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I have a dual boot with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04. Now Ubuntu is missing after Windows checked /tmp for errors. Windows boots fine, but Ubuntu boots to a GRUB prompt. I looked in the \ubuntu\disks\ folder and the root.disk was at 0 kb. Can I access my data through Windows? Next I ran a live USB and Boot-Repair and I'm still only getting a GRUB prompt. I am attaching boot info script output. How do I restore my normal Ubuntu and restore files and folders? Can I recover the personal files and folders using a live USB?

Boot Info Script 0.61.full + Boot-Repair extra info

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe /wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr /wubildr.mbr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr /ubuntu/disks/swap.disk

sda2/Wubi: __________________________________________________ ___________________

File system:
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda5 starts
at sector 2048.
Operating System:
Boot files: /wubildr

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda4 has
30722047 sectors, but according to the info from
fdisk, it has 30943919 sectors.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/bcd

sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 2998472 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the directory.
No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /syslinux/syslinux.cfg
/efi/boot/bootx64.efi /ldlinux.sys

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 411,647 409,600 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 411,648 533,389,311 532,977,664 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 533,389,312 594,198,527 60,809,216 f W95 Extended (LBA)
/dev/sda5 533,391,360 594,198,527 60,807,168 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4 594,198,528 625,142,447 30,943,920 12 Compaq diagnostics

Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 2013 MB, 2013265920 bytes
16 heads, 15 sectors/track, 16384 cylinders, total 3932160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 3,608 3,932,159 3,928,552 6 FAT16

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 C0C646D2C646C87C ntfs
/dev/sda2 F65048AB50487501 ntfs
/dev/sda4 DA6052146051F829 ntfs LENOVO_PART
/dev/sda5 DC72893972891982 ntfs LENOVO
/dev/sdb1 3F00-E6D7 vfat

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda1 /media/C0C646D2C646C87C fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,b lksize=4096)
/dev/sda5 /media/LENOVO fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,b lksize=4096)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if loadfont /boot/grub/font.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod gfxterm
terminal_output gfxterm
fi

set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray

menuentry "Try Ubuntu without installing" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Install Ubuntu" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Check disc for defects" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

========================= sdb1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: ==========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# D-I config version 2.0
include menu.cfg
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 50
ui gfxboot bootlogo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

?? = ?? boot/grub/grub.cfg 1

================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? syslinux/chain.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/gfxboot.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/syslinux.cfg 1
?? = ?? syslinux/vesamenu.c32 1

============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============

syslinux/chain.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/gfxboot.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/vesamenu.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sda2/Wubi

========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdc

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :
=================== log of boot-repair 2012-11-11__14h20 ===================
boot-repair version : 3.194~ppa53~precise
boot-sav version : 3.194~ppa53~precise
glade2script version : 3.2.2~ppa45~precise
boot-sav-extra version : 3.194~ppa53~precise
boot-repair is executed in live-session (Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS, precise, Ubuntu, x86_64)
CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit
BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --

=================== os-prober:
/dev/sda1:Windows 7 (loader):Windows:chain
/dev/sda4:Windows Recovery Environment (loader):Windows1:chain

=================== blkid:
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: UUID="C0C646D2C646C87C" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="F65048AB50487501" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="LENOVO_PART" UUID="DA6052146051F829" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="LENOVO" UUID="DC72893972891982" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="3F00-E6D7" TYPE="vfat"

1 disks with OS, 2 OS : 0 Linux, 0 MacOS, 2 Windows, 0 unknown type OS.

Windows not detected by os-prober on sda2.
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
There is Wubi inside sda2
=================== UEFI/Legacy mode :
BIOS is EFI-compatible, and is setup in EFI-mode for this live-session.

=================== PARTITIONS & DISKS:
sda1 : sda, not-sepboot, no-grubenv nogrub, no-docgrub, no-update-grub, 32, no-boot, is-os, not--efi--part, part-has-no-fstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, bootmgr, is-winboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, not-far, /media/C0C646D2C646C87C.
sda2 : sda, not-sepboot, no-grubenv nogrub, no-docgrub, no-update-grub, 32, no-boot, is-os, not--efi--part, part-has-no-fstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, haswinload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, farbios, /media/F65048AB50487501.
sda4 : sda, not-sepboot, no-grubenv nogrub, no-docgrub, no-update-grub, 32, no-kernel, is-os, not--efi--part, part-has-no-fstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, recovery-or-hidden, bootmgr, is-winboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, farbios, /mnt/boot-sav/sda4.
sda5 : sda, not-sepboot, no-grubenv nogrub, no-docgrub, no-update-grub, 32, no-boot, no-os, not--efi--part, part-has-no-fstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, farbios, /media/LENOVO.

