Partitions are gone after installation [solved]

[ghosts]

Hope this is the right place to post this. Not really sure what's going on--I downloaded Core Plus and used it to connect to the internet.

Then I downloaded cfdisk and used it to create a swap, tce, opt, and home partition. After that I ran the installer, formatted everything to ext2.
The install was apparently successful, however when I rebooted and took out the cd, I noticed that my partitions are gone. They are not recognized when I turn my netbook on.

I put the cd back in and installed cfdisk again. This time it showed me one big ext2 partition instead of the four I'd created.

Can someone explain this to me?

. . . also, a few minutes ago I tried to re-install it, but whenever I try to format a swap partition, the next time I print the partition table it says "ext2" instead of swap. It's happened a few times already. What am I doing wrong?

edit

changed the title of this thread as it seemed kind of misleading or inaccurate

[Rich]

Hi ghosts
Yes, Tinycore will destroy partitions, as will any Linux or Windows operating system if you tell them to.

Then I downloaded cfdisk and used it to create a swap, tce, opt, and home partition.

There's really no need to create separate partitions for tce, opt, and home.

After that I ran the installer, formatted everything to ext2.

So you selected  "Whole Disk"  instead of  "Existing Partition"  in step 2? (See: http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html)

[aus9]

Hi ghosts

Without trying to re-partition--- what is the result of this command please

Code: [Select]

ls -al /dev/disk/by-path

Can you describe how many drives or usb sticks you have connected during your attempt to install as well pls

Can you briefly describe what main uses you want to do with your computer?

2) Leaping ahead, if you like the idea of having persistence after reading the concepts page
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/concepts.html

I think most people who use persistence have the tce folder, the home folder, the opt folder on one or 2 partitions and not on one each
Personally I like to keep it simple and all exist on one partition.

Whether you need a swap partition is dependent on much RAM you have, and what you intend to do with your computer like video editting etc
eg I don't have a swap but I have 2G RAM

cheers

[ghosts]

Hi ghosts
Yes, Tinycore will destroy partitions, as will any Linux or Windows operating system if you tell them to.

That's why I changed the title I don't blame it on Tiny Core, though I don't think I did anything intentional to destroy the partitions.

Then I downloaded cfdisk and used it to create a swap, tce, opt, and home partition.

There's really no need to create separate partitions for tce, opt, and home.

I'll keep that in mind when I try to install again, thanks.

After that I ran the installer, formatted everything to ext2.

So you selected  "Whole Disk"  instead of  "Existing Partition"  in step 2? (See: http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html)

Yeah. I don't intend to dual-boot.

Hi ghosts

Without trying to re-partition--- what is the result of this command please

Code: [Select]

ls -al /dev/disk/by-path


Ah, I can't, I've already installed a backup os I'll try again in the morning though.

Can you describe how many drives or usb sticks you have connected during your attempt to install as well pls

Just an external DVD drive connected through a USB port

Can you briefly describe what main uses you want to do with your computer?

Internet, essays, manga, movies & series. . .  Nothing heavy, and I usually use very small applications.

2) Leaping ahead, if you like the idea of having persistence after reading the concepts page
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/concepts.html

I think most people who use persistence have the tce folder, the home folder, the opt folder on one or 2 partitions and not on one each
Personally I like to keep it simple and all exist on one partition.

Noted, I'll use one

Whether you need a swap partition is dependent on much RAM you have, and what you intend to do with your computer like video editting etc
eg I don't have a swap but I have 2G RAM

I have 2G  ram too, the swap is just for insurance.

cheers

Thanks!

[ghosts]

I'm gonna  try again tomorrow with less partitions. If all goes well, I'll chalk it up to some mysterious mistake on my part. If not. . . well I'll get back to this thread with more questions  U^_^

[Rich]

Hi ghosts
That's why your partitions disappeared, you told the installer to use the whole disk, and then format it.
If you are comfortable using cfdisk, that's fine, I personally use gparted when dealing with partitions. Leaving
some unpartitioned space on the drive might be a good idea. This will allow you to set up partitions in the future
should you wish to test a different version of Tinycore (or other OS) without disturbing the current version.
Create a partition where you want to install to and a swap partition. This time try USB-HDD, Existing Partition, and
Install boot loader options. Be sure to select the partition in the window labeled  Select for core.

[tinypoodle]

but whenever I try to format a swap partition, the next time I print the partition table it says "ext2" instead of swap. It's happened a few times already. What am I doing wrong?

Swap space cannot be formatted, it gets prepared using "mkswap" (regardless if partition or file).
I'd recommend you prefer swap file(s) over swap partition.

[gerald_clark]

Swap partitions are formatted with mkswap.

[tinypoodle]

Oops! 
Thank you gerald_clark, of course that was meant to read "mkswap" instead of "swapon"   

Prior post edited accordingly

[ghosts]

Hi ghosts
That's why your partitions disappeared, you told the installer to use the whole disk, and then format it.
If you are comfortable using cfdisk, that's fine, I personally use gparted when dealing with partitions. Leaving
some unpartitioned space on the drive might be a good idea. This will allow you to set up partitions in the future
should you wish to test a different version of Tinycore (or other OS) without disturbing the current version.
Create a partition where you want to install to and a swap partition. This time try USB-HDD, Existing Partition, and
Install boot loader options. Be sure to select the partition in the window labeled  Select for core.

THANK YOU! Worked perfectly.
. . . wow it seems so obvious now that I think about it 

but whenever I try to format a swap partition, the next time I print the partition table it says "ext2" instead of swap. It's happened a few times already. What am I doing wrong?

Swap space cannot be formatted, it gets prepared using "mkswap" (regardless if partition or file).
I'd recommend you prefer swap file(s) over swap partition.

Oh, thanks. "mkswap" was something I thought was mostly necessary for things like Arch where you're formatting and mounting partitions manually. Since I used "cfdisk" to format it as "swap" I thought it wasn't needed. Oh well XD Lesson learned.