last time. So you probably have a little more unallocated space. Not a big problem.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thanks for your answer i didn't had time to read the link just to busy and working late.
There will be time on Thursday and Sunday(i keep my fingers crossed).

But here is what i found in Gparted:

Partition FileSystem Size Used Unused Flags
- unallocated 149.04MiB
- /dev/sda1 ext4 9.63GiB 7.08Gib 2.55Gib boot
- /dev/sda2 extended 61.67GiB
      - /dev/sda7 ext4 4.81GiB 2.05GiB 2.76Gib
      - /dev/sda8 linux-swap 282.36MiB
      - /dev/sda5 unknown 54.24GiB
      - /dev/sda6 unknown 2.35GiB
- unallocated 3.08GiB

the Palmimpsest Disk Utility shows this:

80 GB Hard Disd
- 10GB Filesystem
   Linux Ext4(version1.0)
- 66GB Extended
   Contains logical partitions
    - 58GB Unrecognised
      Unknown or Unused
    - 2.5GB Data
      2.5GB
    - 5.2GB Filesystem
      Linux Ext4 (version 1.0)
    - 296MB Swap Space
      296MB
- 3.3GB Free
  Unallocated Space

the disk analyzer shows:

- total filesystem capacity: 9.5GB (used: 6.9GB available: 2.6GB)

In the GRUB screen i had today a change after booting the second grub(yesterday it started without problems)

ubuntu didn't start i got this message:

*checking battery state...
...done
swap:waiting for UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864

i wasn't able to start ubuntu i turne my laptop of and started ubuntu from the third grub.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi

Yes, trying to reduce it down to just 1 link at a time. The data Recovery link is the 1st one to deal with imo.

I don't know why the 58Gb partition's install went wrong. It might be better to stick to using ext3 not ext4 in the future if given a choice.

It might be time to think about getting a new hard-drive for this machine as this one seems to be slowly dying. It might be good to get one of those cheap adapters that can use "internal" drives as external drives but try to get one that provides power. That should help with transferring data onto the new drive

I cant remember the machines specs so its difficult to judge which route is most cost-effective. I will try to read through parts of this thread again tomorrow.

Good luck & regards from
Tom

Hi Tom

your message doesn't sound good.
The 58Gb partition went wrong because I tried to be smart as i used the live cd. I opened the mounted 58GB partition and i tried several files to open unfortunately i don't which files
but i remember that i where also in bin.

Is there not a chance to clean up(deleting all partition) the entire hard drive and make a fresh installation from the live cd. I already copied all files to my ext. hard drive.

My laptop is only 4 years old and he is for only 1 year connected to the Internet before i used occasionally the Internet . I never used my laptop to the maximum.

I still have my hopes that my hard drive is not dying would like to see him working for a couple of more years.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Phew, ok, that makes sense now :) Bin files are difficult to mess without programming experience in linux. It might be worth setting up a "sandbox" area to play around with stuff like that later.

If you want to try a completely fresh install again then i would wipe only the partitions that are inside the Extended Partition. Use the LiveCd to do that with GPartEd. So that's deleting

sda6
sda5
sda8
sda7

Then use GParted to create 3 new partitions inside the Extended Partition

sda5 as 8Gb ext3 this will be for the main programs and stuff
sda6 as 56Gb ext3 for data& settings, this will be the /home partition
sda7 as 2.5Gb linux-swap

The sda6 one is only approximate, just fill the space you think you have. The sda7 only has to be more than ram but not by much so that is approximate too. It really doesn't matter if the sda numbers are not in that order but it is better to have the data sometime after the programs.

During the install when you reach the Partitioning Section please choose "Manual" or "Advanced" partitioning to set the right partitions to do the right things. "Edit" the /home one to set it's "Mount Point" to "/home" & the 8Gb one to set it's "Mount Point" to "/". The ext4 file-system is a lot newer than the ext3 one but ext3 is more established and better tested on more machines. Normally i would push people into using ext4 but that seems to have been causing a little trouble on your system so ext3 seems a safer bet. I am using ext3 for my stable system. So, it's in the installers "Advanced Partitioning" that you can set the "Mount Point"s

sda5 /
sda6 /home

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thanks for your answer i'll do this when i've time maybe on sunday it's just to busy at work.

What do you think of this:

i got this message when i tried to start the partition which i cant use anymore:
(the first, fourth and fifth star where orange)
*speech dispatcher configurated for user session
*Starting the Winbind daemon winbind
*Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
*Pulse Audio configured for per-user session
*not starting motion daemon, disabled
 via /etc/deffault/motion
*Enabling additional executable binary formats bin fmt-support
*checking battery state...
...done
swap:waiting for UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864

before i started the partition i use i got this message:

Grub loading.
error: unknown filesystem
grub rescue>
One or more of the mounts listed in /etc/stab cannot yet be
mounted: swap: waiting for
UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864
Press Esc to enter recovery shell

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It is fstab where things are mounted automatically, so its complaining about

/etc/fstab

I would guess that's because the 58Gb partition has become difficult to read? The fresh re-install using "Advanced Partitioning" should be able to sort that problem out :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Has this problem been solved? I have the same one and I have not found an answer here!

Hi Ca3A

not yet as I didn't have the time yesterday.
My laptop still works and the grub's sorted themselves(somehow) so that i can use my entire ubuntu.
If you've more question feel free to ask or have a look at the links in the answers I got.
Tom would be the right person to ask.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Ca3A :)

The first thing to try is see if you can get a LiveCd session working from the Ubuntu Cd you used to install Ubuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Ca3A :)

Getting a LiveCd session working is important because

1. It shows that your hardware works with Ubuntu easily. If not then use some of the boot options and make note of which you need to use to help us get the properly installed Ubuntu working properly too.

2. It can be used to help diagnose exactly what is causing the problem. The 2 most likely causes have radically different answers both of which are fairly easy to resolve. Ronnie was unlucky enough to have a lot of different causes none of which were the most likely.

3. It should be able to let you have access to your data on the hard-drive so that we can see that at least that is safe

4. It gives us a lot of tools that can be used to help fix a variety of problems

5. It gives a working environment so that you can at least use your machine fairly usefully while we try to help you fix it.

