Manjaro dual boot installation wiped my data partitions

Support
,
1

Good morning,
I’m here to warn you: when trying to install Manjaro in dual boot, the system made a mistake in the partitions!

By selecting the two partitions prepared for a new dual boot installation Manjaro had put them at the top when recognizing the partitions. These two partitions were well named (nvme1p3/nvme1p4) but when I launched the system it had installed on the two partitions of my other system, I lost ALL my data…

I am used to the installations, I claim not to have made any mistakes.

Hope to have helped you.

Sincerely, Skwal.

2

Manjaro uses a third party installer - Calamares.

All those years using Calamares I have never seen the installer choose another disk than the one the user select.

When you have more than one disk - it is important to make sure the correct target is selected and is easy to make a mistake there.

Since you are mentioning nvme1 I am assuming you accidently selected nvme0 as the target for your installation.

I am not sure what you mean by that - I am guessing using a custom partition layout?

With a custom partition layout - you define which partitions to use and what use they should have. The partitions in the table is ordered by number.

If you have chosen a disk from the drop down at the initial install target selection - then all actions will be targeting that disk.

With that you can choose to replace a partition by selecting the partition you want to replace with the new installation.

I have - a few times - had the accident to select the wrong disk - so I know it is possible - no matter whom it happens to is very frustrating and I feel with you but it is a human mistake. I had an incident a couple of months ago - I accidently wiped my data drive - dang - I was mad at my self.

3 Likes
3

Hello Linux-Aarhus,

I’m often unsure of myself, I prefer not to say stupid things… I assure you that this problem is very real!
I went through Calamares for the installation, I did not choose the wrong disk during the installation but on the path specified in my message, it is not /dev/nvmen1p* but rather nvmen0p*.

As mentioned, I am used to Linux installations, whether Manjaro, Archlinux or other.
If I had the slightest doubt I would have communicated it to you.
Far be it from me to criticize, on the contrary if I reinstall Manjaro it is because it is qualitative.

I think this is an unlisted bug, unfortunately I have no further information to give you.

This happened to me with a Manjaro installation about 2/3 years ago.

During installation the order of the partitions was:
/dev/nvmen0p3
/dev/nvmen0p4
/dev/nvmen0p1 (EndeavourOS, boot)
/dev/nvmen0p2 (EndeavourOS, root)

However, this has never happened to me, normally the order should have been:
/dev/nvmen0p1
/dev/nvmen0p2
/dev/nvmen0p3
/dev/nvmen0p4

Please consider that I am reporting a bug that caused me to erase my important data, I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
And of course, I repeat, I didn’t have the wrong disk, it’s impossible.

Kind regards, Skwal

4

The correct place would then be Calamares (official repo) · GitHub

5

I only had this bug with Manjaro, never with any other distribution, should I always send a bug report to the Calamares team?

Edit: it’s done

6

So twice within a timespan of 24-36 months ?

And you have had several succesful installations of Manjaro within the same timespan ?

With no mentions what-so-ever in any forum topic I can remember

  • I survived two forum crashes since 2016
  • I think it is fair to assume it is not a generic issue with the Calamares installer used by Manjaro

can you agree with that assessment?

Should the quote be understood that you have experienced this on several occasions and only for Manjaro?

Or is it a lonely bird?

When there is humans involved error40 or error99 - more often than not it is error40.

There is Applications / calamares · GitLab but it is merely a copy of upstream - with some Manjaro specific modules.

I’d say yes - because the core functionality is maintained upstream - and selecting which device to install to is a core function.

7

I have installed Manjaro multiple times and the default selected option for disk is erase all data with ext4 file system . Many distros that use calamares installer removed the erase all disk option from calamares and Install Alongside and Manual Partition are available . Manjaro should take that seriously why default selected option is erase all disk and why not remove it. I think that only 50 to 100 GB should be used for any OS to operate and remaining storage should be put to use for personal files, data and backups seperately by partitioning to different volumes. These seperate volumes can be used by any OS fully functionally like its /home .

8

Why is that a problem?

Why change it?

If the argument is that a user can goof existing partitions - it is not a very good argument as I often hear the phrase “Linux is about choices” - so why take away a choice - a choice that I personally use a lot.

9

Yes in VirtualBox you may use this choice but in Real Hardware nobody will wipe out 1000s of gigabytes of storage with personal files to install an Operating System which is fully functional on 50-100 gb storage.

10

Of course not.

When you have such scenario - I am one of those who do - you still have to be awake and aware of what you are doing.

If you just pick the defaults - when you should not - for that you cannot blame the installer - after all the installer is just a software on a machine - carrying out orders as instructed by the human interacting with it.

11

Yes, being locked in a Linux distribution loop, I installed it at least (without abusing) 200 times during that time.

Yes, I only experienced this on Manjaro, never on any other distribution using Calamares.

I’m sorry if this seems incomprehensible to you, I translate my messages with Google translator and do not notice any possible syntax errors.

Sincerely, Skwal.

12

That is not what I asked

So you have have two hundred (200) times success and (1) time you wipe your data?

13

That’s not what I asked

Sorry if I didn’t understand…

So you have had two hundred (200) times of success and (1) time of erasing your data?

That’s it, this problem doesn’t happen often.

14

If it were a software error you would have one (1) success and two hundred (200) failures and the forum would be flooded with issues on installer error.

So this is is not likely to be software but a human error.

I have no more to add.

3 Likes
15

Because ‘errore humanum est’, my solution to this issue is 1.) to handle all OS’s in all PC’s as platforms for temporary handling data and 2.) to keep all data on external drive(s) with 3.) regular back-ups on at least in 3 copies.

16

I know I didn’t make a mistake, but an error occurred.
I have nothing more to add on this subject, I had to point it out to you, I did my part.
Wishing you good luck.

I wanted to talk to you about this random behavior, the fact that I did not copy my data to another partition is indeed a human problem, coming from me, but is not the subject.

Thanks.

17

If its a real bug it should be repeatability, otherwise the devs can’t fix the problem or at least they can’t tell if you selected the wrong disk or not.

You need to show exactly what buttons did you pressed, maybe make a video or screenshots, that shows proof.

3 Likes
18

If it is a big, it should be reproducable.
Another side note: the order of partition numberig has no meaning at all, as long they are unique. They are numbered in order of creation, so i for example also have higher numbers between lower numbers.
If they are renumbered, maybe you reformatted the disk or deleted the partition table?

19

These are the partitioning options given by Calamares (in no particular order):

Method (My added) Description
Install alongside Allows to shrink an existing partition to install Manjaro alongside an already installed OS.
Replace a partition Allows choosing an existing partition or unallocated space (free space) to replace with a new OS.
Erase disk Erases everything on the disk, creates a new ESP, and installs Manjaro using a single (root /) partition.
Manual partitioning Allows the greatest flexibility over your Manjaro installation.

While I agree that general descriptions presented in Calamares might benefit from being a little more verbose, I dare say there is nothing ambiguous about Erase disk, irrespective of it’s ordered position.

If an option exists that is clearly labelled Erase disk, one wonders exactly how that might possibly be misinterpreted. As always, performing some research before committing to any Linux install is recommended.

That is all. Cheers.