sda : not-GPT, BIOSboot-not-needed, has-no-EFIpart, not-usb, has-os, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes

=================== parted -l:

Model: ATA ST320LT020-9YG14 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 211MB 210MB primary ntfs boot
2 211MB 273GB 273GB primary ntfs
3 273GB 304GB 31.1GB extended lba
5 273GB 304GB 31.1GB logical ntfs
4 304GB 320GB 15.8GB primary ntfs diag

Model: (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 2013MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1847kB 2013MB 2011MB primary fat16 boot

=================== parted -lm:

BYT;
/dev/sda:320GB:scsi:512:4096:msdos:ATA ST320LT020-9YG14;
1:1049kB:211MB:210MB:ntfs::boot;
2:211MB:273GB:273GB:ntfs::;
3:273GB:304GB:31.1GB:::lba;
5:273GB:304GB:31.1GB:ntfs::;
4:304GB:320GB:15.8GB:ntfs::diag;

BYT;
/dev/sdb:2013MB:scsi:512:512:msdos: ;
1:1847kB:2013MB:2011MB:fat16::boot;

=================== mount:
/cow on / type overlayfs (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
/dev/sdb1 on /cdrom type vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/ubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)
/dev/sda1 on /media/C0C646D2C646C87C type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,b lksize=4096)
/dev/sda2 on /media/F65048AB50487501 type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,b lksize=4096)
/dev/sda5 on /media/LENOVO type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,b lksize=4096)
/dev/sda4 on /mnt/boot-sav/sda4 type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)

=================== ls:
/sys/block/sda (filtered): alignment_offset bdi capability dev device discard_alignment events events_async events_poll_msecs ext_range holders inflight power queue range removable ro sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 sda5 size slaves stat subsystem trace uevent
/sys/block/sdb (filtered): alignment_offset bdi capability dev device discard_alignment events events_async events_poll_msecs ext_range holders inflight power queue range removable ro sdb1 size slaves stat subsystem trace uevent
/sys/block/sdc (filtered): alignment_offset bdi capability dev device discard_alignment events events_async events_poll_msecs ext_range holders inflight power queue range removable ro size slaves stat subsystem trace uevent
/sys/block/sr0 (filtered): alignment_offset bdi capability dev device discard_alignment events events_async events_poll_msecs ext_range holders inflight power queue range removable ro size slaves stat subsystem trace uevent
/dev (filtered): agpgart autofs block bsg btrfs-control bus cdrom cdrw char console core cpu cpu_dma_latency disk dri dvd dvdrw ecryptfs fb0 fd full fuse hidraw0 hpet input kmsg log mapper mcelog mei mem net network_latency network_throughput null oldmem port ppp psaux ptmx pts random rfkill rtc rtc0 rts51x0 sda sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 sda5 sdb sdb1 sdc sg0 sg1 sg2 sg3 shm snapshot snd sr0 stderr stdin stdout uinput urandom usbmon0 usbmon1 usbmon2 v4l vga_arbiter video0 zero
ls /dev/mapper: control

=================== df -Th:

Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/cow overlayfs 1.9G 108M 1.8G 6% /
udev devtmpfs 1.9G 12K 1.9G 1% /dev
tmpfs tmpfs 774M 868K 773M 1% /run
/dev/sdb1 vfat 1.9G 1.6G 315M 84% /cdrom
/dev/loop0 squashfs 660M 660M 0 100% /rofs
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 48K 1.9G 1% /tmp
none tmpfs 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none tmpfs 1.9G 176K 1.9G 1% /run/shm
/dev/sda1 fuseblk 200M 29M 172M 15% /media/C0C646D2C646C87C
/dev/sda2 fuseblk 255G 37G 218G 15% /media/F65048AB50487501
/dev/sda5 fuseblk 29G 9.8G 20G 34% /media/LENOVO
/dev/sda4 fuseblk 15G 8.5G 6.3G 58% /mnt/boot-sav/sda4

=================== fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1a0aba4b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 411647 204800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 411648 533389311 266488832 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 533389312 594198527 30404608 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 594198528 625142447 15471960 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda5 533391360 594198527 30403584 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 2013 MB, 2013265920 bytes
16 heads, 15 sectors/track, 16384 cylinders, total 3932160 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: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 3608 3932159 1964276 6 FAT16

=================== Recommended repair
Recommended-Repair
This setting will restore the [(generic mbr)] MBR in sda, and make it boot on sda1.
Additional repair will be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s repair-wubi fix-windows-boot