Please let us know if the LiveCd works or feel free to ask questions about getting that to work along with your other questions :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

hope your doing well without my problems.
I decided to use my current installation even as the partition problem isn't solved but ubuntu starts and works fine. I'm reading the Ubuntu Karmic Koala Bible by Olly Connelly that might give me a better understanding of partitions and GParted so that I can do a fresh installation with the live CD.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I think you probably know plenty about partitions now but it just takes a bit of time to let it sink in so that you grok it well
http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/grok.html

If you want another go at sorting the partitions neatly i think we can do it without needing any reinstalls now. Just the output of "sudo fdisk -l" again would let me see progress so far and what to do next to finish tidying up.

All is good here thanks :)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thank's for another good link you're right I've read about partition and it's all quiet clear
and straight forward but when it comes to the practically part I do not feel confident. The more I read about linux and ubuntu the more questions piling up. I read much more about the terminal and I've now access to more commands for the terminal(http://ss64.com/bash/) and to understand them is some headache.
I agree sorting of the partitions should solve the problem on Sunday I looked at my partition in the terminal and in GParted I installed "Back In Time" and I did a back up.

here my partition as shown in the terminal:

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1276 10096852+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1277 9327 64669657+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1941 9020 56870068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9021 9327 2465946 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 1277 1904 5044347 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 1905 1940 289138+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I'm thinking of shrinking /dev/sda2 and than extend /dev/sda1 and give it a new swap and a extensions and some free space(thats what I understand from all my reading). My biggest worry was that I could loose my settings but with the back up I should be able to get everything back as it was.
I still do not under stand how I was able to access all my data from /dev/sda2 in /dev/sda1.
I might be able on the coming weekend to sort the partition in the week I'm tired after work some reading is just enough.
I hope with more time, reading and hands on I might gain a better understanding of the ubuntu world.
I enjoy it and I like the linux/ubuntu idea.

with regards
Ronnie
(sorry for splitting the message)

One more question Tom

there are quiet a few commands from this link "http://ss64.com/bash/" which are answered by the terminal with "command not found".
I wonder if there could be something wrong with my installation that I might not have all
repositories installed or something else.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

The big clue is at the bottom of the ss64 website
"Commands marked • are bash built-ins, these are available under all shells."
some commands will be built-in to some linux distros (such as Ubuntu, RedHat, openSUSE) but will need to be installed if they are to run in other versions.

To check a command before running it try typing in the command with a "-h" tag after it. Using some of the commands we tried in this thread as examples try

sudo -h

fdisk -h

we know both of these commands are already installed in your version of linux so instead of getting some error message we should get a quickj guide cheat-sheet on how to use each command. It is quite a neat way of checking that some given advice is not out-of-date nor accidentally or deliberately wrong somehow.

If you don't already have a particular command/functionality installed then you can often add it through your package manager. I would use Synaptic Package Manager because i find it's search features quite useful. Alternatively you might find you have alternative functionality added in a different way.

Linux & the OpenSource world develops quite fast so you may often find that current possibilities are far more advanced than any Documentation. However it is almost always true that the old stuff still works too. Usually things are just gradually developing along a planned route. Anything you learn will give you an insight into how systems work many years from now or on completely differetn platforms, such as RedHat or openSUSE instead of on the Ubuntu that you started learning with.

It is often said that it is worth installing 2 or 3 different distros (versions of gnu&linux) to learn by comparing how things work on them. It is also often said that it is good to mainly stick with 1 main distro until you have built up a good understanding of that 1 first before exploring too many others. I think a little of both is true. My main distro of choice is Ubuntu but i occasionally play around with others fairly briefly occasionally. You will soon find that there is often less difference between 2 'radically different' versions of linux than between any 2 versions of Windows, such as XP, Vista or Win7.

I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, so there is a difference between theory and practice. This is one reason i think it's a great idea to rescue an older machine to practice on before applying ideas to your main machine. Often people have enough bits & pieces in cupboards/attics/bins/skips to get at least 1 machine working with linux. Remember to try a LiveCd session first before considering putting too much work into installing as you might need a lighter version of linux such as Wolvix or Puppy or something rather than Ubuntu. LiveCds can be really handy if the machine doesn't have a hard-drive at all too of course.

Alternatively a Virtual Machine on your own machine could be a safer way of testing a few ideas out but there is possibility of confusion and the older machine idea is a lot safer. Also if your friend sees a machine running almost as fast as his brand new Windows7 machine and then realises it's the machine he (or someone) threw out 10 years ago then you win the argument about Ubuntu versus Win7 ;) Assuming we can sort the glitches of course lol :)

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

Ok, so the "Sudo fdisk -l" show us that we again have 2 swap partitions but each hard-drive only needs 1 swap. Looking at the start/end addresses we can see that sda8 is the one in the middle dividing up the big space we could combine into 1 big partition for data (the /home partition). Also sda8 is only 0.3Gb so it's really not very helpful for your ram. However, sda6 is perfect.

We can also see that there are now 3 "linux" partitions but it is unclear what these are being used for in the main install that you use. Hopefully one of them is your / partition and the other is your /home. Here's what my spreadsheet gives me

Ronnie 310310 size in Gb
/dev/sda1 * Linux 10.3
/dev/sda2 Extended 66.2
 /dev/sda7 Linux 05.2
 /dev/sda8 swap 00.3
 /dev/sda5 Linux 58.2
 /dev/sda6 swap 02.5
        ____ ____
        76.5 66.17

