I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

Martillo1 · 2005-10-03 10:18:02

Hi fellows, I really messed up things last Saturday :cry:

Things went wrong from the beginning. The culprit (besides me) was a knoppix DVD image that I wanted to burn, so I created a new partition /dev/hdb8 in my Linux disk /dev/hdb so as to copy it there.

When I used the dd command, I specified the of=/dev/hdb instead of of=/dev/hdb8. When I realized what I have done and ctrl-C'ed the program had transferred 4553 units (or whatever). A rapid check with cfdisk told me that I had a clean 80Gb empty partition...

"Well", I told myself, "no prob, just repartition and reinstall". Ha!!! No way. There is no human way to make nothing installed in that disk to function properly. Nor Arch neither Ubuntu can start. At any moment they freeze, not getting to complete the full start.

Is it possible that the disk is affected for the dd? It should not be, but....

Kern · 2005-10-03 11:52:35

Is it possible that the disk is affected for the dd

its very unlikely.

its more like you have overwritten data there that the system needs to establish the order of things on the drive/partition.

what are you trying to do? salvage data, as its unlikely you have cleaned it totally.

maybe look for drive/partition recovery tools or info.

Martillo1 · 2005-10-03 14:06:39

No, I consider the data lost, and tried to instal Arch again, and when I did not succeed, I tried ubuntu, with the same negative results. I even used W2k to create and format a new partition, wich I removed afterwards, thinking that it would "clean" the disk, but it does not work.

80GB to the dust bin :x

z4ziggy · 2005-10-03 14:24:27

well, since u specified "of=/dev/hdb" the entire disk was targeted for wiping out. this means your MBR, your partition table, etc. if u ok with completing the wipe-out, i would suggest booting again from a live-cd, finish your wipe out, create a new partition table, and continue from there. you shouldnt have any problems, though i do remember a working disk stores some 4 digits hex code for the bios to recognize it as "usable" in the MBR area (cant remember the code... i think its 0x509A or something like that). in anyway, your 80gb drive shouldnt find his way to the nearest dust bin...

ps.
if u cant boot from a live cd, i would recommend making a bootable DOS (!!) floppy (u can use freedos or whatever) and use "fdisk /mbr" to install DOS MBR code, which will hopefully put the right info on the disk. then u can proceed with creating partition using your fav tools.

lucke · 2005-10-03 14:28:48

Bah. I can't quite believe your hdd's only possible destination is dustbin. If you don't care about data, just play with partition tools - like wipe all the partitions and recreate 'em. I don't know has happened, I'm not a disk specialist either, but anyway, things should work that way or the other. Hardware sometimes amazes me oh so much, from time to time it actually seems to be more moody than human beings ;-)

If you actually believe your hdd's place is in the dustbin after all, make sure it's my dustbin ;-)

Kern · 2005-10-03 17:20:02

for a complete clean wipe, use dd again from a live cd.

or This CD and use the inbuilt tools to check whether the disk is physically dead, which i think it isnt.
The disk also has wiping utilities like Autoclave so you can zero the drive if you aurent confident with dd.
maybe make sure its the only drive physically attached when you do this process if you are unsure of hardware addresses or names of drives.

Martillo1 · 2005-10-03 17:58:48

Thanks! I'll give your suggestions a try. After two years of archlinux I could not believe what happened to me to make so terrible error.

Kern · 2005-10-03 22:11:56

martillo1, if its any consolation, i was clearing a drive, meticulously transferring subdirectories and files across to the newer drive.

after it was done, and i had climbed back up the dir tree to /home/mydir/ made sure there were no subdirectories with anything in, i wiped the drive. Good and proper, DoD random passes and final zero pass.

Only later did i remember a previous housekeeping session where i had moved all the family holiday photo's to a directory above /home/mydir in preparation for the backup/transfer.

2yrs? .... my first "computer" was a ZX Spectrum back in 1980something !

happens to us all dude, just have to take it on the chin.

Theoden · 2005-10-03 22:55:00

Martillo1 wrote:

After two years of archlinux I could not believe what happened to me to make so terrible error.

Sorry for your problem, but don't feel like the Lone Ranger ... we've all given the wrong command, or accepted the wrong option, or just plain messed up. God knows I have. :oops:

Hang in there. Good luck.

Regards,

--Theoden

Martillo1 · 2005-10-06 23:31:37

Well, I am writing this from lynx After re-re-repartitioning the hd many-many-many times, I could install Arch again.
Now downloading xorg and nvidia
Thanks for your help!!!
P.S.: my first computer was a ZX81, that's why I really shouldn't have messed things up ;-)

Arch Linux

#1 2005-10-03 10:18:02

I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#2 2005-10-03 11:52:35

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#3 2005-10-03 14:06:39

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#4 2005-10-03 14:24:27

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#5 2005-10-03 14:28:48

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#6 2005-10-03 17:20:02

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#7 2005-10-03 17:58:48

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#8 2005-10-03 22:11:56

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#9 2005-10-03 22:55:00

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

#10 2005-10-06 23:31:37

Re: I wiped out my archlinux installation using dd [SOLVED]

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