2 Distros on same PC? Did Mageia overwrite the first?

[timesup]

Hello, Need some help please.

I am Linux newbie, first of all.

I installed Fedora 16, no problem, then just installed Mageia 1 (used live CD, installed it from within that), and now the booter is Mageia and no Fedora is in sight.

My Windows install is still reachable from the boot menu, so that's cool.

The Mageia install wasn't very clear, I thought I had chosen a partition I had set aside for a 2nd Linux distro and thought i had selected it, but it was not clear, and it used what it called /sda5 but again I am too new to this to know for sure, and no idea if there is an easy fix to get the Fedora 16 back or not, to dual boot distros.

The partition I wanted to use for Mageia, is now listed as RAW within Windows 7 computer management, if that means anything.

On the + side this is totally a test PC/hard drive, so no real damage, I set this up to learn.

Is it pretty standard with distros to not play nice? and I should just keep at installing them until I just find one that suits me?

I've made at least 3 other distro discs as well, awaiting test.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

If it's a matter of monkeying with a file within Mageia, please give me specifics to even getting to editing it, I am totally unfamiliar with this.

TIA!

[doktor5000]

From your description, it sounds like Mageia has only overwritten the Fedora bootloader, because the default is to install it to the MBR, where probably the Fedora bootloader resided. Side-notes: It is possible to change that at the and of the installation at the summary page, but that is quite un-obvious, and should be better communicated to the user. Earlier in Mandriva times the installer explicitly asked if you want the bootloader to be installed into the MBR or in the root partition. Could you please open a terminal, and as root show the output of fdisk -l /dev/sda (or whatever the disk is which should contain your Fedora installation).

[timesup]

Hi, thanks for replying, I have since wasted all my partitions and started over.

Fortunately entire HD is a test one, so I cleared house this last time, decided just to do one distro at a time and went
with /, swap, /home partitions, per the install.

Mageia was superb for redoing the partitions, after PC-BSD 9 install attempt, fails at 99%! undoing the tar within the DVD I guess, tried it twice.
These Linux distro DVDs seem to be very flakey, that's 2 that didn't work for me.

Another not so obvious to a newbie part was getting the software repo working, I am annoyed that it said I had updates even though they are useless to me.
I installed them all anyway, put an end to that.

Now to figure out if there are any additional repositories to add, just now booted for first time after the updates.

Cheers!

[timesup]

Dumping Mageia 1, have to reject it, almost everything is getting rejected due to a conflict, even simple games and no easy fix conflict offered or really explained on what to do and the listings of available items was tiny, compared to Fedora and Mint.

I hope v2 has this issue licked, but I am dodging beta builds, for now.

Hopefully my /home stays put on another install, so I was told on IRC last night.

Cheers!

[doktor5000]

Actually you should use separate threads for separate issues. You seem to have added some faulty software repos,
nothing should be rejected, there are no conflicts for Mageia 1. Also the list of packages is quite good, but without you giving
definitive information we can't help you with that.

[linuxero]

...
The partition I wanted to use for Mageia, is now listed as RAW within Windows 7 computer management, if that means anything.

@doktor5000 I think he totally overwrote Fedora's dwelling

[doktor5000]

...
The partition I wanted to use for Mageia, is now listed as RAW within Windows 7 computer management, if that means anything.

@doktor5000 I think he totally overwrote Fedora's dwelling

Well, no, as Windows doesn't know linux file systems, it would show it as raw.

That's why i've asked for the fdisk -l output.

[linuxero]

Well, no, as Windows doesn't know linux file systems, it would show it as raw.

That's why i've asked for the fdisk -l output.

You just made me boot into Windows to check it out!! 0_0

The bottom line is: on my machine windows xp only shows unallocated space..other partictions; linux, minix, haiku...etc, it says a partition, namely correcto!

So; I'll take your word into consideration and try it on other versions of Windows. It might also be the translation>

On my machine it says;
No asignado: I suppose it's raw.
Correcto (partición deconocida): when it is a partition.

Correct me if I got it wrong..