Which shows me there is some slight rounding errors but possibly also a small unallocated space inside the Extended Partition (66.2 - 66.17 = 0.03 unallocated). Note that i have re-arranged the partitions so that they are in the order shown in GParted now, not numerical order but the order they appear on the hard-drive. Hopefully Launchpad has allowed it to be laid out neatly but i have tried to make sure it makes some kind of sense even if it is messy. When you boot into the Ubuntu you usually use on your machine please can you lookup in Gparted to let us know if the "Mount Points" are like this for these partitions

sda1 * /
sda7
sda5 /home

If not then i'm sure we can work out how to proceed most easily from however it is all shown.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

thanks this very interesting.
Here is another good link for the terminal "http://fsmsh.com/1252" for someone like me who never heard really of comand line and with this link I got access to the manual and to the info. I think with more time and usage of the terminal I should manage.
I found the cheat-sheet's the fdisk -h is easier to read then the sudo -h.
It looks as if I use Coreutils - GNU core utilities which comes with the terminal. I didn't install anything for my terminal yet. I've difficulties to understand what I need and what not from all the offered software in the Package Manager.
For the moment I prefer to use ubuntu only otherwise it will be to much. I've already not enough time to read and try most of ubuntu. Just give it a bit time.
I've this idea of a second computer for quiet a while unfortunately I'm thinking to buy a new desktop and then use my laptop as sand pit. What do you think of the Archos5 android?
The Virtual Machine could be a good alternative to Window installation I read about it.
That would be fun to show the people who think I'm crazy by using linux/Ubuntu may I've to search for a older computer and make it work nearly as fast as windows7.
Hmm... I like the idea. I'll look around, ask a few friends or may buy one cheap.
I'll read now your last message and send you a answer afterwards.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

the partitions in my GParted look like this:
(for the moment i installed GParted for easier access)

- unallocated 194.04MiB
-/dev/sda1* ext4 / 9.63GiB / 7.06GiB(used)
-/dev/sda2 extended / 61.67Gib
 -/dev/sda7 ext4 / 4.81GiB / 2.05Gib(used)
 -/dev/sda8 linux-swap / 282.36MiB
 -/dev/sda5 unknown / 54.24GiB
 -/dev/sda6 unknown / 2.35GiB
- unallocated 3.08GiB

/dev/sda5&6 have a orange triangle with a exclamation mark

I do not understand how you do the reading of my partition print from the terminal:

Ronnie 310310 size in Gb
/dev/sda1 * Linux 10.3 ?
/dev/sda2 Extended 66.2 ?
 /dev/sda7 Linux 05.2 ?
 /dev/sda8 swap 00.3 ?
 /dev/sda5 Linux 58.2 ?
 /dev/sda6 swap 02.5 ?
        ____ ____
        76.5 66.17

but i had a similar guess about the new partitions

sda1 * /
sda7
sda5 /home (but here i wasn't sure)

I hope that helps.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

When you gave me the results from Gparted you gave me the columns

Partitions, File System, Size

Note that between "File System" and "Size" is another column called "Mount Point" which is mostly empty. I have a feeling that there is only 1 / mark in that column and no '/home'.

When i posted that table into Launchpad it looked really nice and tidy but Launchpad messes up the spacing so it made no sense at all :( Here's my 2nd attempt ...

/dev/sda1 * Linux 10.3 Gb
/dev/sda2 Extended Partition containing the following 4 partitions ...
 . /dev/sda7 Linux 05.2 Gb
 . /dev/sda8 swap 00.3 Gb
 . /dev/sda5 Linux 58.2 Gb
 . /dev/sda6 swap 02.5 Gb
        ____
        76.5 total including sda1

I try to avoid installing things unless i need them. Whenever you install a package there is usually a "front-end" or "gui" so that you can use the package on the desktop. The gui is only a very small part of the whole cluster of packages that gets installed. The gui's main purpose is to interpret the buttons and things you click on into command-line commands and then takes the command-line output and intrepet that into something pretty on the screen.

We have a good example of that with GPartEd which is "only" a front-end for the command-line package called "PartEd". The G at the front shows that GPartEd works on the Gnome Desktop. The KDE desktop (which looks a lot more like Windows) uses a completely different package called "QtPartEd" instead of "GPartEd" but guess what command-line package QtPartEd uses to do the 'real work'?

So you can bypass using the gui of GPartEd and just type this on the command-line

parted

of course i would definitely advise first trying

parted -h

especially with something that powerful!! GPartEd has various thing such as an "Apply" button to stop people from accidentally deleting all their stuff but "Parted" doesn't have those and will just wipe entire partitions much tooo easily.

We often say that "power users" prefer the command-line because there are less frills and eye-candy to "slow them down". Personally i try to stick to using gui's because we need the gui's to work well if we are to attract people away from Windows & Mac. Command-line is tooo scary for most people. Luckily a lot of what you can do on the command-line can also be done through using the desktop gui's.

So you dont really usually "add packages to the command-line" instead you add packages to the machine and then choose whether you want to use them from the command-line or from the desktop. As an example try typing this command in

totem

Hopefully the movie-player called totem pops up ready to watch a movie. If you click around in it then you should be able to add the sidebar and perhaps hear some internet 'radio' or podcasts or something. If you tried

totem -h

you probably noticed that you can use the command-line to listen to those podcasts (if you knew the pathname) without having to click on any of the buttons because the command-line tags for totem include the same options the buttons give you.

I hope this help!

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again

Errr sometimes certain commands such as

grub

or in our case

parted

give you a different looking command-line. One way to escape out of that is to simply close the window/console that has the strange new command-line in it.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

that is a step closer to understanding and using the terminal and command line but GParted will be the safer option to change my partition. On Saturday I'll go ahead with changing the partition by using the live CD without changes to my installations.

1. deleting /dev/sda6 swap
2. shrinking /dev/sda2 extended
    I'll leave /dev/sda7+5 in /dev/sda2
3. expand /dev/sda1* up to 20Gb

I hope that will work.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

I think you meant delete sda8 from the middle of the Extended Partiton which would be a good plan. It would still be great to know what the "Mount Points" column show for sda1, sda7 & sda5 before deciding what to delete and what to hold on to. This will need to be found out from inside the normal boot-up rather than from a LiveCd session.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

you're right I've to delete /dev/sda/8 I now opened the terminal and GParted side by side.

- in Gparted /dev/sda8 is in the middle
- in the terminal i see all partition in the numerical order
  (which is not the real order)
For the Mountpoints /dev/sda/1 has forward slash ( / ) the rest of the partition shows nothing.

I mixed that up I'm still learning and I thought it is better to delete /dev/sda6 as there seems to be a problem(orange triangle with exclamation mark) and than move /dev/sda8 with copy/paste to the end.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi !

I did not notice that sda6 had an orange triangle & exclamation mark! Sorry! Since it is a Swap Partition it is faster and easier to delete it and then re-create a new one in the same place. Swap partitions do not usually store data when a machine gets shutdown, unless hibernate/sleep was used.

Copy&paste doesn't work with partitions. It's a nice idea tho, if it did work then it would make a lot of this very much easier.

