Help with HDD. Is it a Partitioning Problem?

[Qqmike]

I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

It does appear that your HDD passed the SMART test. You are testing what, both drives, sda, sdb, what?

Kubuntu 15.04: it should be 64-bit to be UEFI (since Windows is UEFI, you should also run Kubuntu UEFI).
When you installed Kubuntu 15.04, did you run the installer DVD/USB in UEFI mode? You should!

Install the Kubuntu OS in UEFI mode

--> Must be 64-bit Kubuntu OS for UEFI. I am using Kubuntu 14.04, 64-bit.

(Credit: I was lucky to be forewarned about this by another member, Ron Morse, at another forum, and given some tips and things to watch for.)

Important: You must make certain you are installing Kubuntu in UEFI mode.

I used a Live DVD Kubuntu installer.
Install the DVD in the optical drive, reboot the PC, enter UEFI(-BIOS) by pressing F2.
Under Advanced, find the ASUS boot menu, and the "boot override" menu under that.
The bootable devices will be listed.
Choose the one that corresponds to the Kubuntu UEFI choice.
Look for UEFI / FAT) or some reference to UEFI.
My Live Kubuntu DVD installer showed up twice in UEFI BIOS (under Boot Override) as a "normal" DVD writer, and also as:
UEFI (FAT) TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB (1028 MB) (= my Samsung DVD player).
Found out you may have to re-boot a time or two for this to appear correctly, so I think.
Select that option from the boot override menu.
The PC will re-boot, and you will see a text mode screen with a grub-like menu. Select install O/S. If, instead, you see the full graphical setup menu, the installer is probably in legacy BIOS mode so reboot, enter the UEFI setup, navigate to boot override and try again.

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post368216

If the HDDs are OK, that leaves the possibility of a bad partition/partition table, so it seems; and the problem seems to be sdb. gdisk should be able to help here -- read that link I gave on the 5 experiments, and maybe check the Rod Smith link about gdisk.

[technomancer]

Kubuntu 13.10 is the LiveCD I'm using. My hard drive dual boots Windows 8 and Kubuntu 15.04.

I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

Does that help us?

Whether I still used UEFI or not, I'm not sure. I set my computer up a while ago, so I'm afraid I don't remember. Is there anything I can do to find out?

[technomancer]

Responding to Post #9.

So you have Kubuntu 13.10.

gdisk says you do NOT have a GPT--that's OK for now. Leave it that way because we don't want to mess with too many changes and variables.

SMART may tell you if there's some fundamental problem with the HDD.

I'm guessing your computer is using the older, standard BIOS and MBR to boot. It doesn't seem to be using the newer UEFI. And that is OK. Just noting the fact. (/usr/lib/grub would tell you about this: if all you see is grub-pc, then you are booting BIOS+MBR; if you see anything like grubx64.efi[-signed], then you probably have UEFI. Sounds like your system is a bit older, like maybe before 2011 or so => BIOS+MBR, probably)

We are hoping that SMART will tell a story here about the health of the HDD in question ...

Kubuntu 13.10 is the LiveCD I'm using. My hard drive dual boots Windows 8 and Kubuntu 15.04.

I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

Does that help us?

[technomancer]

Going on what vsreeser thinks, maybe you should try to test the suspect HDD.
SMART HDD tests, dibl

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...ard-Disk-Drive

I ran

sudo smartctl -ia /dev/sdb

here's what I have:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -ia /dev/sdbsmartctl 6.2 2013-04-20 r3812 [x86_64-linux-3.11.0-12-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org


=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     ST500LT012-9WS142
Serial Number:    S0V9C9VG
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 061fcf9ca
Firmware Version: 0002SDM1
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Jul 21 14:36:33 2015 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled


=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED


General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever 
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:                (    0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        No Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (  95) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x1035) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.


SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   117   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       137634248
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   099   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   098   098   020    Old_age   Always       -       2852
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   072   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       21561560618
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       5885 (170 212 0)
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   099   099   020    Old_age   Always       -       2044
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   069   057   045    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Min/Max 22/31)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1502
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       155
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   072   072   000    Old_age   Always       -       57371
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   031   043   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (0 6 0 0 0)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x000f   094   094   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       5695 (36226 0)
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   094   094   000    Old_age   Offline      -       155589485270591
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2113945599
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3180007868
254 Free_Fall_Sensor        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0


SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged


SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%      5854         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5854         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5073         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       666         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       136         -


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Does that mean it passed?

Next, is the short one:

sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sdb

And the Short Test log:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdbsmartctl 6.2 2013-04-20 r3812 [x86_64-linux-3.11.0-12-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org


=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5886         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5886         -
# 3  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%      5854         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5854         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5073         -
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       666         -
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       136         -

I have yet to run the long test. Shall I continue?

Also, any tips on what it is that I am actually doing will be appreciated. I love Linux, and as of January, I've been using it almost exclusively for a year. Anything that can make me a better user will be an extra special bonus for me.

