[Bug 669459] Re: Ubuntu installation writes into foreign partitions and MBR without permission, damaging other operating systems on the disk

[Dale Diamond]

This BUG is worse than any I've ever experienced. PLEASE GIVE IT SOME
HIGH PRIORITY!!! I am not a programmer, user only.  I wish I could help
fix it. I've seen this one cause a newly installed Ubuntu 10.10
installation to not boot using IBM boot manager. Boot manager was set up
to point to that specific Linux drive but now, boot manager can't see or
edit it. When trying to boot, the screen comes back and says the drive
is not formatted. Yet I can boot from a cd and look at the drive and see
that there are the Linux directories present. Strangely enough, the OS2
install survived it. In another instance, the OS/2 drives are rendered
inert.  In both cases however, the windoze installs have survived. This
one is also reported on the eComstation bug list.  Please help. This one
is more serious than given credit for being. There are business files
and such involved here. It's back up but so what? That doesn't fix the
problem. Please find a way to repair damaged drives.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/669459

Title:
  Ubuntu installation writes into foreign partitions and MBR without
  permission, damaging other operating systems on the disk

Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Below is the original text of the question as I posted it. Underneath some new information.
  Thanks
  Oliver Kluge

  Hi,

  I want to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop AMD64 on a PC that has a
  terabyte sized hard disk, which is already fully partitioned (with two
  partitions prepared for Ubuntu and Ubuntu's swap device). On that
  system there is a Logical Volume Manager installed (IBM). This LVM
  could be ignored by Ubuntu, as it is meant for an existing, working,
  bootable JFS partition containing eComStation, which is the current
  version of IBMs OS/2.

  But unfortunately, Ubuntu trashes the LVMs information on the disk,
  either the DLAT or the BBR. After installing Ubuntu _and telling it
  not to install Grub2 into the MBR (!)_ the LVM info gets damaged
  beyond repair. Ubuntu runs flawlessly, having actually installed Grub2
  into it's partitions PBR, as instructed.

  But eComStation won't run, and a Logical Volume Manager run from CD
  complains corrupt partition info (the actual partition table is
  intact. But disk editing tools like DFsee show that it's the LVM info
  that got damaged).

  IBMs LVM stores its info in the last sector of track 0, as opposed to
  the MBR which of course is in the first. The MBR is not damaged. It
  boots IBMs boot manager out of a small partition, and that runs okay.
  It will boot Ubuntu and every Windows installed on the system, but
  because of the damaged DLAT and/or BBR no longer eComStation.

  The error can be pinned down to Ubuntu. Immediately before
  installation everything is fine, immediately afterwards it is broken,
  reproducibly.

  Anyone got a hint why Ubuntu does this, even when told not to install
  boot code into /dev/sda?

  Thanks
  Oliver

  New information:
  a) Happens with 10.04.1, too, and also happens using the installation function of a running Live Ubuntu
  b) I bulk copied the entire hard disk to external storage and so I am able to binary compare immediately before and immediately after installing Ubuntu in /dev/sda9 (and Grub2 in there, too, not into the MBR). I am scanning the whole disk, but apparently Ubuntus installer wrote, without permission, into /dev/sda5 which contains the JFS partition of eComStation.

  Thanks
  Oliver Kluge

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