If possible it would be better to get sda6 sorted out before deleting sda8 permanently. I think your machine has plenty of ram so it seldom uses swap anyway.

Apols & regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

The Ram is 2GB and I use hibernate/sleep occasionally.

Both partitions sda5+6 have the orange triangle with the exclamation mark.

How do I sort /dev/sda6?

I do not work Sat/Sun that means there is some time to spend on my partitions.

with regards
Ronnie

I am guessing that you probably got your answer by now (after 49
replies) but I wanted to make it 50 so here is my post :)

On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 2:24 PM, Tom
<email address hidden> wrote:
> Question #100226 on yelp in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+question/100226
>
> Tom posted a new comment:
> Hi :)
>
> I gather your system now works but you have a spare partition left over
> fom when we were fixing things? Please get to a command-line and try
>
> sudo fdisk -l
>
> Also please could you look in GPartEd and tell us the "Mount POints" of
> the various partitions?
>
> Thanks and regards from
> Tom :)
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are an answer
> contact for Ubuntu.
>

--
Regards,
Sonny Dhillon

Hi :)

Ok, sda5 may be worth sorting out later, if there is data that you need to retrieve from there. If you can be certain there is no data on there then that could be extremely easy to sort out later.

First thing to sort out is the swaps.

First of those the sda6. Just delete it and then create a new swap space to replace it. Use the same space that sda6 was in and don't worry if the partition is given a new number. Since your ram is 2Gb we can see that the size of sda6 was about perfect as it was a little larger than Ram.

Then the sda8. Just delete sda8.

That's all we 'need' to do at this point to get the partitions a bit tidier. It should make the Ubuntu run a little bit more smoothly and perhaps a little faster.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Please let me know when you have sorted out the new swap where sda6 is because once you have the new swap space there then sleep/hibernate mode will work properly again

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

I deleted /dev/sda6 and created a new swap and deleted /dev/sda8.

Thanks for your patience Tom maybe I was just scared to mess everything up.
This solved my problem.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Excellent news :)) Nicely done :)

1. Is there data on the machine that you can't get at right now?
2. When you boot up the machine do you get 2 choices for booting into different versions of Ubuntu?
3. If you do ever boot into another version on your machine is there any data in there that you want to keep?

If the answer to either of the last 2 questions (2 or 3) is "No" then you can safely delete the little 5Gb sda7 quite safely. This will simplify the look of the drive and prepare the way for increasing the space available to your main installed Ubuntu.

Again, please let me know how this goes. I would guess that you are very tired right about now and need to enjoy your weekend off so don't worry if you don't feel like dealing with this right now :) What you have works so there's no real need to push things further yet if you don't feel like it. Congrats on fixing the hibernate/sleep problem :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

indeed it worked fine and all my data was there until I rebooted then I got a GRUB error message.
I solved the problem by using the live CD and on the screen where I choose the installation "install without changes to my computer" I got this message:

 Boot option eseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash

I still might have done something wrong in GParted.
I continued with the installation and I got everything running. This was some good praxis with the partitions but I made an error.
I thought that a new ubuntu installations will need automatically a new partition in the next to /dev/sda1 therefore I've set up a new partition 18Gb and this produced a new partition in /dev/sda2 extended.
I'll delete this two new partitions and resize /dev/sda1 to 18Gb.

All my data is there and ubuntu works fine and for today I've seen enough of my partitions.

with regards
Ronnie

P.S.: This wouldn't have worked without your help.

Hi :)

Ok, when you get the grub error it is because the MBR needs to be 'fixed' again because it is pointing at the wrong partition. This guide should help

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

You really don't need to keep re-installing Ubuntu whenever something goes wrong as you can work from the LiveCd to solve the problem a lot more easily. By reinstalling you just add new problems again and again. I guess that "sudo fdisk -l" or GPartEd will show that you have 2 swap partitions again? lol. Remember it's only the swap partition at the end of the drive that we need to keep, the other swap is just getting in the way.

Anyway, time to sleep so see you tomorrow
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi

You're right with the second swap and I deleted it straight away.
Yes I agree with the live CD it should be possible to solve a problem without reinstalling.
That might sound stupid but how you do this? I was thinking and looking for an alternative as I realised that this can't be the best solution but it worked for me.

I'll use the live CD tomorrow and have a look where I missed something as I've to resize /dev/sda1 (marked with a key) because it's the one I'm booting from and in GParted I can't access resize.
I might need a second computer so that I can use one as a sandpit it would be much easier.

You're right it's time to finish for today as there comes a new day.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

A new day brings a better mood :) I have realised 1 improvement that would stop you from needing to keep reaching for reinstalling whenever we do something.

Basically this guide should help
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

I think the problem has been that when you reinstall Ubuntu you change or "fix" the MBR to point at your new install. We really need the MBR to be re-"fixed" to point back at the main install on sda1. One problem with the word "fix" is that it's most common meaning is to fix something that is broken however there is another meaning. Often in gambling people are accused of trying to "fix" the result so that they win. This is what is happening with the MBR. It doesn't get broken it just gets "fixed" to give a result that we may not want. Usually this is not a problem when linux does the "fixing" because linux automatically looks for other OSs installed on the system in order to offer you a choice at boot-up. Windows offers no choice, of course, and seems to resent any other OSs and tries to hide them so that people are forced into using Windows.

The problem is that in our case we want to delete the partition that the MBR is pointing to even though its a linux partition. This means that grub is "broken" because the part that is in the MBR can't find the part that is on the partition we delete.

So we really need to get the MBR to look at the right partition, sda1.

Then after that we can worry about resizing partitions using the LiveCd's Gparted.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

Yes you a right that's exactly what happened, after deleting the second swap and the partition for the new ubuntu installation. This morning i had to use the live CD again as a Grub error was shown.
I now got some praxis with GParted and partitions.

