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I dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu. I used to have them on one disk but I moved them onto separate disks for more space. After I separated their disks now I get this error on startup:

/dev/sda2: The filesystem size (according to the superblock) is 30146560 blocks
The physical size of the device is 4096 blocks
Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt!

/dev/sda2: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY: RUN fsck MANUALLY.

Something strange is that /dev/sda2 is a 'Microsoft reserved partition', and Ubuntu is actually installed at /dev/sdb2. I also noticed that this only happens after Ubuntu boots into a blank purple screen with no mouse or any response, and that only happens after I restart from Windows to go to Ubuntu. Also Windows says 'Press any key to skip disk checking' on startup, which it didn't before I moved the disk.

I have tried all the solutions in other similar questions. They do not work because the first error says Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt! Abort<y>? Answering 'yes' then exits fsck. I have also tried answering 'no' to this question and then 'a' for 'all' but that also did not fix the problem after a system restart. I have also run 'quick' SMART disk checks and full tests which have found no errors on the SSD.

UPDATE: A temporary fix for the problem was to unplug the SATA cable for the disk with Windows on it, which then allowed Ubuntu to boot normally. All the data seems intact. This confirms that Ubuntu has issues with the 'Microsoft reserved partition' on the Windows SSD, and removing it allowed Ubuntu to work (but now I can't use Windows)

How can I fix this? (preferably permanently) Why would it matter if /dev/sda2 (a partition which is not involved in the Ubuntu install) appears broken to Ubuntu?

Thanks.

EDIT 2: better question here

Liftyee
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  • Is sda2 ext4 formatted? Then if ext4 have you run a full fsck on sda2. Run both commands. https://askubuntu.com/questions/642504/ubuntu-14-04-is-not-booting-normaly-after-a-manual-hard-boot/642789#642789 If not, post link to Summary Report from Boot-Repair to confirm configuration. Please copy & paste the pastebin link to the Boot-info summary report ( do not post report), do not run the auto fix till reviewed. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair – oldfred Jan 02 '21 at 21:17
  • The strange thing is that Ubuntu is actually installed on /dev/sdb2, and /dev/sda2 is a 'Microsoft reserved partition'. – Liftyee Jan 03 '21 at 13:04
  • If sda2 is Microsoft format or unformatted, fsck will not work. The Linux fsck command is only for ext family of formats, ext2, ext3 & ext4. There is a version dosfsck or fsck.vfat for FAT32 formats, and the Linux ntfsfix only turns on Windows chkdsk flag and fixes very little. If not a formatted partition then no tools work. Note that sda & sdb may not always be same drive. Depends on when UEFI/BIOS finds & loads drive. If I reboot with a flash drive that was sdc, it then is sda & my sda is sdb, etc. So you always have to check drive & partition. sudo parted -l – oldfred Jan 03 '21 at 16:05

1 Answers1

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Like oldfred says, you need to run the file system check at a minimum. Try this:

fsck /dev/sda2

Answer "Yes" Y for each error. Alternatively, press A once to always answe "Yes".

Let the system do its thing, which may take a while, then reboot. After that, it should be fine.

  • I have tried that and answering 'Yes' to the first error just makes fsck abort. Also after doing that the system still didn't work properly and I got the same error on boot. – Liftyee Jan 03 '21 at 13:07