A Strange 2MegaBytes Partition on my 160GigaBytes Hard Drive

[viivaakash]

Hey Chips n Bits

I am using a Seagate 160GB PATA HDD.
At the time of purchasing it was formatted by some Seagate software which has now become a trouble for me.


The name is Seagate ONTRACK

The problems are:-

1. Delay in Startup, shows a blue screen

2. I cannot change partitions, when I try Partition Magic 8 displays a warning that this HDD should be completely formatted again.

3. When I use a Linux live CD like Dyne-Bolic, it cannot access my partitions, it only shows a 2MB partition which is useless for me



If anyone has a cure for this please help me.

I wanna install RHEL 5 but I am in a doubt that whether it will install properly or that seagate software will create problems.

[hittheswitch]

Well i cant say anything about your 2MB problem but i formatted my 160 GB segate a few days ago.. RHEL 5 server installation went really well....
Now i have RHEL5 on my 250 GB segate SATA.. it works really fine. So i guess boot up with RHEL CD/DVD and if it shows you the omplete space then partition it according to your needs.

[praka123]

use gparted live cd to format.

[infra_red_dude]

well, most of the newer computerz do not need it but afaik ontack is used to install a dynamic disk overal (DDO) which is used as a mediator between old computers and new drivers. this ddo is loaded jus before the mbr is accessed. if u haf a fairly new computer (from the dayz of 2003) then u may safely repartition the whole drive.

[satyamy]

if you can do this

backup all of you data in some other HDD or DVD's
repartitioned you hdd & format it fully using winxp bootable CD

you problem will surely solve

I never use 3rd Party Software for Partition, these are just a headache

[rocket357]

Originally Posted by viivaakash

I wanna install RHEL 5

Originally Posted by satyamy

repartitioned you hdd & format it fully using winxp bootable CD
...
I never use 3rd Party Software for Partition, these are just a headache

Looks to me that the WinXP bootable CD *is* third party software in this instance...

[mehulved]

I'd just prefer fdisk in such situations. But, it's an double edged sword so be careful if you don't know how to use it. G/QParted should do quite fine here.

[praka123]

lastime i checked qtparted was buggy.gparted is available as live-cd too.

[rocket357]

Originally Posted by mehulved

I'd just prefer fdisk in such situations. But, it's an double edged sword so be careful if you don't know how to use it. G/QParted should do quite fine here.

My preference is booting a Gentoo minimal CD (more potential functionality heh) and using fdisk...but, as you've stated, it's a double-edged sword. GParted is more reliable than QTParted from my experience, and it's nice to have around for quick (re)formats.