Thanks,
TM

EDIT!!

Upon refreshing the page after posting this, I read several posts that do in fact tell me what I'm doing. Thank you all!

[Qqmike]

(see EDIT to above post)

[Qqmike]

Going back to your first post.
It's your sdb showing the problems:
Bad relative sector
Bad GPT partition, Invalid Signature

But then gdisk shows no GPT present.

Looks like you have a GPT on sdb, but it is damaged in a way that makes it seem like non-GPT to gdisk?

If, in fact, it is GPT on sdb, gdisk should be able to fix the GPT (the partition table) and fix partitions.

EDIT:

And gdisk isn't showing any partitions on sdb, do I read your output right?

Where is your Linux, on this sdb? (and your Windows is on sda?)

[Qqmike]

If you use TestDisk to recover/fix the partition(s) and/or the partition table, it should not destroy anything of your data ... BUT, holy cow! This is the most major surgery you can imagine doing on your system ... I would definitely back up all my personal data (documents, photos, vids, whatever). gdisk works on GPT, and it will convert your MBR to GPT, but I don't think I'd take that step at this time. I'd hold the line and try to find out what caused this change in your system and try to fix it "as is." And someone else on the forum may be able to chime in here with something more definitive.

First: SMART, see what it tells you about the health of your drive(s).

[Qqmike]

Responding to Post #9.

So you have Kubuntu 13.10.

gdisk says you do NOT have a GPT--that's OK for now. Leave it that way because we don't want to mess with too many changes and variables.

SMART may tell you if there's some fundamental problem with the HDD.

I'm guessing your computer is using the older, standard BIOS and MBR to boot. It doesn't seem to be using the newer UEFI. And that is OK. Just noting the fact. (/usr/lib/grub would tell you about this: if all you see is grub-pc, then you are booting BIOS+MBR; if you see anything like grubx64.efi[-signed], then you probably have UEFI. Sounds like your system is a bit older, like maybe before 2011 or so => BIOS+MBR, probably)

We are hoping that SMART will tell a story here about the health of the HDD in question ...

[technomancer]

If you want to change it from GPT to msdos and don't have any important data on it, get a livecd of gparted and use it to create a new partition table. Be warned , doing so will erase everything off the drive, but it may help if the partition tables are both shot. GPT saves one at the beginning and one at the end of the drive.

Thanks for the update. I really don't want to erase everything of I don't have too. Would it hurt the disk to recover the table, a supposed to re-writing it?

Thanks,
TM

[technomancer]

Sure thing, will do. In the meantime, I already ran gdisk and was greeted with this:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdbGPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7


Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present


Creating new GPT entries.
Disk /dev/sdb: 122096646 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 4096 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 9563EA2A-9C52-4904-9783-3D90E9E7EC48
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 6, last usable sector is 122096640
Partitions will be aligned on 256-sector boundaries
Total free space is 122096635 sectors (465.8 GiB)


Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

Does that help us at all?

I'll get back to you with the scans. Thanks, TM

[vsreeser]

Thanks all! Here's an update:

I have a liveCD of Kubuntu running, and I ran

Sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

And this is what was returned:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)


Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7600 cylinders, total 122096646 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3956b6f3


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT

I'm assuming that the disk is GPT.

Apt will not let me install gdisk, and returns the error:

Install these packages without verification [y/N]? yErr http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main gdisk amd64 0.8.7-1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gdisk/gdisk_0.8.7-1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

I'm going to try to work on that. Any tips from here are still appreciated!

Thanks,
TM

If you want to change it from GPT to msdos and don't have any important data on it, get a livecd of gparted and use it to create a new partition table. Be warned , doing so will erase everything off the drive, but it may help if the partition tables are both shot. GPT saves one at the beginning and one at the end of the drive.

[Qqmike]

Going on what vsreeser thinks, maybe you should try to test the suspect HDD.
SMART HDD tests, dibl

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...ard-Disk-Drive

[technomancer]

Thanks all! Here's an update:

I have a liveCD of Kubuntu running, and I ran

Sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

And this is what was returned:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)


Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7600 cylinders, total 122096646 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3956b6f3


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT

I'm assuming that the disk is GPT.

Apt will not let me install gdisk, and returns the error:

Install these packages without verification [y/N]? yErr http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main gdisk amd64 0.8.7-1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gdisk/gdisk_0.8.7-1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

I'm going to try to work on that. Any tips from here are still appreciated!

Thanks,
TM

[vsreeser]

Sorry to say, but I think this hdd is almost dead. If your computer will start without the hdd plugged in , that would confirm it. Get what you can off of it and see if you have any other drives to use in it. If you can get about $210, you can get a 500Gb ssd from amazon. Less for a standard hdd, but not as fast

[Qqmike]

And if a drive is a GPT, you might run
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdx
to see what it says (where, of course, sdx = sda, or sdb, etc.).
If a drive is not GPT, you might try
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdx
-- again, just to see what comes up, any clues, and such.