gparted: resized FAT32 partition no longer visible

[ginahoy]

I'm in the process of recovering an older WinXP machine that has some software I use in my business. As a part of that project, I needed to shrink a FAT32 logical partition to make room for an NTFS partition to store a large backup image file. So I moved the HDD to my Linux machine and used gparted to do adjust the partitions. After I moved the drive back to the XP machine, I successfully restored the XP machine from the image I had copied into the new NTFS partition. However, the shrunk FAT32 partition shows in Windows as unformatted. Oops! I'm guessing I made a bad decision to use gparted to do the FAT32 resize operation.

Oddly, Easus Partition Master (a Windows program), shows the FAT32 partition with the correct label, type (logical), capacity, as well as the correct used and unused gigabytes. That gives me hope that I haven't lost the partition. I have backups of some but not all of the folders and data that reside on that partition. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

[deepakdeshp]

It's always better to backup data before you try resize operations.
What does

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 sudo parted -l

report?

[ginahoy]

It's always better to backup data before you try resize operations.

This partition is mostly filled with old True Image backup images, old enough that I'm highly unlikely to ever need them. However, there are some other files on this partition, some of which are backed up on an external USB drive. The problem is, I can't all what's on that partition, and there may be a few files that are not backed up. So before I overwrite the partition by doing any restores, I first want to see if I can recover the partition, or at least retreive a list of folders and/or files. I'm wondering if there's a log or other file on the XP machine (where this drive lived) that might have that information?

What does

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 sudo parted -l

report?

#5 on the list is the one in question. If I try to MOUNT this partition in File Manager (Thunar), I get the error: Failed to Mount "OVERFLOW". No object for D-Bus interface." (OVERFLOW being the partition's label)

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Model: ATA WDC WD5003ABYX-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  68.2GB  68.2GB  primary   fat32        boot, lba
 2      68.2GB  500GB   432GB   extended               lba
 5      68.2GB  462GB   394GB   logical   fat32
 6      462GB   500GB   37.7GB  logical   ntfs

[AndyMH]

#5 on the list is the one in question. If I try to MOUNT this partition in File Manager (Thunar), I get the error: Failed to Mount "OVERFLOW". No object for D-Bus interface." (OVERFLOW being the partition's label)

I have had this problem in the past with thunar, open a terminal and

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systemctl --user restart gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor
thunar

and try again.

Note - not an xfce user, use cinnamon, but have a custom built iso with thunar as the file manager that was giving the same problem.

Your other option is install another file manager.

[ginahoy]

Hi Andy, here is the result:

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david@linux-desktop ~ $ systemctl --user restart gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor
Failed to restart gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor.service: Unit dbus.socket not found.
david@linux-desktop ~ $ thunar

What does that mean?

Surely a coincidence but I can now fully access the drive on my Linux machine (from Thunar) but still shows unformatted when installed on the XP machine. At least I can get the data now.

[AndyMH]

No idea, or why XP is saying it is unformatted, maybe it is having trouble reading the partition table.

[ginahoy]

No idea, or why XP is saying it is unformatted, maybe it is having trouble reading the partition table.

That makes sense... gparted obviously re-wrote the partition table when it resized the OVERFLOW partition, so XP apparently can no longer read the table. That seems fixable. Anyone know of a disk utility that can do that?

[AndyMH]

Not for XP no, sorry.

[ginahoy]

Sorry, I realize this is the wrong forum to drill down on this issue. I just found gparted forum.

[pdc_2]

if you are still there; if you gain good wisdoms from the gparted forum, do consider giving this forum a summary

[ginahoy]

No response yet to my post gparted forum. In the meantime, I moved the drive over to my Linux box so I can access the files. However, my LInux box is nearly silent (on-board graphics processor, SSD, intelligent PSU fan never turns on, temperature regulated CPU & fans), so the mechanical drive noise is driving me batty.

I'll eventually transfer the files once I get a larger SSD but in the meantime, how do I disable a drive from within Linux? On my XP machine, I can easily disable & enable a non-OS drive in Device Manager.

[t42]

I'll eventually transfer the files once I get a larger SSD but in the meantime, how do I disable a drive from within Linux? On my XP machine, I can easily disable & enable a non-OS drive in Device Manager.

Are you sure that the drive not only deactivated but really spins down on XP motherboard - it depends on the controller.
You can go to BIOS on your Asus board and disable SATA controller in the BIOS Storage Cconfiguration
Or just unplug SATA power connector (after power PC down).

[ginahoy]

Are you sure that the drive not only deactivated but really spins down on XP motherboard - it depends on the controller. You can go to BIOS on your Asus board and disable SATA controller in the BIOS Storage Cconfiguration Or just unplug SATA power connector (after power PC down).

With XP, the 2nd drive definitely spins down when I disable from Device Manager. I rarely need to access that drive and as I said, the reason I disable it is so I don't have to listen to it. Disabling the drive in BIOS or pulling the connector would be last resort if there's no way to disable within Linux. If not possible, I would at least like to know that.

[t42]

it's possible to compile and use hd-idle utility hd-idle.sourceforge.net . It can work or not as you have RE4 server disk made to work 24/7

[ginahoy]

it's possible to compile and use hd-idle utility hd-idle.sourceforge.net .

Thanks for that, I'll check it out.

[rene]

Note; hd-idle is in repo; sudo apt-get install hd-idle, edit /etc/default/hd-idle, also see man hd-idle.

Moreovet, unless special drive/situation you don't need it; can just be set to spin down from power settings and/or Disks.

[t42]

As rene said the Disks spins down WD SATA drives, Green series for sure (Select the drive --> Menu --> Standby now).
I'm not sure about WD5003ABYX series. You can check that after running standby command with
sudo hdparm -C /dev/sdX
an output should be
/dev/sdX:
drive state is: standby

[rene]

Can't sleep...

Not near spinning rust now to check but in this recent thread it was also shown that other than immediate standby a standby timer should be available as well from Disks: viewtopic.php?p=2095285#p2095285

[ginahoy]

The other thread was helpful. Now I have several options to explore. In particular, I need to see if any of these methods is persistent, i.e., drive stays powered down when system is rebooted.

[rene]

In particular, I need to see if any of these methods is persistent, i.e., drive stays powered down when system is rebooted.

I would feel that possibility unlikely, even if only since the BIOS will be waking up the drive (but Linux probably also already will even if there are no mounted file systems on the drive).