[SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

kdar · 2011-05-17 14:39:08

I am trying to install Arch on existing Ubuntu install on my HTPC.

I tried to use manual partitioning of hard drive and I removed everything except partition which was my /home directory in Ubuntu install.
I recreated partitions for /root, /boot and swap.

Next, in manual configuration of block devices, filesystems and mountpoints, I indicated which partitions to recreate and which not to (the /home partition set to not recreate). Additionally, there, I selected which partition is /root or /boot or /home.. etc

After I clicked done, it started to recreate partitions for /root, /boot and swap, however, I got an error stating that there was a failure to mount /home on sda5

Can anyone tell me what is wrong?

PS. also.. for some reason, my home partition is logical, I am not sure if thats matter or not.

Last edited by kdar (2011-05-18 01:57:44)

Jeaquares · 2011-05-17 15:00:18

Can you paste your "fdisk -l" output?

kdar · 2011-05-17 17:31:19

Here some pictures

I tried to do everything pretty much the same like last time, and it gave me same error.

After I exited installer, I entered that command.

Last edited by kdar (2011-05-17 17:33:14)

frony0 · 2011-05-17 17:37:08

Have you tried manually mounting the partition? I think that would give slightly more helpful error messages

Jeaquares · 2011-05-17 17:39:55

Are you aware of your disk partition table's situation? You have an extended partition and it starts at 2433 but sda1 ends at 622. Your extended partition sda2 starts at 2433 and ends at 182279 but sda5 seems the same, too. You should've had sda3 and sda4 in between. Even if you deleted them, having sda1 which ends at 622 and after that having sda2 which starts at 2433 is a problem that you should immediately solve. I suggest you a complete partitioning. Probably that's why you get errors while installing.

Last edited by Jeaquares (2011-05-17 17:41:34)

kdar · 2011-05-17 18:01:23

the sda5 is also, for some reason, a logical partition.. I am not sure if that matters.
I got a lot of files in that sda5 partition (that partition is almost full), which I don't really want to move them in order to install Arch.

I got free space before and after sda5... and I kind of want to merge sda5 with both free spaces... however, I don't know how to do it without destroying data on sda5.

I guess I can give all the free-space which comes before sda5 to /root. And all that comes after sda5 to swap..

Is there a way to merge sda5 with two free spaces?
I guess if I remove sda5 and then create a new partition in cfdish ( or whatever that program called), I will remove data in sda5 too? right?

Last edited by kdar (2011-05-17 18:20:56)

Jeaquares · 2011-05-17 18:42:55

kdar wrote:

the sda5 is also, for some reason, a logical partition.. I am not sure if that matters.
I got a lot of files in that sda5 partition (that partition is almost full), which I don't really want to move them in order to install Arch.
I got free space before and after sda5... and I kind of want to merge sda5 with both free spaces... however, I don't know how to do it without destroying data on sda5.
I guess I can give all the free-space which comes before sda5 to /root. And all that comes after sda5 to swap..
Is there a way to merge sda5 with two free spaces?
I guess if I remove sda5 and then create a new partition in cfdish ( or whatever that program called), I will remove data in sda5 too? right?

If sda5 is logical, then probably you had sda3 and sda4 as logical partitions and erased them. You say that you have free disk space before sda5. I guess you can recreate "logical" partition from it, not primary cause you're in an extended partition. If you want to merge those spaces, you can use Gparted. However, you can lose data. It will prompt when you try to merge. WHATEVER YOU DO, don't continue with that broken disk partition table; if you do, you can lose data at any time cause you seem to have a space between sda1 and sda2 but somehow you have sda1 and sda2 in order. If you'd like to use an extended partition, you can create your disk partition table like this:

  
 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048      206847      102400   de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *      206848    30926847    15360000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3        30926848   345509954   157291553+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4       345509955   625137344   139813695    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       345510018   450382274    52436128+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6       450382338   625137344    87377503+  83  Linux

This is mine. I have sda1, sda2 and sda3 as primary partitions. You can only create four primary partitions in a disk. So when you have three, you have only one left. There you can create an extended partition like I did, after, you can create logical partitions in that. And as you can see, in a healthy disk table you have (almost) the same starts but different ends between an extended partition and a following logical partition. But in your situation, you have the exact starts and ends for sda2 and sda5. Also you say that you have spaces between. Even if this is fine, you have a "sda1 vs sda2" situation which I'm really stubborn to warn you at right now. So you shouldn't continue this way.

Also, I don't think that cfdisk will allow you to partition. It probably will give error. Use fdisk.

You can use "fdisk /dev/sda" as root.

Last edited by Jeaquares (2011-05-17 18:45:14)

kdar · 2011-05-17 21:46:36

I just found my stupid mistake.

The reason why it gave this error was because the old partition was ext4, not ext3 like I thought. After using ext3 on all my other systems (which use Arch), I forgot that on Ubuntu, by default, ext4 was used.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-17 14:39:08

[SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#2 2011-05-17 15:00:18

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#3 2011-05-17 17:31:19

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#4 2011-05-17 17:37:08

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#5 2011-05-17 17:39:55

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#6 2011-05-17 18:01:23

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#7 2011-05-17 18:42:55

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

#8 2011-05-17 21:46:36

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to mount /home on sda5

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