My inexperience on installs really demonstrated I managed to completely fubar my main fc5 on sda1 using an f10 live/install cd I was able to recover w a backup fc5copy....see below summary of f10liveinstall from memory, not sure of all steps --the livecd itself saw usb as sda? just like knoppix? --it had a confusing double menu for choice of disk --on 2nd half i clicked on sdc6 (ie sdb6) --but on 1st half it rqrd something to click sda,b, or c -- i may well have left this as sdb(ie sda)? --then its response listed something re LVM and a separate /boot partn?, evidently no choice -- i tried to back out before any changes commited, did it twice or more, could easily have made mistake/confused installer then viewing system from knoppix cd (here seen from reboot into my backup fc5copy) [root@bootp ~]# df -kh Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sdb6 7.7G 5.6G 1.8G 77% / tmpfs 1014M 0 1014M 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 190M 5.6M 175M 4% /mnt/sda1 <<only 190M??? [root@bootp ~]# pwd nothing in sda1 except lost+found, my entire orig sda1 my mainfc5 wiped out at some point after this i did the mbr reinstall as per kyle rankin apr09LJ using dd and my mbrbackup on usb then fdisk -l looked normal [root@bootp ~]# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 36.7 GB, 36703934464 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4462 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 2676 21494938+ 83 Linux /dev/sda2 2677 3163 3911827+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda3 3164 4462 10434217+ 83 Linux 21G size for sda1 but the df results say only 190M, a strong indication fubard. i finally was able to boot into my fc5copy on sdb6 by first installing into mbr of sda in knoppix cd root (hd1,5) setup (hd0) (this didnt work if usbexternal connected, seen as sda in knoppix then: root (hd2,5) setup (hd1) did say succeeded but trying to boot wo knoppix ends w GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB ) my questions re liveinstall cd --i was trying to use _only_ sdb6, (which i backed out of) but livecd also did something evidently wiping sda1 do i need to have available more than one partition for livecd? --livecd seems to leave no choice by LVM-- can i choose no LVM? --maybe livecd also trying to setup separate boot partn, not sure. again, can i choose no LVM? --re my apparently fubared sda1: just reformat? or no need? can i reuse it for other stuff? what size is it? I dont understand how fdisk shows sda size 21G but df has 190M?????? all in all this was very frustrating, but --at least i have a working fc5 with only a few months of data files gone bc not backed up --before i finally recovered my fc5 copy on sdb6 i learned i could chroot to it off of the knoppixcd; this was useful, took notes running emacs in that chroot. --i did get practice using my mbrbackup and also practice knoppixcd to recover (did i need both?) question re knoppix cd (i know, this is OT for fedoralist) -- this is a purchased cd, it appears limited, comes up as "microknoppix" eg neither gpart nor gparted available --are there more complete versions? --the f10 liveinstall cd now has me scared off, but in its liveonly aspects does it have gparted, gpart? comments, advice all appreciated Jack