[SOLVED] After fixing drive partition numbers, got error

[inp3dance]

Hi,

After fixing drive partition numbers, I got the following error from cfdisk:

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 FATAL ERROR: Bad logical partition 6: enlarged logical partitions overlap
                                                                 Press any key to exit cfdisk


However, I can see all my partitions with fdisk and gparted, I can mount and use all of them.
I used the following guide to fix the drive numbers order:
http://www.linkedbits.com/2011/05/26/reorder-partition-drive-numbers-in-linux/
Does somebody know whet is cfdisks problem and how can I fix it?

Thank you!

[Ken-Bergen]

Please start at the beginning.

What was the original problem you were trying to solve or was this just something you tried just because you read about it?

[inp3dance]

I needed to make room for a Windows, so I moved and splitted my partitions a bit and I ended that the partition number's order was messed up: first extd was sda7, then sda8, sda6, sda5 and sda9 - I think.
Also, the output of fdisk -l:

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Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002793a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    16771071     8384512   83  Linux
/dev/sda2   *    16771072    33687551     8458240    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3        33688366   488392064   227351849+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5        33688431   117531539    41921554+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda6       117531603   201358709    41913553+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       201358773   348273134    73457181    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda8       348273198   486689174    69207988+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda9       486689238   488392064      851413+  82  Linux swap / Solaris


[Ken-Bergen]

I needed to make room for a Windows, so I moved and splitted my partitions a bit and I ended that the partition number's order was messed up: first extd was sda7, then sda8, sda6, sda5 and sda9 - I think.

So you saw a problem with partition numbering order which Linux doesn't care about and preceded to hunt the internet for a solution, correct so far?

Next you took someones advice to ignore any warnings.

press “i” to ignore the warning (if it shows)

I have no idea how to fix the problem you've created but will say that you shot yourself in the foot hunting ghosts.

[John66]

The output of the fdisk-l command you posted, does not show that your partitions are overlapping.
If you see the sectors columns ("Start" & "End"), there is no partition overlapping.
By the sectors counting, also, you can see that your partitions have now the correct "numbering".
You have 2 primary partitions (sda1 & sda2) and an extended partition (sda3), that includes 5 logical partitions (sda5, sda6, sda7, sda8 & sda9).
I don't see any problem.
Well, the only "strange" I see, is that the boot flag (*) is in partition sda2 and not sda1.

In future, when you want to change your partitioning in your hard drive(s), don't forget to use the fdisk -l command before you do anything.
Ad once more when you're done with your changes.That way, you can "troubleshoot" better, in case something goes wrong.

[inp3dance]

The output of the fdisk-l command you posted, does not show that your partitions are overlapping.
If you see the sectors columns ("Start" & "End"), there is no partition overlapping.
By the sectors counting, also, you can see that your partitions have now the correct "numbering".
You have 2 primary partitions (sda1 & sda2) and an extended partition (sda3), that includes 5 logical partitions (sda5, sda6, sda7, sda8 & sda9).
I don't see any problem.
Well, the only "strange" I see, is that the boot flag (*) is in partition sda2 and not sda1.

In future, when you want to change your partitioning in your hard drive(s), don't forget to use the fdisk -l command before you do anything.
Ad once more when you're done with your changes.That way, you can "troubleshoot" better, in case something goes wrong.

It is indeed strange, but that can be my mistake, sda2 used to be another Linux OS. What I don't know is why cfdisk says that my partitions are overlapping, because they are not, and I can use all of them fine and gparted and fdisk got me no error - this is why I started this thread.

[doktor5000]

Well if there is an error message, but no related error, why bother with it?

[inp3dance]

Well if there is an error message, but no related error, why bother with it?

Because it is about my hard drive, where I store a lot of data. Not critical, but it take a lot of time to collect that amount of music, wallpapers, videos, etc ...
Anyway, thank you guys for the support.

[doktor5000]

If i were you, and were concerned about my harddrive, i'd back it up, delete the whole partition table, and recreate it from scratch.

[John66]

doktor5000 is correct here:

If i were you, and were concerned about my harddrive, i'd back it up, delete the whole partition table, and recreate it from scratch.

But I think, he is also correct in this statement:

Well if there is an error message, but no related error, why bother with it?

Why I said that?
Because I have never used cfdisk. I always use GParted & fdisk (mostly from the GParted Live CD), and the partition tool, that
comes with the Installer (of the distro I want to install).

After your post, I "tested" the cfdisk command in my hard disks for the first time. Guess what...
For my 2nd hard drive, it gave me this output (and still does):

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# cfdisk /dev/sdb
FATAL ERROR: Bad primary partition 3: Partition ends in the final partial cylinder
                              Press any key to exit cfdisk

I never had any kind of error (from GParted or fdisk) for my partitions for many months. At least, for the first two hard drives, with the various installations in them.
So I started searching for that "FATAL ERROR". And for yours too (I found also your post in the archlinux forum about it)
I spend hours & hours in various forums and documentation or tutorial pages.
Couldn't find any "concrete" answers. Only questions, doubtful opinions & suggestions. Like yours, mine or doktor5000's, that I find justifying as I wrote in the beginning.
I stopped searching when I came across in a thread (from 2007, in linuxquestions.org), about my "FATAL ERROR".
In that thread, I found an opinion, that it was "present" in some other threads, in various forums too (in different words):

...The main problem here is the use of cfdisk.
There are lots of things that confuse/irritate cfdisk and cause it to crash, particularly with SATA disks, and especially when partitions appear in other than their logical order. Fdisk is old, but is far, far more reliable.
Ignore the "Partition n does not end on cylinder boundary" messages. They're relatively worthless warnings, and all they mean is that there's going to be a few sectors wasted at the end of that partition...

And I didn't find any argue about that "type" of opinion, anywhere (as long as I searched).

Well, I stop here.
Since there is no documentation for these "FATAL ERROR" messages, I accept both doktor5000's suggestions.
It's up to me, or you, to choose what to do.
In my case of "FATAL ERROR", I choose to do nothing.
My /dev/sdb3 (it's the /home partition, for both Mageia Cauldron & Mageia 1, my "testing stable"), works perfectly well.
At least for now.

[inp3dance]

I will ignore that message too. It was just irritating.
Thank you!

[doktor5000]

So the thread can be marked [SOLVED] now?