Page 1 of 8 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 76

Thread: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Eindhoven, NL
    Beans
    48
    Distro
    Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    This is a post for anybody who comes across this difficult problem, reported by gptsync , shipped with rEFIt in its partition editor. The error is:
    GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    This is what I got when I resized my linux partition using parted, resulting in the GPT and MBR partitions going out of sync. Now this is something rEFIt's gptsync should be able to solve fairly easily, but if you have a so called 'BIOS Boot Partition', a small partition created by grub2 (as shipped with Karmic), then you're in quite some trouble. The partition tables won't sync and you'll find yourself unable to boot your linux system.

    It took me numerous hours to fix this issue. And now that the necessary package has been fixed, the solution is fairly simple:

    - Grab an Ubuntu live CD and boot
    - Install gptsync_0.13-10 or higher from *Debian* packages (Ubuntu doesn't ship it, and the original rEFIt doesn't have the fix (yet?). Download from packages.debian.org and install with dpkg --install
    - Run gptsync on the affected disk
    - Reinstall grub ( $ sudo grub-install /dev/sda )

    More about the issue can be read here: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=545190 , note though that the issue was erroneously believed to be fixed in 0.13-4, for the actual fix you need at least 0.13-10 .

    I hope this post saves someone from two days of headaches

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    19
    Distro
    Ubuntu Karmic Koala (testing)

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    I have been experiencing this issue my self on new MacBook Pro 5,1 and it has been interesting to say the least. However I am a newbie with Ubuntu and terminal and such and would be really grateful if you could explain the process is easy steps.

    Much appreciated if possible.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Eindhoven, NL
    Beans
    48
    Distro
    Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    I'll try to describe the steps that worked for me more verbosely. It may seem a bit intimidating at first. You also have to be *well aware* that you are messing with partition tables and bootloaders, which always comes at a *certain risk* of not being able to boot or even losing data, so make sure to have backups !!!

    ( In this example I assume your disk is /dev/sda , default for macbooks )

    Please follow updated instructions in next post instead!


    1) Download an Ubuntu Live CD ( see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD ) and burn the ISO to CD.
    2) Boot your macbook from the CD
    3) When in Ubuntu, download gptsync-0.13-10 from http://packages.debian.org/sid/gptsync
    4) Open a terminal and install the package you just downloaded:
    $ sudo dpkg --install gptsync*deb
    5) Run gptsync on the affected disk
    $ sudo gptsync /dev/sda
    6) Reinstall grub (this shouldn't overwrite rEFIt, but you can keep a copy of rEFIt on CD if you're concerned)
    $ grub-install /dev/sda
    7) reboot, the system should be able to boot again now
    Last edited by proycon; October 22nd, 2009 at 05:58 PM. Reason: instructions updated in later post

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    19
    Distro
    Ubuntu Karmic Koala (testing)

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    Proycon,

    Thanks for the speedy response I will have a go later on today and let you know if i get it working.

    cheers

    d

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    19
    Distro
    Ubuntu Karmic Koala (testing)

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    Proycon,

    everything goes well until I reach...
    6) Reinstall grub (this shouldn't overwrite rEFIt, but you can keep a copy of rEFIt on CD if you're concerned)
    $ grub-install /dev/sda

    running this command returns the following error:
    grub-mkdevicemap: error: cannot open /boot/grub/device.map

    does it matter which directory I am in when I type this?

    Thanks in advance

    d

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Eindhoven, NL
    Beans
    48
    Distro
    Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    Oh, that is actually quite a good point which I completely overlooked in my earlier explanation. I think you'll have to chroot into your original distribution as otherwise it can't properly reinstall grub.

    Here are revised instructions for the whole process:

    ( In this example I assume your disk is /dev/sda , default for macbooks, and your root partition is /dev/sda4 , adapt these if necessary! )

    1) Download an Ubuntu Live CD ( see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD ) and burn the ISO to CD.
    2) Boot your macbook from the CD (hold option key at startup if you don't have rEFIt)
    3) Open a terminal, mount your original root partition
    - $ sudo mkdir /mnt/root
    - $ sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sda4 /mnt/root
    4) Find the correct package for your architecture on http://packages.debian.org/sid/gptsync and download it to somewhere under /mnt/root/
    5) Set up /proc and /dev
    - $ sudo mount -t proc none /mnt/root/proc
    - $ sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/root/dev
    6) Chroot into your original system, you're now in your own system.
    - $ sudo chroot /mnt/root /bin/bash
    7) Install the package downloaded in step 4
    - $ sudo dpkg --install gptsync*deb
    8) Run gptsync on the affected disk
    - $ sudo gptsync /dev/sda
    9) Reinstall grub (this shouldn't overwrite rEFIt, but you can keep a copy of rEFIt on CD if you're concerned)
    - $ sudo grub-install /dev/sda
    10) reboot, the system should be able to boot again now

    Hopefully it works for you, this is what I did in my situation as well.
    Last edited by proycon; October 22nd, 2009 at 05:59 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    19
    Distro
    Ubuntu Karmic Koala (testing)

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    DON'T WORRY - I FOUND OUT ABOUT $ sudo nautilus

    point 4. how can i copy to this directory? if i try and drag the file over it tells me I do not have permissions and forces me to cancel.

    is it possible to download via terminal at point 6/7?

    i'm very grateful for your help and the speedy introdution to terminal and the command line, quite a change for a macuser


    Last edited by domedmunds; October 22nd, 2009 at 06:24 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Eindhoven, NL
    Beans
    48
    Distro
    Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    Or you could of course use plain cp Or download in terminal using wget . If would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the basics of the command line.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    19
    Distro
    Ubuntu Karmic Koala (testing)

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    indeed. i'll try that next as it has'nt worked, still getting the original message. so contemplating starting from right at the beginning.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Eindhoven, NL
    Beans
    48
    Distro
    Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: gptsync: GPT partition of type 'Unknown' found, will not touch this disk.

    Hmm.. It didn't work? What caused your problem in the first place?

Page 1 of 8 123 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •