Root Access

Bob

12:19

@HackToHell Eww.

Dependency on Chrome browser = bad.

Journeyman Geek

works on FF too

Bob

@JourneymanGeek That's not what I get when I click the "desktop" link.

Lemme be a bit more specific.

Lack of proper desktop client = bad.

rlemon

ahoy

HackToHell

@Bob why ;p

It's faster than Skype, can do everything it does

Bob

@HackToHell Because lack of automation capability. Because lack of integrations.

Journeyman Geek

12:23

You can automate skype?

Bob

If I want to, I can easily control a desktop program. I can script it - even if there's no public API, you can send window messages to control it.

Journeyman Geek

ahh

Bob

To some extent, that is possible with a webapp - but only within the browser.

HackToHell

Hangouts has apps that let you do that

There's great slack integration

Bob

Once you start trying to get it to interact with external tools, it becomes a royal pain in the arse.

Journeyman Geek

12:23

I kinda miss when google chat was XMPP based

Bob

@HackToHell Also, "faster" is a very vague claim.

What, does your voice get sped up?

HackToHell

no, getting everyone to install skype is a pain in the arse

Provide a link and people get in

whee, works pretty well

Bob

@HackToHell ...and Skype has a webapp.

All I can see here is they both have webapps, while Hangouts lacks a proper desktop client.

Also, from a cursory search, it's a real pain in the arse to record a call with Hangouts.

HackToHell

Son of a bitch, I was at this presentation with limited internet and skype install was getting blocked by the firewall. Stupid company, they use skype all the time and they didn't know it had a webapp

In the end had to download it from my phone

>
You will need to install the plugin to make audio and video calls. It will automatically update in the future. Get the plugin

boo

Bob

shrug ok that's bad

Eh. Apparently they plan to implement WebRTC.

Should've been done by now.

Still, I can't see a way to record a Hangouts call. That is serious missing functionality.

And otherwise it offers little/no advantage to me.

So, as always, pros and cons of each.

Hard to say one is always better.

Personally, I consider Skype to be far more flexible.

HackToHell

12:34

Oh well, it works well in our case, slack integration, google apps integration etc etc

Yeah that's the case, which ever works well shrug

Bob

Still far from my preferred chat interface.

@HackToHell <random app> integration doesn't really mean much when you can't record a call :S

Apparently Google Voice does it

But unless you want to manually set up an audio capture you're just not gonna get it with Hangouts.

HackToHell

Oh well, I don't see you need call recording anyway :|, not my use case I suppose

Bob

Skype doesn't support it natively too, to be fair, but there's a multitude of programs that will automate the process.

HackToHell

And I gotta review some code and check if it runs

blah, need to install cloudera

Bob

@HackToHell I use it for business communications at times. It helps to be able to review what was said, for my own reference.

xCare

12:38

@Bob, make a image of the whole drive is exactly what I'm trying to do

Bob

@xCare Then you don't need to be able to see the partition.

xCare

the drive does not show up!

Journeyman Geek

._.

this is why you not should be doing this in windows ;p

xCare

computer sees it in the bios, OS does not

Journeyman Geek

in linux you can just use the device name

xCare

12:39

I am in Ubuntu

Bob

@JourneymanGeek To be fair, that works in Windows too. If you know what you're doing.

@xCare Can you see the drive in whichever disk info program they include now?

Journeyman Geek

so imaging /dev/sdX should work

and you can find that with a bit of cleverness with lsblk or lshw

xCare

you want to run me through any steps? I'm open for any concrete inputs

@Bob not as far as I can tell

Bob

@xCare ...then you have other problems.

You sure you connected it correctly?

xCare

@JourneymanGeek you'll have to run me through the process, not just give me some random command

Journeyman Geek

12:42

sudo lsblk should list all block devices

xCare

I unplugged it overnight, but it was connected properly

Bob

@xCare If it's connected properly, it will appear in the disk info program.

Journeyman Geek

lshw tells you everything on your system

xCare

is it alright if I plug the drive in with the power on?

Bob

Assuming the drive is actually alive.

Journeyman Geek

12:43

better not to

It should be safe, but I kiiiinda burnt out a drive doing that

Bob

@xCare If you have SATA hot-plug enabled, technically yes. If you want to be safe, then don't.

Journeyman Geek

(granted, it was the DOID)

Bob

apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/gnome-disk-utility

8

Q: How do I open the Disk Utility in Unity?

I am new to Ubuntu and have installed it side by side with windows 7. Both boot up okay, my problem is I can't get to disk utility to create a partition that I can share between both OSs. Help says go to activities -> overview and select disk utility there. I can't find activities.

xCare

I plugged it in

Journeyman Geek

(unrelatedly, I'm trying to beat multitouch into working on the HP stream. Works great on windows 10 ;p)

xCare

12:45

okay, what exactly do you want me to type?

Hennes

@xCare SATA is desgined for hot plugging. (which you can see in the unequal length of the pins on its connections. Ground gets connected first, then the rest).
However having a spec say 'you **should** do it this way' does not mean that people properly implemented it.
In theory it should work though since the hardware part is desgined for it and AHCI mode allows hot plugging.

xCare

far as I can tell it booted up and is whirring away happily

Hennes

But unless you can spare the system (if it fails) and have proper backups, just do not test that with consumer devices

Bob

2 mins ago, by Bob

8

Q: How do I open the Disk Utility in Unity?

I am new to Ubuntu and have installed it side by side with windows 7. Both boot up okay, my problem is I can't get to disk utility to create a partition that I can share between both OSs. Help says go to activities -> overview and select disk utility there. I can't find activities.

11.10 software-recommendation disk gnome-disk-utility

See, here's the problem. We're trying to give instructions, but you ignore them.

xCare

well, I been tackling this issue for 3 weeks now, I'm a bit short on I give a damn now :p

Bob

12:47

We're happy to help, but repeating ourselves gets old. Fast.

(Yes, I might be a bit hypocritical there.)

xCare

I been listening and following the instructions you giving best I can

Bob

@xCare What you need to do now is identify which device file is pointing to that drive.

Go open up the disk utility and find it.

xCare

like I said though, I need concrete walkthroughs not just a random throw of a comand

Bob

It'll be in the form /dev/sdX where X is a lowercase letter.

xCare

how do you do that @Bob

Bob

12:49

...do whay?

Open the disk utility? The thing I linked to twice in as many minutes?

xCare

find the drive letter?

Bob

...I just said it.

Open disk utility. It will be there.

As in, quite literally staring you in the face.

xCare

pardon, but I am not familiar with commands as I have repeatedly said.

what you type is half a command looks like

/dev/sdX

HackToHell

And azure portal is downloading a 12 mb js file -_-

xCare

bash: /dev/sdX: No such file or directory

HackToHell

12:52

oh no

xCare

can you please start at the top

HackToHell

x=1,2 etc

run sudo lsblk

Bob

4 mins ago, by Bob

2 mins ago, by Bob

8

Q: How do I open the Disk Utility in Unity?

I am new to Ubuntu and have installed it side by side with windows 7. Both boot up okay, my problem is I can't get to disk utility to create a partition that I can share between both OSs. Help says go to activities -> overview and select disk utility there. I can't find activities.

11.10 software-recommendation disk gnome-disk-utility

That's the third time I've linked that.

xCare

thank you @HackToHell

Bob

hfgiosugheioarshgeraoihtyajrks;gjrafs I give up.

xCare

12:52

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sdf 8:80 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sdf1 8:81 0 12G 0 part
├─sdf2 8:82 0 100M 0 part
└─sdf3 8:83 0 919.4G 0 part
sdg 8:96 0 14.9G 0 disk
└─sdg1 8:97 0 14.9G 0 part /media/ubuntu/790D-703D
sdh 8:112 1 1.9G 0 disk
└─sdh1 8:113 1 1.9G 0 part /media/ubuntu/908A-CD75
sr0 11:0 1 1006M 0 rom /cdrom
loop0 7:0 0 962.1M 1 loop /rofs

Bob

Actually, one last time.

OPEN DISK UTILITY AND SELECT YOUR DRIVE THERE.

1 min ago, by Bob

4 mins ago, by Bob

2 mins ago, by Bob

8

Q: How do I open the Disk Utility in Unity?

I am new to Ubuntu and have installed it side by side with windows 7. Both boot up okay, my problem is I can't get to disk utility to create a partition that I can share between both OSs. Help says go to activities -> overview and select disk utility there. I can't find activities.

11.10 software-recommendation disk gnome-disk-utility

xCare

that's the output. remember I have 2 HDD's, one is 1TB and one is 750GB. the 750GB is the corrupt one

HackToHell

I think he blocked you or something @bob o0

Bob

@HackToHell That's his problem then.

I'm done trying to help.

You can tell him that.

HackToHell

Uhm @xCare did you try opening the disk utility thing ?

xCare

12:55

@Bob what you don't understand because you haven't followed this issue closely is I been through every step in that page already. I went through gParted with the kindly folks at bleepingcomputer and they were just as perplexed.

Bob

At this point I don't even care if he's managed to get the info through another method if he ignores every instruction I attempt to give.

@xCare I told you to open Disk Utility to locate a device identifier.

I did not tell you at any point to use GParted.

xCare

@HackToHell please instruct me step by step what you want me to type so there is no confusion

I will paste whatever printout it gives

Bob

Even if you've already done so in the past and feel it will not help, say so.

If you just go and ignore people, you'll find they run out of patience very quickly.

xCare

I am not sure @Bob, this is a case where I am only a little more acquainted with the situation, and feeling just as powerless. I am not ignoring you, just be patient as I don't understand CLI that well

Bob

@xCare here I can tell you did not even attempt to follow my instructions. I have been telling you for the last, oh, 20 minutes to open Disk Utility.

If you had done so, if you had even tried to do so, you would have discovered very quickly that it had nothing to do with the CLI.

That would have been the next step.

xCare

13:01

I have opened Disk Utility, I think. I am looking for some way to screenshot what I'm seeing so you can see what I see

when I typed in Disk Utility as it says on that page, it came up a list of choices, I selected Disks

a screen popped up listing attached disks, showing a list on the left pane and selected drive in the main screen

Bob

So: select the disk you're having trouble with. You'll need to identify it somehow, whether by size or something else.

Then look on the right for a bit of text of the for /dev/sdX.

xCare

The 1TB HDD is listed, along with the DVD-Rom drive from which I'm running Ubuntu

not the 750GB HDD though

@Bob where on the right?

Bob

Ok: the disk is either not correctly connected or not working at all.

You should shut down the machine, unplug the disk (both cables), plug it back in, and start the machine again.

xCare

I will do just that, but I can tell you now, chances are slim it'll be any different. last step we did at bleepingcomputer is run DiskPart and typed the command Clear. this was supposed to reset the drive or somthing so that we could initialize it again. That's how they described it. The full transcript is in my discussion.

Bob

@xCare That has nothing to do with drive detection.

xCare

13:08

I have rebooted several times since and the drive has not shown up though

Bob

If the drive itself cannot be detected, then you're not going to be able to see or do anything with the data on the drive.

xCare

now you understand what I been saying

I'm trying to get the drive visible so I can make an image off of it

Bob

Also, again, purging the partition table is something you really should not have done without an image.

xCare

I'll restart and be back

yeah, I was skeptical on that part

Bob

@xCare The entire point of this exercise has been to locate the drive.

If it's connected and detected, it should show up in that utility.

Doesn't matter if it's initialised or not.

Or, rather, it shouldn't matter.

Not unless they broke something big in <version of ubuntu you're using>

xCare

13:21

@Bob that explains why the guys I spoke to yesterday asked about the Ubuntu itself...

I restarted, unplugged the good 1TB HDD and plugged the corrupt 750GB HDD in its place

upon starting I pressed F12 to pull up the boot device menu

in the menu it showed the corrupt drive at the top

That means the computer -does- see it

Bob

@xCare And does it appear in the Disks window now?

xCare

no.

only difference is it's missing the 1TB HD

Bob

Hm.

xCare

I need to find a way how to make the drive visible again, in the system.

