4

I have just installed Debian Squeeze in a hard disk where also Windows 7 is installed. Now, if I run cfdisk, I get the following message:

"FATAL ERROR: Bad primary partition 3: Partition ends in the final partial cylinder".

Is there a way to fix it without reinstalling everything?

EDIT: Output from fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes                                                                                                                                         
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders                                                                                                                                        
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes                                                                                                                                    
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes                                                                                                                               
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes                                                                                                                                   
Disk identifier: 0x1f244dbd                                                                                                                                                         

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System                                                                                                                      
/dev/sda1               1         154     1228800    7  HPFS/NTFS                                                                                                                   
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.                                                                                                                                      
/dev/sda2             154        9673    76464844    7  HPFS/NTFS                                                                                                                   
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.                                                                                                                                      
/dev/sda3            9673       29127   156262401    5  Extended                                                                                                                    
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.                                                                                                                                      
/dev/sda4           29127       30402    10240000    7  HPFS/NTFS                                                                                                                   
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.                                                                                                                                      
/dev/sda5            9673       16968    58593280   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           16968       17430     3709952   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           17430       28372    87889920   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           28372       29127     6066176   83  Linux
Improve this question
5
  • If this is a new machine, it may have 4kB sectors, which is a relatively new thing. It should be supported anyway though (at worst with a performance penalty). To see what's going on, please show the output of fdisk -l /dev/sda (run as root, from a live CD/USB if you can't boot the installed system).
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:52
  • @Gilles. thanks for the comment! yes, it's a new machine. I can boot the system and here is the fdisk output: pastebin.com/wq9bYASx
    – Alessandro Cosentino
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 22:56
  • Ok, your partition table looks right, but cfdisk really doesn't like partitions that aren't aligned on a sector boundary. Fdisk can cope, and the kernel doesn't mind. Is there anything apart from cfdisk that doesn't work? If not, I'd just call it a limitation of cfdisk.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 23:36
  • @Gilles: I had missed the link in your comment. Very interesting. As far as I understanding by reading there, I could ignore the problem, which seems to be just a missing feature of fdisk. Is that right?
    – Alessandro Cosentino
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 23:36
  • After seeing the fdisk output, I don't know if your problem is related to 4kB sectors. Though maybe the contents of the article is relevant for performance.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 23:37

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .