Part of hard disk disappeared after installing Fedora 12?

[Bill Davidsen]

Roberto Ragusa wrote:
> M. Fioretti wrote:
> 
> 
>> I don't understand what's
>> going on, because the disk is 350 GB.
> 
> fdisk says the disk is 250GB and you have a 240GB sda2 partition.
> 
>> Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
>> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
>> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>> Disk identifier: 0x000acea3
>>
>>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>> /dev/sda1   *           1          26      204800   83  Linux
>> Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
>> /dev/sda2              26       30401   243991201   8e  Linux LVM
> 
> sda2 is a pv (physical volume) of around 230GB, as you can see here.
> 
>> [root at polaris ~]# pvdisplay
>>   --- Physical volume ---
>>   PV Name               /dev/sda2
>>   VG Name               vg_polaris
>>   PV Size               232.69 GB / not usable 673.00 KB
> 
> 230/240/250 is all the same, as there are some confusing definitions
> of how big a gigabyte is.
> 
> So, what is happening is that:
> 
> - either the disk is 250GB and not 350GB (try "hdparm /dev/sda",
> "hdparm -i /dev/sda")
> 
> - or the disk is 350GB but it is partitioned as if it were 250GB; this can happen
> if you copy an entire 250GB disk to a bigger one ("dd if=dev/sda of=/dev/sdb"),
> because you copy the partition table values which specify how big the disk is.
> 
> Let's see what hdparm thinks.
> Model number + google search will tell us how big your disk really is.
> 
Disks can have hidden partition, called the HPA (hardware protected area), there 
are tools which will show that information, but I'm guessing that's not the 
problem. I bet smart will say that's a 250GB drive.

If there really is an HPA, google for SleuthKit and use the stuff there to 
investigate further.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot