W10 has corrupted all my superblocks

Support
1

Hi all, I was a happy new user of Manjaro and today I tried to install Windows 10. The installation failed because it couldn’t format its NTFS partition, I tried again and it failed again… and this time Windows also deleted all my ext4 partitions :man_facepalming:

I try to reboot, Manjaro isn’t listed in the UEFI anymore. I booted from the live version of Manjaro to run testdisk, here is the overview in parted:

Model: WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 


Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name                          Flags
 1      32.3kB  650GB   650GB   ntfs                                          msftdata
 2      650GB   776GB   126GB                                                 boot, esp
 3      776GB   923GB   147GB   ext4            Home
 4      923GB   993GB   70.0GB  linux-swap(v1)                                swap
 5      993GB   993GB   16.8MB                  Microsoft reserved partition  msftres
 6      1000GB  1000GB  111MB   fat32                                         bios_grub
  • nvme0n1p1 is supposed to be the NTFS partition for Windows - empty
  • nvme0n1p2 is supposed to be Manjaro / - CORRUPTED
  • nvme0n1p3 is Manjaro /home - Intact
  • nvme0n1p6 is supposed to be the UEFI partition - CORRUPTED

This was what testdisk found:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nrcr36op8429fa/Screenshot%20from%202021-08-14%2010-05-31.png

It cannot read nvme0n1p2 'Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged'.

Testdisk also says that the harddisk seems too small. The best that testdisk can do is to restore my home partition. It cannot find or restore Manjaro. I’ve tried both the quick search and deeper search.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/omop9gue29ft24d/Screenshot%20from%202021-08-14%2009-50-33.png

Trying to run fsck and e2fsck:

sudo fsck /dev/nvme0n1p2 
fsck from util-linux 2.37.1
e2fsck 1.46.3 (27-Jul-2021)
ext2fs_open2: Bad magic number in super-block
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1p2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 <device>

Here are my superblocks backups:

sudo mke2fs -n /dev/nvme0n1p2
mke2fs 1.46.3 (27-Jul-2021)
Creating filesystem with 30719970 4k blocks and 7684096 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 9380e4b1-fbc8-4c67-9d7c-b49cc72f0b89
Superblock backups stored on blocks: 
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 
	4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872

I’ve tried to restore all superblock backups, but they all failed :fearful:

udo e2fsck -b 32768 /dev/nvme0n1p2 
e2fsck 1.46.3 (27-Jul-2021)
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1p2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 <device>

What should I do?

Thanks!

2

If you are satisfied with my opinion, aka
this is not what you should do
but what I would do

backup my HOME partition, assuming you have important data there
then start from scratch - first installing Win 10 into the space you give it
then reinstall Linux afterwards.

I can’t help with recommendations on how to possibly repair the filesystems.
Some suggestions have been given in the command output (try a different superblock).

Depending on what you need Windows for, you could also just install it as a virtual machine inside your Linux installation instead of a dual boot setup
(won’t be good with graphics performance if you can’t use GPU passthrough).

2 Likes
3

Thanks Nachlese, it’s not ideal but yes that’s the last resort.

4

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5

I’ve marked this answer as the solution to your question as it is by far the best answer you’ll get.

However, if you disagree with my choice, please feel free to take any other answer as the solution to your question or even remove the solution altogether: You are in control! (If you disagree with my choice, just send me a personal message and explain why I shouldn’t have done this or :heart: or :+1: if you agree)

:innocent:
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so that the next person that has the exact same problem you just had will benefit from your post as well as your question will now be in the “solved” status.
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