At this moment I'm using the live CD to access Grub by using the terminal and the commands from this link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub
sudo: grub: command not found

I opened the manual and tried:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
root@ubuntu:~# sudo grub
sudo: grub: command not found
root@ubuntu:~# grub
The program 'grub' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
apt-get install grub
grub: command not found
root@ubuntu:~# apt-get install grub

I installed apt-get install grub

      [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
         the first word, TAB lists possible command
         completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
         completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

I think that's enough for this weekend as this is another area where I do not have any idea and tomorrow I've to work but if you can guide me through this problem I'm happy to go ahead.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It sounds like the install is using Grub2 rather than the original grub. I have posted this question about it
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+question/106427

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, i have found 2 guides and hopefully one of these should show how to fix the MBR for grub2

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Good luck and regards from
Tom :

Hi :)

Ok, this looks like the easiest route to ensure the MBR gets fixed and points to something that works

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD

This should help you (re)install Grub2 to sda1
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

According to the guide we only need to go from step 4. So using a LiveCd session please get to a normal command-line (not a grub one yet)

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

Reboot the machine i'm not sure but that should get you into the install on sda1. The next step is obviously for a normal command-line again.

sudo update-grub

If one of the steps above doen't work then this guide might be more precise about the right command to use at that step instead
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2#Installing%20(Ubuntu%209.10)

Alternatively if you have another machine that you can use then it might be good to download a tiny distro (not Ubuntu) to install to a tiny new partition on your hard-drive. As pointed out earlier an install of linux will create a boot-up menu that lists other OSs, including the Ubuntu that it finds already installed on sda1. My preference for this would be Wolvix Hunter 1.1.0 or perhaps Wolvix Cub 1.1.0. The Hunter version has some other interesting functionality so you may find yourself choosing to boot into Wolvix Hunter in the future isntead of Ubuntu but the choice will be offered at boot-up
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix
It really doesn't matter which tiny distro you use for this, many people prefer Puppy or any of the hundreds of choices out there. DistroWatch is an excellent site for staying up-to-date on the greatest range of distros available in the world today. Wolvix Hunter should install to a partition of only 2-5Gb. I would try a test install first just to check how well this works if you decide to go this route.

Please let me know how this goes and which route you choose.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

Good news:

This command worked:
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

restarted but when booting this message came up

* starting webserver appach2
* checking battery state...
  ...done
swap: waiting for UUID=f669...

I turned the machine off and booted again and here we go

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 9.10 (9.10) on /dev/sda5
Found Ubuntu 9.10 (9.10) on /dev/sda7
done

and the best is the machine is booting straight through your a star.

with regards
Ronnie

WooooHoooo :))

That's the first time i have understood grub2 at all. Next time you boot up it probably wont even need to re-find all those partitions because it should remember where they are i think ;) I am really glad you were able to do this by installing grub2 rather than having to install another distro!!

Ok, so now it should be easy to find any of your own files/data on the little 5.02Gb sda7 through the "Places" menu.

Once there's nothing in there that you want then just delete sda7, probably using a LiveCd but it should be ok to use the installed Ubuntu's Gparted for that. Hopefully you will be able to "umount" all the partitions that are inside sda2, then "umount" sda2 and resize it so that it starts at the start of sda5.

When sda2 has some unallocated space in front of it then you should be able to resize sda1 but only with the LiveCd. This should make sda1 about 15Gb? 15Gb should be plenty for a while since you have been coping well with 10Gb! :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

hey Tom

I'm as happy as you this is really good but i was scared like hell when i got the swap message when rebooting.
(something i should put in very small letters: I'm not sure if i understood everything)

it's a pleasure to work with you! (and I mean that)
                                                    --------------------

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Yes, it's been fun working with you too :) I was edgy when i read as far as the swap thing too lol. Still a bit more to do to get things totally sorted but at least the groundwork is fully in place now :)

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

just to update there where smaller issues after changing to Grub2 when booting, rebooting and switching users.

1.)
When booting I still got this message in the Grub screen
* starting webserver appach2
* checking battery state...
  ...done
swap: waiting for UUID=f669...

turned machine off and booted again passt Grub screen but before opening ubuntu this message came up

One or more of the mounts listed in /etc/ffstab cannot yet be mounted
swap: waiting for UUID=f669...
press ESC to enter a recovery shell

The problem seems to be solved.

2.)
When selecting "Switch User" the "log out" screen opened and I had to shut down and boot again to access another user this problem solved it self somehow.

3.)
I deleted /dev/sda7 + the swap and resized /dev/sda5 to the full size of the /dev/sda2 now rebooting works fine.

I would say this entire Grub problem might be really solved.

I'm glad that it worked out so well as installing a distro would have taken more time.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Could you give the new output of "sudo fdisk -l"? Did you delete and replace the swap partition at the end of the drive again? Does sda5 still having a warning triangle beside it in gparted?

Does the swap partition have a key symbol beside it in gparted? If not then try right click and choose "Swap On". It sounds as though this has already been done automatically tho.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

This is are the partition now shown in the terminal:

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1985 15791895 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1986 9314 58870192+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1986 8994 56299761 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 8995 9314 2570368+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

there is no longer a warning triangle.
I didn't replace the swap partition at the end of the drive it's still the old one and there wasn't any key symbol at the swap partition. I just selected swap on and /dev/sda2 and swap have now the key symbol.

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1985 15791895 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1986 9314 58870192+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1986 8994 56299761 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 8995 9314 2570368+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, so the boot-up swap issue should be fixed now. It should wait to find uuid .... anymore.

I have been dealing with a lot of drives lately so i forget the concerns that we still have to look at with this one.

1. Since the warning triangle has vanished from sda5 have you been able to access data on the "57.6 GB Media" through the "Places" menu?

2. The drive has only 77 Gb used & all the partitions appear to be at the beginning of the drive. Is that roughly what GPartEd is showing too?

3. Does GPartEd show large unallocated spaces?
4. Were the unallocated spaces used by Windows?
5. Did you need to try to recover data fom Windows partitions that have vanished?

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

 1. Yes I can access /dev/sda5 from Places

 2. Yes that's right all the partitions are at the beginning of the drive + GParted shows this.

 3. only unallocated spaces at front 194.04MiB + at end 3.18GiB

 4. I'm not sure if unallocated space was used by Windows

 5. possible that I really lost anything of my vista how could I check that?
     I haven't lost any data that was all backed up. I would like to have windows too but on the other
     hand I do not miss it.

GParted looks really good.

with regards
Ronnie

hi :)

So this is only an 80Gb hard-drive? I think it's now going to be impossible to recover data from the Windows that used to be on this machine.

I tried looking back to a time before sda1 became a linux partition but that seemed to happen very early on and there have been a lot of read/writes to it since then.

