bug#18984: Antw: Re: bug#18984: Enhancement request: Handling, of damaged partition tables

[Rod Smith]

On 11/11/2014 12:01 PM, address@hidden 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
address@hidden
http://www.rodsbooks.com