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I mistakenly ran dd on sda which is the current hard-drive Ubuntu installed on. I aborted dd (using ctrl-x) and when rebooted the machine it no longer boots with Ubuntu :(

I have nothing important on the machine, so I don't care to lose everything on it.

Trying to install Ubuntu from Disk-On-Key didn't work (error: umount: /dev device busy) Tried to use repair-boot from Disk-On-Key and still didn't work (says everything finished successfully, but after rebooting I get the same errors)

My question is: do you have any idea how I can have Ubuntu installed on the machine (again, don't care to lose everything on it)?

Hani Ayoub
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    Yes you have to re-install Ubuntu. I do not see how that error message "umount: /dev device busy" is related to your use of dd, is there a swap partition that is mounted ? Post a screenshot of gparted. – Panther Feb 27 '14 at 18:23
  • There was a swap partition for sure, but I don't know what's the partition after the 'dd' command. How can I run gparted? I can't get to the cmd/terminal – Hani Ayoub Mar 02 '14 at 09:02

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I would install Ubuntu with the USB disk, then choose the "something else" option, delete the partition table and create two new partitions: one for the system (mount point /) and a swap partition (2-4 Gb).

Should do the trick.

EDIT

If this doesn't work, using a live DVD/USB, boot and choose the "Try Ubuntu" option, then open gparted and from the device menu choose Create Partition table. Then try the install option again.

Community
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To Do
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  • I don't have "Something else" in the options. I get the following options when I boot from the USB stick:Try ubuntu without installing, Install ubuntu, Check disk for defects, Test memory and Boot from first hard disk. – Hani Ayoub Mar 02 '14 at 08:59
  • Choose "Install Ubuntu" then you'll do get the "something else" option. – To Do Mar 03 '14 at 08:38
  • When I try to choose "Install Ubuntu" I get the following error: "ext2_lookup: deleted inode referenced: 408559" and then thrown to the cmd – Hani Ayoub Mar 03 '14 at 15:26
  • Try correcting errors or erasing the partition table first. See edit above. – To Do Mar 03 '14 at 16:08
  • Ubuntu doesn't lunch when I choose "Try Ubuntu" option either, I get the "umount /dev is busy" too... – Hani Ayoub Mar 04 '14 at 08:33