Also for the same reason i think the only way to get Windows back on this machine now is to re-install Windows. Definitely not something i could recommend doing. A Windows re-install is not something i would inflict on anyone, not even my worst enemy

I am sorry to hear bout your loss there. For some reason i thought we were playing around with the last 80 Gb on a 320Gb drive or something. Sorry chap
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

When you use the "Places" menu to have a look at the "57.9 GB Media" is there only a few folders in there? Is one of those folders the user-name you chose at some point?

I think that making sda5 your /home partition would help quite a lot, especially in about 3 weeks time when you want to upgrade to 10.04. To start with it would be good to find out if it already has the same username as your current install. Again lets try to take small steps as that seems to work best

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

My Windows isn't a big loss as ubuntu works fine and I don't have any intention to reinstall Windows.

When opening the 58Gb partition In the Home folder I have a folder which I named but never used it's really empty. All my data I keep on my machine is in the sda1 and backed up. I can make sda5 my home partition or I use sda1 it holds more data then sda5.

Thanks for being patient with me.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Ronnie

It seems that you have been quite patient with me too so thanks for that too :)

Ok, if there is really no data on sda5 & you also don't want Windows on this machine then we can do something quite brutal for this particular drive. Also uniquely we can do this from within a normal boot into the Ubuntu you have installed on sda1 so it can be done at the same time as getting on with your normal stuff :)

1. During this step you wont be able to use hibernate or sleep mode but it should be a fairly quick step. You can delete sda6, then sda5, then sda2. You will have to "Swap Off" or "umount" the partitions before deleting them. Then immediately after sda1 create a new Primary Partition of 4Gb as "linux swap". This will probably be called sda2. Do "Swap On" soon after creating this swap. Note that between the time you do "Swap Off" on sda6 & "Swap On" with the new sda2 the hibernate/sleep mode will NOT work. With the new swap so near to the front of the drive it will be almost twice as fast as it was at the end of the drive. Although you might not notice the difference the machine will thank you for it. Ok, so now the partitions should be like this

sda1 * key symbol, Primary Partition, 16.2Gb still, Linux (ie, no change)
sda2 key symbol, Primary Partition, 4Gb, Swap

Once the key symbol is there for the swap then hibernate/sleep should be fine to use again if you need to.

2. After the new swap, create a new Primary Partition of approximately 10Gb. This is going to be for Ubuntu 10.04's / partition when you are ready to try that. Eventually sda1 or sda3 are going to be excellent "sandboxed" areas to explore linux without risking your main install. Since 10.04 is due to be released soon the 1st job of the sandboxed area will probably be to test the 10.04 on your system before you commit to using it. Again this is near the front of the drive where read/writes are faster.

While read/writes to the / are frequent & often unpredictable the read/writes to data partitions is often queued up (cached) in ram & swap. So ideally data partitions should be near the end of hard-drives while swap & / partitions should be nearer the start.

Also note that having / & swap partitions as Primary Partitions rather than tucked away inside Extended Partitions can make the system much more reliable and robust. Again, it doesn't matter so much with data partitions. Since each hard-drive can only have a maximum of 4 Primary Partitions it is fairly important to make the 4th partition an Extended Partition just to make sure you keep your system flexible.

3. So the final partition to make is a "Logical Partition" with file-system set to "ext3" or "ext4" & make the partition large enough to fill all the remaining space at the end of the drive. Since Logical Partitions only exist inside Extended Partitions GParted cleverly makes both the Extended Partition & the Logical one in 1 step. If it is unhappy about doing that then you might need to make the Extended Partition first before making the Logical one inside it. This partition will eventually be the /home partition that sda1 & sda3 share. The /home partition will be your data partition of course.

4. Please send us the output of "sudo fdisk -l". The next step will be to copy the /home from sda1 to the data partition but that's a task for the next session as it may take a while. Some of the files are system-files while other files have odd permissions that need to be kept as they are. So it is not as straight-forward a task as it sounds. The trick with that stage will be to make sure that you effectively have backed up the same data onto 2 partitions on the same drive so that if anything goes wrong with subsequent steps then there is less to worry about :) Since the copying is part of a series of steps that would ideally be done in the same session it is a good plan to take a good break after doing all the preparation of the partitions

Sorry if this looks like taking a step backwards or seems like we may have wasted time & effort earlier. It has all been valuable for getting used to using the tools & building up practical experience that will be useful later on for keeping data safe. The whole concept about partitions is something that almost always confuses people that are new to linux, especially if they have messed around with such things in Windows. Once you do understand then you will realise some of the extraordinary power & flexibility of linux. My guess is that your first grok moment will happen after you have been using a separate /home partition for a little while. Until then it's all theoretical & esoteric.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

here my partition as shown in the terminal:

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1985 15791895 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1986 2514 4249192+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 2515 4255 13984582+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 4256 9302 40540027+ 83 Linux

sda3 is ext2 and sda4 is ext4
i left 3.27Gb as unallocated space on the end I hope that's alright.
After this change I tried to reboot but I still had to play with the Grub until booting it took me about 8 attempts before booting(this really scared me). Hopefully this was a one off after changing the partition but good to see how reliable Linux/Ubuntu is.

I'm not working this weekend so there is some time.
The time isn't wasted at all!
I see this as good praxis where I can ask when something goes wrong.
Now I'm able to resize, move and create new partitions that's a improvement.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, so sda2 has a key-symbol beside it in gparted now? That should help. Gparted is also showing sda1 is mounted as / but there's no /home partition at the moment?

I was hoping that sad4 would be an Extended Partition. If you can delete it and make an Extended Partition instead then that would be great. I think you can resize sda4 to fill the entire end of the drive now. There's no need for the space at the end now that sda2 is all good :)

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

sorry my error i should have known better.