[doktor5000]

From what i remember, you'll see RAW as partition type if the partition table is either damaged or contains entries which are not recognized by Windows.
But i'll boot into Windows 7 to recheck. No asignado or Not assigned means unassigned or unpartitioned space, that means no partition recognized there, only empty space.
For normal windows partitions (NTFS, FAT or exFAT or others) it'll show online which could translate to Correcto.

[linuxero]

It shows correcto on all my partitions of whatever type, not only FAT/NTFS!! When it doesn't recognise the file system, however, it adds (partición deconocida)

[doktor5000]

OK, for windows 7 it shows "error free" and the type of the partition (primary in this case) but it won't show the filesystem type or drive letter for linux partitions. For windows partitions, it will show "error free", the tpye of the partition, the drive letter and maybe a label.
So it should only show RAW if the partition table or that partition is damaged somehow, that's why we'd need either the output of fdisk -l,
or the OP to use something like testdisk to recover that partition or the partition table.

[linuxero]

Wouldn't mount give a better assurance in this case?

I mean try to mount the partition and ls it..

[doktor5000]

Why mount it when you can access the necessary information via fdisk or testdisk? Also IMHO and judging from data recovery experience, you shouldn't try to mount something of which you don't know the condition, if it's healthy or not. At least mount it readonly, if you really want to go this way.

[linuxero]

Of course mounting RO. But what I meant was that fdisk will always and only tell us whether or not a partition exists and what type is it supposed to be, right?

Just consider the following:

Code: Select all

# fdisk -l

Disco /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, 156301488 sectores en total
Units = sectores of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Identificador del disco: 0x02930292

Disposit. Inicio    Comienzo      Fin      Bloques  Id  Sistema
/dev/sdb1              63    78043769    39021853+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2   *    78043770   156296384    39126307+   7  HPFS/NTFS


How would I know whether or not sdb1 is formatted and has data? This is not du nor df

So in this thread if I want to know whether Fedora's partition is overwritten or not, I have to check it, Obviously the disk is partitioned and presumably the right partitions exist, but are they formatted with the right file system? Do they have data? What data are there?


How can you tell by merely reading the result of fdisk? I am no fdisk guru and far from being a data recovery one, but I wouldn't personally guess it by the mere help of fdisk!

[timesup]

Thanks, that was interesting food for thought.

I wound up trying more and stuck with just dedicating the whole HD to Mint 12 64-bit, after a few disasters at least for me, like having Ubuntu latest, NOT able to give me basic goodies, and gave up after trying for a couple hours, and recalling never this messy with Mint.

Good learning experience.

[doktor5000]

@linuxero: testdisk can list the files/directories in a partition without mounting it ...
Also if you imply something important, don't take it for granted but spell it out explicitly if you're talking to somebody else.
A novice doesn't know that he should mount something readonly, or not, and in which case.

[linuxero]

@linuxero: testdisk can list the files/directories in a partition without mounting it ...
Also if you imply something important, don't take it for granted but spell it out explicitly if you're talking to somebody else.
A novice doesn't know that he should mount something readonly, or not, and in which case.

I know nothing about test disk!

The rest of your comment is kind of harsh, I should say..I, myself, am a beginner so sometimes it slips my mind saying something..

Do you, by any chance, take things personally so quickly? If so well don't!

Besides; if you are giving someone an advice, putting it nicely should make it more acceptable..also remember that I am not as experienced as you..I am just trying to learn here with all of you..

To "Spell it out" bluntly, I am very sensitive..sometimes your comments make me think if I wanna share something here or even look for help..

Thanks anyways.

[doktor5000]

Please take a look at my signature, especially the last sentence with the disclaimer. And no, i don't take things personally.
And in general i try to put things in a factual manner, which may be viewed as being unfriendly, but that is just an interpretation problem and not intented.

My point is that data recovery is a rather sensitive topic, and as a beginner just telling some other novice essentially "just mount that partition and copy your files over" is no good practice, that was my whole point. It may be the tipping point for a whole lot of damaged data. So i just thought it would be a good idea to give some more information on this topic.

It was not my intent to hurt you, or stop you from contributing here. Please continue with that, and with sharing information. Isn't that the whole point of forums?

[linuxero]

Thankls for the clarification..I'll try to be more precise if I think I could help.