Ubuntu Installation Meltdown


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Thread: Ubuntu Installation Meltdown

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
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    Ubuntu Installation Meltdown

    I tried to install Ubuntu to my external hard drive, and in so doing chose the dual-boot option.

    If I boot up in Ubuntu, it tries to install itself (again??????). First I go through the time zone stuff, and then on the next step, a dialogue box says “Partman failed with Exit Code 10. Further information may be found in /var/log/syslog”. If I then choose ‘Quit’, the Ubuntu Desktop screen comes up. If I look at “My Computer” it shows a partition of 3.1 GIG labelled “media”. If I try to look at the other partition (that is labelled with the drive’s default name ‘Free Agent’), I get the error message “Cannot mount the volume”.

    My native O/S is Windows XP Home - that is on my PC's internal drive. If I try to look at my external HDD through Windows, it tells me that I now have two drives (i.e. - it has been partitioned by Ubuntu), but it (Windows) can't see the larger partition, and invites me to format it.

    I CANNOT (will not) format my external HDD – it contains all my data (word docs etc).

    Where do I want to get to? I want to undo everything that I have done, without reformatting the external HDD.

    Please please come to my rescue.

  2. #2
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    So how many partitions were originally on this external drive? How many partitions are on it now? Did ubuntu shrink a windows partition and make space for itself on the external?
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by kellow
    I tried to install Ubuntu to my external hard drive, and in so doing chose the dual-boot option.

    If I boot up in Ubuntu, it tries to install itself (again??????). First I go through the time zone stuff, and then on the next step, a dialogue box says “Partman failed with Exit Code 10. Further information may be found in /var/log/syslog”. If I then choose ‘Quit’, the Ubuntu Desktop screen comes up. If I look at “My Computer” it shows a partition of 3.1 GIG labelled “media”. If I try to look at the other partition (that is labelled with the drive’s default name ‘Free Agent’), I get the error message “Cannot mount the volume”.

    My native O/S is Windows XP Home - that is on my PC's internal drive. If I try to look at my external HDD through Windows, it tells me that I now have two drives (i.e. - it has been partitioned by Ubuntu), but it (Windows) can't see the larger partition, and invites me to format it.

    I CANNOT (will not) format my external HDD – it contains all my data (word docs etc).

    Where do I want to get to? I want to undo everything that I have done, without reformatting the external HDD.

    Please please come to my rescue.
    how big is your external HD? if you created a Linux partition in some free space you may be able to recover your data if it is on it's own partition
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  4. #4
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    Hi. Thank you very very much for replying.

    The external HD is 160 gig. It is about 90% free. It was not partitioned prior to my botched Ubuntu install. Windows is now telling me that it has one partition.

    What's my next move?

  5. #5
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    I think your next move is to find and boot a livecd (something like knoppix) and then see if you can mount the partition of your external drive and make a backup of all your files.
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  6. #6
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    I could be mistaken but I believe that the ubuntu CD is a live cd. if so that should do the trick
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by bosox79
    I could be mistaken but I believe that the ubuntu CD is a live cd. if so that should do the trick
    From the sounds of it, it is. While there is a special 'alternate' version of the installation CD which features a text-only installer, the normal CD is a complete LiveCD environment which should automount your partitions and allow you to retrieve and backup your data.

    And yes, formatting your hard disk is usually the best way to get rid of partition-related problems. Sometimes it's just a bad sector or two which needs to get erased.

  8. #8
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    Apr 2008
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    Lol, same thing happened to me, I installed ubuntu, on another partition and somehow it messed up my vista partiton sadly.

    So I just had to delete everything and start over.

    so start thinking about deleting everything, cause chances are that you will.

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