That might look better now

  Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1985 15791895 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1986 2514 4249192+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 2515 4255 13984582+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 4256 9729 43969905 5 Extended

with regards
Ronnie

sorry Tom

it shows still unallocated space within the extended partition i just fix that

Ronnie

Hi Tom

here the partition shown in the terminal

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 20 1985 15791895 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1986 2514 4249192+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 2515 4255 13984582+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 4256 9729 43969905 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 4256 9729 43969873+ 83 Linux

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, errr sorry my connection seems to have plummeted. I guess the nest thing is to back-up the fstab in case anything goes wrong later. So on a command-line try

cd /etc
sudo cp fstab fstab.090410

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

1. cd/etc
2.sudo cp fstab fstab.090410

answer is: /etc$

i need another command or more information

with regards
Ronnie

Hi again :)

Ok, after you have created a copy of the fstab system-file and given it a date-stamp (ie called the back-up "fstab.090410") then this guide should help you copy the files from /home to the sda5 partition
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving

I think the first step is to get to a command-line and type

sudo blkid

This will give you the uuid reference number that is unique to your sda5. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and create a text-file to copy & paste the uuid number into. You are not going to need this text-file for long. Next edit the fstab by typing in

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

and add in these 2 lines

UUID=???????? /media/home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda5 ext4

Remember to copy&paste the uuid number to replace the question marks and make sure the ext version number is the same as whatever you used for sda5. Please save the fstab & copy&paste the entire contents of the fstab into here. Ok, now close the gedit text-editor and get back to a command-line to create the /media/home folder, re-mount everything from the fstab, and copy the contents of your /home folder using the rsync command

sudo mkdir /media/home

sudo mount -a

sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.

Ok, hopefully everything has appeared to work fine so far? Sorry to have kept you badly informed about what is going on. I am working through the guide i linked to near the beginning of this post. The linux file-system links seamlessly to other partitions & even drives through the /dev & the /media folders. So really the contents of /media is other partitions such as sda5 & sda3. The swap and the Extended Partition are not really something you can access directly and put files onto so they are not in the /media folder.

Please let me know how this has gone so far? Can you use the "Places" menu to have a quick look to confirm that you have copied the contents of /home to sda5?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i'll continue in the morning i'm not sure that my backup is correct.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi again :)

Ok, continuing with the guide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving

We had reached the section 1.3 in my last posting
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving#Copy%20/home%20to%20the%20New%20Partition

So continuing from there looks a lot more straight-forwards :)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi, before you logoff please copy the backup fstab back over the one you have modified!

Hi :)

Did you modify the fstab at all? If so then we need it to be modified back to the way it was before. Perhaps the easiest way would be to get to a command-line and do

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

& then just delete out the 2 lines we just added? If you already have logged off for the night then you wont be able to boot-up in the morning. In which case just boot-up a LiveCd and navigate to the fstab on the right partition to edit it (probably through the /media folder). Or edit each one in turn until one of them lets you do that.

Once you have edited the fstab back to the way it was then you should be able to boot into Ubuntu as 'normal'

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i mixed up my backup. What is the: fstab system-file and given it a date-stamp (ie called the back-up "fstab.090410") or where do i find it?

Sorry, i'm far behind the basics.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It is ok, don't worry. Did you edit fstab using the command

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

If you did then re-edit it so that it is the same as it was before you edited it. If you didn't get as far as editing the fstab then there is no need to change anything

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

i got th UUID for sda5

# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=fb690c1f.... none swap sw 0 0

i do not have any ???????

this is what i get after using: gksu gedit /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=cf9c3b34-24fe-4e90-97aa-baf981d23e7f / ext4
errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864 none swap
sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

sorry for the trouble.

Hi :)

That all looks fine. Sorry to keep you waiting again. That should bootup just as normal tomorrow :)
Good night and sleeep well chap
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

sorry for yesterday but I couldn't focus any longer as it was a 20h day.
The machine booted fine.

I believe this is what you expected yesterday.

sudo blkid

/dev/sda1: UUID="cf9c3b34-24fe-4e90-97aa-baf981d23e7f" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: UUID="e7dd081e-633f-4b41-b9d0-2d59710de9eb" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda3: UUID="e441d2ff-495b-4da9-aeaf-0a8334b1d978" TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sda5: UUID="2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a" TYPE="ext4"

gksu gedit /etc/fstab :

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=cf9c3b34-24fe-4e90-97aa-baf981d23e7f / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

I don't have any ????? or do i put the UUID after /dev/scd0 in the last line?

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

It is a bit late in the evening here to start on something new but the outputs you provided were exactly what i was looking for. I have never played around with the fstab before and it is a crucial system-file so i definitely recommend creating a copy of it before changing anything in it. Having looked at my own i can see where some of my booting troubles might arise from! Ok, so to back-up the fstab try

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.100410

Wow!! I have just noticed that a bit of extra functionality has appeared recently! I wrote a bug-report requesting this ages ago! Can you go up to the "Places" menu and open any folder and then use the up button to get to the root folder / ? Then right-click on the "etc" folder and go down to "Open as Administrator" then scroll down through the /etc folder until you see the fstab file and the various back-ups? It even allowed me to create a back-up of the fstab without having to touch the command-line at all!! :)) Superb.

Ok, lets try to sort out your swap boot-up problem. When you open your fstab notice the 2 lines that say

# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=fb690c1f-dc72-4ef1-b633-95dd7143d864 none swap sw 0 0

Please can you change those to

# swap on /dev/sda2
UUID=e7dd081e-633f-4b41-b9d0-2d59710de9eb none swap sw 0 0

As almost always changing a line that starts with a # should make no difference at all. We say that lines starting with a # are "commented out" because the Operating System recognises those lines as being stuff to ignore as it's just notes for humans to read. So the important change is correcting the uuid reference to sda2. Now you should be able to reboot the machine without the usual error message & delay as it searches for your swap partition.

If there is a problem with rebooting then boot into a LiveCd session and revert the fstab to it's previous state, either by editing the fstab again or by replacing it with the back-up you made "fstab.100410"

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

you're right it's late again and i got interrupted so i'll do the swap on /dev/sda2 tomorrow.

But i checked already the etc folder but when entering
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.100410 > password > ~#
there is no answer in the terminal.

When going to folder > etc > right click > open(there is no "Open as Administrator") > here i find: fstab, fstab.090410 ,fstab.100410 i'll do a normal copy of all three files in the morning.
The copying of the three fstab files will work when i'm not an administrator?

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Ok, sleep well :)

Only the fstab needs copying to back it up. The two called
fstab.090410 &
fstab.100410
are already backups of the fstab and should look familiar as they are the ones you made using the command-line.

