[LBo] Save your partition information: [was: New SuSE 10.1 Installation]

[Anita Lewis]

Douglas Orchard wrote:

> These commands will be your friends.
> 
>    # fdisk -l > my_partition_scheme (you choose any unique name you like)
>    
>    then add the output from "df -h"
>    
>    # df -h >> my_partition_scheme (append the output to the file)
> 
<snip>
> 
> Even if you havnt yet learned how to restore from a major disaster, many
> of the members of this group can use this file to to that.
> So write the file, backup to floppy, cd or paper, and keep it safe.
> 
> 

I second this!!  I had the output of the first command on an index card 
and was able to rewrite my partition table after a major problem (read 
big mistake messing with fat32 partition using the wrong tool).  Anyway, 
I used a rescue floppy (Tom's) and fdisk to plug those numbers from the 
card into fdisk to recreate the table.  It is very hard to get that 
precise with restoring this information any other way, although you can 
do it with other tools.

One of my favorite Linux adventures was helping someone who had his term 
paper stuck on a partition he couldn't get to. 
http://linuxbasics.org/pipermail/qna/2005-August/001434.html

I should put that on the site, I guess, or at least the link to gpart 
which can be used to guess the information.

Anita