unusable partition

Try with Gparted live CD.Wuth that tool you can resize ,merge with existing partitions...Download from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

thanks for answer I did try this before...but got nowhere...that is I think I understand the various functions of the Gparted program, but if it can correct this problem then I missing something.

it seems like this space 77 gig space is in limbo land

in Gparted I get this info: dev/sda3 ext3 /media/Extra

sda1 is fat32 my windows OS
sda2 is ntfs Acer boot drive or whatever you call it
sda3 is my problem one as noted in above
sda4 is my extended
off of sda4 come
sda5 ext2 /
sda6 ext3 /home
sda7 swap

Hope that makesome sense

Perhaps sda3 is created but not formated?

In case you dont care about the data on Linux partitions, you can try a fresh Ubuntu install and give a mount point to sda3. Else, you may use mke2fs command on that partition to format it (try "man mke2fs" in a terminal to get help)

And remember to create a permanent mountpoint in /etc/fstab for /dev/sda3

Good luck!

Hi...thanks for your help. I reformatted again just to be sure I had done such and I had. I think the key might be what you said about a mount point, because I don't think it has one. However I'm not sure how to got about that, and I certainly don't want to lose data on my Linux partitions. I did the
"man mke2fs" command in terminal but I have no idea what to do next...sorry it's over my head.
> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #86150]: unusable partition
> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:56:10 +0000
>
> Your question #86150 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/86150
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Xuacu proposed the following answer:
> Perhaps sda3 is created but not formated?
>
> In case you dont care about the data on Linux partitions, you can try a
> fresh Ubuntu install and give a mount point to sda3. Else, you may use
> mke2fs command on that partition to format it (try "man mke2fs" in a
> terminal to get help)
>
> And remember to create a permanent mountpoint in /etc/fstab for
> /dev/sda3
>
> Good luck!
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/86150/+confirm?answer_id=4
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/86150
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Is your computer just not mounting the partition when you boot? In this case follow this guide:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AutomaticallyMountPartitions

ext3/ext4 should be fine for the partition.

Yes & no...I can mount it but can't do anything with it, that is
put stuff in or out of it. I tried that program PySDM...and when I ran
it, it could find this extension. I went to the page you suggested and
took the first step but the instruction are over-my-head. Below is
what I get from fdisk command:

 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 764 6136798+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 765 4668 31358880 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 4669 15551 87417697+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 15552 30396 119242462+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 15552 17463 15358108+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 17464 30134 101779776 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 30135 30396 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Perhaps someone could interpret what the info means or see why the sda3 is unuseable?

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #86150]: unusable partition
> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:32:36 +0000
>
> Your question #86150 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Craig Huffstetler proposed the following answer:
> Is your computer just not mounting the partition when you boot? In this
> case follow this guide:
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AutomaticallyMountPartitions
>
> ext3/ext4 should be fine for the partition.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150/+confirm?answer_id=6
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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about the PySDM program I meant to say it couldn't find sda3

@ tim

Do you have any data/files on that partition.If you do mount that partition and then backup data/files.You can mount it with command

sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

After you put your files on safe place you can delete that partition with Gparted live CD and add free space to some other partition or make new partition.

thanks so much...I really appreciate the help...I'm assuming that I must use Gparted live from the CD....as the partition program that is on ubuntu under Administration doesn't give me the option to delete the partition even after I mount it with the command you gave...so I need to download Gpart and burn it to a CD....I'lll let you know how it goes of course.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #86150]: unusable partition
> Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:35:28 +0000
>
> Your question #86150 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> zvacet proposed the following answer:
> @ tim
>
> Do you have any data/files on that partition.If you do mount that
> partition and then backup data/files.You can mount it with command
>
> sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
>
> After you put your files on safe place you can delete that partition
> with Gparted live CD and add free space to some other partition or make
> new partition.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150/+confirm?answer_id=9
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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I'm sorry for the long delay.
I did the Gparted live CD, and deleted the partition in question, so dev/sda3 disappeared. And then I merge it with sda4. However although it said operation complete nothing happened. So this partition is now stated as 'unallocated', and I can't do anything with it in Gparted.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #86150]: unusable partition
> Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:35:28 +0000
>
> Your question #86150 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> zvacet proposed the following answer:
> @ tim
>
> Do you have any data/files on that partition.If you do mount that
> partition and then backup data/files.You can mount it with command
>
> sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
>
> After you put your files on safe place you can delete that partition
> with Gparted live CD and add free space to some other partition or make
> new partition.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150/+confirm?answer_id=9
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/86150
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Problem Solved, thanks.