When sudo asks for your password it quietly accepts what you type but doesn't show any stars. This makes it very much more secure as even finding the length of your password is then a challenge.

The "Open as administrator" option is hidden right down at the bottom of the right-click menu on my machine, only about 3 or 4 places above "Properties". It is possibly due to something i installed but i have no idea what! If you don't have the option then we can continue to work from the command-line so don't worry.

Good night chap,
Regards from
Tom :)

Good Morning Tom

I used "send to" for copying the fstab file as "drag&drop" and "Copy" didn't work.
I changed to "# swap on /dev/sda2" and it worked after restarting straight through

Fantastic!!! What a nice start for this sunny sunday.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :))

Brilliant :) I take it you changed the 2nd line, changing the uuid number so the machine reads the right partition for the swap?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, the next stage is to set things up for copying the /home to sda5 so can you add these 2 lines into the fstab?

# Entry for /dev/sda5 ext4
UUID=2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a /media/home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2

I couldn't get the whole of the 2nd line on one line & the nodev,nosuid 0 2 stuff all ended up on a 3rd line but in the fstab it needs to follow on.

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

after adding it looks like this:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=cf9c3b34-24fe-4e90-97aa-baf981d23e7f / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=e7dd081e-633f-4b41-b9d0-2d59710de9eb none swap
sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 ext4
UUID=2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a /media/home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2

i didn't enter yet(still a bit unsure) but i think this is what you want me to do.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Yes, that looks exactly right. Don't reboot the machine between now and after we have finished copying the /home data over to sda5 tho! It shouldn't take long as it is exactly the sort of thing that linux is especially fast at compared to Windows

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

that's saved then how do i continue?

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Now the instructions at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving#preview
say

sudo mkdir /media/home

sudo mount -a

sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.

although i am not conviced about the final . after /media/home so if it doesn't work with the . then try again without it.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo mkdir /media/home
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/home': File exists
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo mount -a
mount: mount point 0 does not exist
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo mkdir
mkdir: missing operand
Try `mkdir --help' for more information.
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo mkdir /media
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media': File exists
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo mkdir
mkdir: missing operand
Try `mkdir --help' for more information.

This doesn't look to good

with regards
Ronnie

HI :)

It is ok that the 1st command didn't work. It is saying that it has already done the
sudo mkdir /media/home
bit for you so that is ok.

Can you have a look in the /media folder to see if it is already "mounted" too? From the "Places" menu you would have to go up a few levels until you saw the /media folder and then double-click on that. It's easier to describe the command-line route

cd /media
dir

I prefer using "ls" but "dir" is very much the same and is easier to describe as people are sometimes used to it from Windows. Also people sometimes get confused with "ls" & try all sorts of strange things until they realise it is a lower-case "LS" (=LiSt). Ok, so what i am hoping for is to see something in the /media folder that looks like "home"

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Excellent, the bit that went like this

lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.
lazybug@laptop1:~$ sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/.
lazybug@laptop1:~$

looked excellent. Was it fast? The rsync command was the part that tries to copy the entire /home. You might have a pop-up box that has appeared and is called "File Operations". If so then just let it keep going.

If the /media folder does contain a "home" folder then this should now contain an exact copy of your normal /home folder. Can you let me know if it is empty still or if it does have a couple of folders in there?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

in my file system i've media folder and in here is a home folder and in the home folder i've 5 folders

1. is freevo
2. user1
3. user2
4. user3
5. lost+found

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :))

Superb, that all worked then :))

But this is where i think things get a bit confused. So to avoid that please can you look in the "Places" menu and open the "57.6 GB Media" to check that those user folders are all in there?

Please let me know. I have to pop out for about an hour or maybe only 30mins so don't worry if i don't answer straight away
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

PS in the guide you have reached this point
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partitioning/Home/Moving#Make%20the%20Switch

Hi

there was no pop up box "File Operations" but user 1-3 have folders

with regards ronnie

HI ?

Just to check. The partition sda5 contains the folders

1. is freevo
2. user1
3. user2
4. user3
5. lost+found

?

If so then you should be able to reboot even with the modified fstab as it is. Please try rebooting but if it doesn't work then there is always the LiveCd?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

now i realize after entering "sudo rsync -axS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /media/home/."
it took about 10 min until i saw lazybug@laptop1:~$ again and i was wondering if there went anything wrong or i needed another command. Yes if this was it then it was very fast.

After adding

# Entry for /dev/sda5 ext4
UUID=2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a /media/home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2

to the fstab i think that sda5 contains the folders.
But it's still not so easy to follow/understand every step i made with your guidance as everything worked quiet fast but the picture about partitions, Grubs and working with the terminal became clearer. So now i'll do the restart keep the fingers crossed.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi ?

I have just realised that it might not work!!

The fstab line does need to be re-edited!! Please change it to

UUID=2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a /home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2

preferably before rebooting!
Sorry chap
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

"all blame on you" if it wouldn't have worked.

Not everything goes wrong and this booting was as smooth as i haven't seen it for a while.
I've now the icon for the 45GB filesystem on my desktop.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

Lol, it did go wrong. Not as bad as i feared clearly. Fstab is mounting the 45Gb partition as /media/home but we want fstab to mount it as /home. So simply edit the fstab again to make the sda5 line into this

UUID=2274e696-1e68-452b-8420-e148ddd0e35a /home ext4 nodev,nosuid 0 2

Before you reboot this time open your Documents folder and look at the status bar at the bottom of the file-browser to see how much empty space you have available at the moment. After reboot have another look to see the difference.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom

changed it and now i'll restart and hopefully it works.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi Tom

it worked and i can see what you mean if this is the only error i would say this was nothing. You have done a great job.

with regards
Ronnie

Hi :)

So now when you look in GPartEd sda5 should have the "Mount Point" = /home

The tricky part now would be to delete the /home that is in sda1 without hurting the one in sda5. I think the way to do that is to use the LiveCd's "Places" menu to open the "16.2 GB Media" and delete the /home from there but take care with this step. I guess if it does go wrong there's always the rsync command to copy all the data back. Once that is done then sda1 can be re-sized a LOT smaller. Some people say it only needs to be about 5GB although i would give it a bit more space, say 8Gb, just in case an install goes funny sometime later.

Anyway it's not urgent and it's time to relax and enjoy the day :))

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)