On 11/11/2014 12:01 PM, ps...@ubuntu.com wrote:
I've known for some time that Windows is stupid and doesn't care about overlapping partitions. What I still can't figure out is how people sometimes manage to create them. Have you ever used partition magic on this disk? What other partitioning tools have you used? Could it involve converting the disk to "dynamic disk" ( ldm ) and then back?
Some versions of Microsoft's partitioning tools can create primary partitions inside of logical partitions. I don't recall the precise circumstances offhand, but from what I do recall, if you start with a disk that has fewer than three primary partitions and some free space and feed it to the Windows XP installer, you can end up with a disk in which the extended partition is resized to cover the primary partition that XP creates for itself. I don't know if this bug exists in later versions of Windows. There were quite a few reports of this problem in the Ubuntu forums a few years ago.
Some versions of TestDisk will also create an extended partition that extends beyond the end of the disk. (This happens with older versions that are fed partitions that are not cylinder-aligned, with the final partition ending inside what TestDisk considers the final partial "cylinder.") I haven't checked lately, but I hope this problem has been fixed by now. I saw lots of problem reports about this in forums a few years ago.
-- Rod Smith rodsm...@rodsbooks.com http://www.rodsbooks.com