Bob

Just for kicks -- enumerate the available disk devices.

ls /dev/sd*

xCare

13:26

is the asterisk included?

Bob

Yes.

xCare

okay

/dev/sda /dev/sdc /dev/sde /dev/sdf1 /dev/sdg1
/dev/sdb /dev/sdd /dev/sdf /dev/sdg

shows me that

Bob

...that's a lot.

What comes up in Disks?

Click each one on the left and note the /dev/sdX identifier in the pane on the right.

xCare

the DVD-Rom Drive, 2 flashdrives I have hooked up with tools and a bunch of empty SD bays that comes built in to the machine

ok, sda to sde are the empty drives

the DVD drive with Ubuntu is /dev/sr0

sdf1 and sdg1 are the flashdrives

and there's one last entry listed at the bottom under Other devices

/dev/loop0

Bob

Hm. Could you dump /var/log/dmesg here?

Or chuck it on gist.

It'll be quite long.

xCare

13:31

bash: /var/log/dmesg: Permission denied

add sudo?

Bob

@xCare It's a plain text file. Not an executable.

Open it in gedit or whichever text editor.

xCare

explain please, where do I type that in?

ok

Bob

You could also cat it but it'll probably overflow the terminal buffer before you can copy it :\

Journeyman Geek

sigh

Bob

@xCare Open the gedit program. Then find that file. Treat gedit like Notepad in Windows.

Journeyman Geek

13:34

cat /var/log/dmesg > /path/to/some/filename.txt ? ;p

Bob

@JourneymanGeek Not much point in doing that...

Might as well open the file directly.

xCare

I have gedit open, it gives me a menu at the top, one of the options is Open. when I click that I have a folder layout

where is the Find button?

Bob

@xCare ... / corresponds to, say, C:\ in Windows.

Navigate all the way up to the top-level directory then down through var and log and open dmesg.

xCare

thanks, got it

pastee.org/cdvvg

Bob

@xCare What brand is that drive?

It's attached by SATA, right?

xCare

13:39

yes

Bob

@xCare What brand?

xCare

it's Seagate Barracuda 750GB

or specifically, Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

Bob

Doesn't look like it was detected at all.

[    8.543528] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Generic- Compact Flash    1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[    8.546772] scsi 6:0:0:1: Direct-Access     Generic- SM/xD-Picture    1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[    8.549897] scsi 6:0:0:2: Direct-Access     Generic- SD/MMC           1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[    8.553022] scsi 6:0:0:3: Direct-Access     Generic- MS/MS-Pro/HG     1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[    8.556153] scsi 6:0:0:4: Direct-Access     Generic- SD/MMC/MS/MSPRO  1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS

[    8.776767] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SanDisk  Cruzer Fit       1.26 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6

[    9.025517] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Generic  STORAGE DEVICE   0207 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0

That last one is 2GB. I assume that's your second flash drive.

xCare

yes

Bob

[   10.374420] scsi 2:0:0:0: CD-ROM            HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH41N     MN01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

And that's it.

Hm.

xCare

13:41

the Rom with Ubuntu running

everyone I been talking to is as perplexed, but the drive is detected in the Bios, so there must be a way to make it visible again

Bob

[   10.706501] ata6: port disabled--ignoring

O_O

xCare

maybe we can unignore it?

Bob

@xCare What was the last thing you did again? diskpart clean?

xCare

yes

they had me do that

Bob

@xCare Then what?

Just shut down?

Nothing else?

@xCare It's being ignored by Ubuntu because the port was detected as disabled.

xCare

13:43

they were expecting it would re-initialize the drive so we could assign a new letter and table again... after that I just shut it down

Bob

As for why it's disabled... I haven't a clue.

@xCare What's the exact command you used? Just clean? I hope you didn't use clean all.