Quantity of real Windows: 1
mount -o loop /media/F65048AB50487501/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /mnt/boot-sav/wubi1
mount: /dev/loop1: can't read superblock
The file browser that just opened will let you access your Wubi (Linux installed into Windows) files. (/mnt/boot-sav/wubi1/home) Please backup your data now! Then close this window.
xdg-open: file '/mnt/boot-sav/wubi1/home' does not exist
umount /mnt/boot-sav/wubi1
umount: /mnt/boot-sav/wubi1: not mounted
fsck -f -y /media/F65048AB50487501/ubuntu/disks/root.disk
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
e2fsck 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
fsck.ext2: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /media/F65048AB50487501/ubuntu/disks/root.disk
Could this be a zero-length partition?
Will restore the MBR_TO_RESTORE : sda (generic mbr) into sda
dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
0+1 records in
0+1 records out

Boot successfully repaired.

You can now reboot your computer.

pastebinit packages needed
W: Duplicate sources.list entry cdrom://Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120823.1)/ precise/main i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/Ubuntu%2012.04.1%20LTS%20%5fPrecise%20Pangolin%5f% 20-%20Release%20amd64%20(20120823.1)_dists_precise_ma in_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry cdrom://Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120823.1)/ precise/restricted i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/Ubuntu%2012.04.1%20LTS%20%5fPrecise%20Pangolin%5f% 20-%20Release%20amd64%20(20120823.1)_dists_precise_re stricted_binary-i386_Packages)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
dpkg-preconfigure: unable to re-open stdin: No such file or directory

Thanks for your reply. I didn't see anything that looked to be the right file size.

Here is the output from that found folder:

c:\found.000>dir

11/08/2012  07:09 AM    <DIR>          dir0000.chk
10/13/2012  05:17 AM         1,048,576 file0002.chk
               1 File(s)      1,048,576 bytes
               1 Dir(s)  236,435,017,728 bytes free

c:\found.000>cd dir0000.chk

c:\found.000\dir0000.chk>dir

11/08/2012  07:09 AM    <DIR>          .
11/08/2012  07:09 AM    <DIR>          ..
10/13/2012  05:17 AM               240 CiAD0001.000
10/13/2012  05:17 AM                 0 CiAD0001.002
               2 File(s)            240 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  236,435,005,440 bytes free

Should I try moving these into root.disk or any other locations to search? If this file can't be found, is there another way to recover data?

2
  • You can edit your question by looking for the edit link below it. If you're sure you ran chkdsk on C: (which requires a restart to complete, and make sure you don't hit a key on restart which cancels the chkdsk) and after that you still have a zero length root.disk then there is not much you can do about it (that I know of).
    – bcbc
    Nov 13, 2012 at 1:13
  • Important to note that you have a wubi installation, not a dual boot where Ubuntu is placed on a separate partition. With a wubi install Ubuntu runs off a virtual disk - root.disk. Since windows has messed with this file, it's probably unlikely that you are going to be able to recover the data that was on it. You could try using a hexeditor to look at the .chk files and decide if there is anything important in them. You'd be looking for (eg) text from documents that you have written. Nov 18, 2012 at 1:15

1 Answer 1

2

You cannot view your data until you recover the root.disk. See this post for information (selected details shown below). Note that recovery does not work in all instances.

Here's a summary of what is detailed in the post linked to above. First run chkdsk /f, look for the hidden \found.??? directories, and check for a file named file0000.chk that's about the same size as your old root.disk:

C:\>dir /a:h
C:\>cd \found.000
C:\found.000>dir
 Volume in drive C is OS
 Volume Serial Number is B4B7-99A8

 Directory of C:\found.000

19/07/2011  02:02 PM    15,000,000,000 file0000.chk
               1 File(s) 15,000,000,000 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  222,258,069,504 bytes free

C:\found.000>move file0000.chk \ubuntu\disks\root.disk
        1 file(s) moved.

NOTE: you have to run those commands from CMD.EXE that you selected "Run as administrator".

I really don't advise running boot-repair on Wubi installs. This is what it did:

  1. Replace your windows bootloader with a generic syslinux MBR bootloader
  2. Reset the boot flag on /dev/sda1 (already set)
  3. Attempt to fsck the root.disk (failed)
  4. Announce "Boot successfully repaired"

I've asked the author to fix this a number of times. I'm not sure what forcing an fsck on a root.disk with NTFS corruption does, but it can't fix that and I would avoid anything that jeopardizes recovery.

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