Linux made my partitions disappear!

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darquedean

darquedean

Distinguished
Dec 28, 2012
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So I installed Linux on my other hard drive (not a partition) and I booted back on Windows 7 only to notice it didn't recognize my alternate hard drive or my partition on my main hard drive, it did however pick up my USB stick, so I backed up my files in preparation for a fatal error. All I want to do is get Linux out of here and be able to see all of my hard drives and partitions again. Any help is much appreciated.
 
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stillblue
Windows does not seem to want to acknowledge the existence of other OSs. It does not even recognize the existence of the ext4 partition created by your install for linux. Linux, on the other hand, can not only see but read from windows partitions. So, If you save something on a Linux partition Windows will not see it but if you save on a windows partition Linux can open it. So, if you want files to be available to both you need to either create a partition that both can open and store data there which is a good idea just in case you want to install a new system on either OS partitions your data is secure. Or you could always save to the windows one, even while working in Linux.

Lesson over, now to your problem. Boot from your linux...
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mbarnes86

Splendid
Sep 16, 2010
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Hi

If you installed Linux on a second hard drive how did you decide on which operating system to boot
Windows or Linux ?

Linux boot menu or BIOS choice of boot disk ?

If you disconnect the second hard drive with Linux on it (power & data cables)
does the Windows 7 still boot up ?

do you get any linux bootloader messages ?

If you go to Disk Management do you see the missing partition on the first drive ?
what does Disk Management say about this partition or space

Windows Explorer wont see a Partition (drive) formatted in one of the usual Linux formats (EXT2 EXT3 etc)

regards

Mike Barnes
 
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stillblue

stillblue

Honorable
Nov 30, 2012
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11,660
Windows does not seem to want to acknowledge the existence of other OSs. It does not even recognize the existence of the ext4 partition created by your install for linux. Linux, on the other hand, can not only see but read from windows partitions. So, If you save something on a Linux partition Windows will not see it but if you save on a windows partition Linux can open it. So, if you want files to be available to both you need to either create a partition that both can open and store data there which is a good idea just in case you want to install a new system on either OS partitions your data is secure. Or you could always save to the windows one, even while working in Linux.

Lesson over, now to your problem. Boot from your linux installer medium and then install boot-repair. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
Running the default settings boot-repair will locate all the systems that you have installed and install the grub2 boot manager which Linux defaults to and it'll add your windows as a boot option.

What has probably happened is that during your install you disconnected your windows drive to be safe (not a bad idea) and grub2 was installed on the linux drive. After reconnecting windows what happens now is the BIOS lists the windows drive as the first boot and it only knows about the windows OS. Boot-repair should fix you right up. If not come on back.
 
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