If you did the latter, then now is the time to give up. (that would wipe all data off)

xCare

just Clean, and I was very skeptical. you can see the record of the full convo at the discussion thread

Discussion on question by xCare: Reco…

Imported from a comment discussion on superuser.com/questions/...

Been keeping a nearly complete record of all the steps and taken so far in there, will port over this discussion as well

Bob

I can't help but wonder if you managed to brick the drive...

clean should only remove the MBR or GPT.

But that certainly wouldn't leave the drive completely unrecognisable.

xCare

I have a copy of the functional MBR, extracted from a image of the drive I made when it was new. My idea after making an image was to copy back the mbr to the corrupt drive

Bob

[   10.372128] ata2.00: both IDENTIFYs aborted, assuming NODEV
[   10.706377] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

Odd.

Journeyman Geek

13:48

could the disk itself be dead?

xCare

technically that should make the drive bootable once again if nothing else does. On Windows, some software tools detect the drive with the first 2 partitions (not the 3rd where the data is).

Bob

@JourneymanGeek That's what it looks like from here!

xCare

The drive is currently warm and running

Journeyman Geek

Its powered up

xCare

yes

and its detected in the BIOS

Journeyman Geek

13:49

A drive will run as long as it has power.

Bob

I'm just trying to filter down the dmesg output. Gimme a sec.

xCare

Please, by all means. If anyone finds the trick to make the drive recognizable again, sure would appreciate it

One idea I'm having is since it recognizes the drive at the boot level, maybe tools run from the boot level might jump it

Bob

[    6.974178] scsi host0: sata_nv
[    6.984729] scsi host1: sata_nv
[    6.984835] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xd400 ctl 0xd080 bmdma 0xc880 irq 21
[    6.984839] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xd000 ctl 0xcc00 bmdma 0xc888 irq 21
[    6.991224] scsi host2: sata_nv
[    6.997873] scsi host3: sata_nv
[    6.997957] ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xc800 ctl 0xc480 bmdma 0xc000 irq 20
[    6.997960] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xc400 ctl 0xc080 bmdma 0xc008 irq 20
[    7.306386] ata1: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

Two suspicious parts:

[    7.772092] ata2: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[   10.372128] ata2.00: both IDENTIFYs aborted, assuming NODEV

and

[   10.706501] ata6: port disabled--ignoring

Hennes

Isn;t the first part for an PATA controller ?

xCare

perhaps some of Hiren's Boot tools might do something

Hennes

13:54

Hmm, no. not with 3.0 speeds

Bob

@Hennes Yes, it's also odd that two of the ports were detected as PATA.

@xCare Do you know what motherboard model this is?

Would help to get an idea of the port layout.

xCare

that might refer to a USB 3.0 port card? I got one but it doesn't work in Ubuntu

Hennes

Might be a board with two different SATA controllers (and only one driver loaded)

Bob

@xCare He meant SATA 3.

@Hennes True, but he had a different drive apparently on the same port.

SO I guess the assumption is that it's ata2

xCare

MB is a PCI Express Serial ATA II

Bob

13:56

@xCare ...that's not a motherboard model :P

Maybe a photo would be better.

xCare

there's a number at the top which says HT2000

Hennes

That is like my car is brand "4 wheeled with radio"

Bob

@xCare Yea, that might be it.

Hennes

This one ?

support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00906137

Bob

@Hennes Huh. First time I've seen multicoloured SATA ports.

xCare

13:58

looks like it

Hennes

Any motherboard info in dmidecode ?

Bob

>
One PATA connector
Four SATA connectors

Interesting.

That would make sense.

xCare

that's the one yes.

Bob

The PATA is probably for floppy drives.

That would be ata5

and ata6 is allocated but listed as disabled because there's no physical port

xCare

I could hook a floppy drive to this thing?

Bob

13:59

Ok.

So your drive is almost certainly on ata2.

xCare

that's what it says on the MB

Bob

[    7.772092] ata2: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[   10.372128] ata2.00: both IDENTIFYs aborted, assuming NODEV

So the actual error is "both IDENTIFYs aborted, assuming NODEV".

Discussion on question by xCare: Reco…

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