I was trying to format a USB key and accidentally deleted a 157MB partition that I suspect it was the booting partition from Ubuntu. But I have actually no idea of what I deleted, could have been the EFI system partition.
I was convinced that I selected the USB to be formatted and skipped all the alerts as I was getting messages of the USB being in use until then.
My Dell XPS 17" laptop has a 1T hd with Windows and Ubuntu Desktop 20.04.3 LTS installed. here is a picture of the current situation, key is the partition I have formatted:
running from a Live USB Ubuntu:
$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/loop0: 2.1 GiB, 2160009216 bytes, 4218768 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/loop1: 55.45 MiB, 58130432 bytes, 113536 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/loop2: 65.1 MiB, 68259840 bytes, 133320 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/loop3: 219 MiB, 229638144 bytes, 448512 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/loop4: 50.98 MiB, 53432320 bytes, 104360 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/loop5: 32.3 MiB, 33865728 bytes, 66144 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 953.89 GiB, 1024209543168 bytes, 2000409264 sectors
Disk model: Micron 2300 NVMe 1024GB
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 9799531D-8078-41B9-9BFA-4D8E5889A40D
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 309247 307200 150M Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p2 309248 571391 262144 128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/nvme0n1p3 571392 1176300355 1175728964 560.6G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme0n1p4 1957793792 1959821311 2027520 990M Windows recovery environment
/dev/nvme0n1p5 1959821312 1997438975 37617664 18G Windows recovery environment
/dev/nvme0n1p6 1997441024 2000377855 2936832 1.4G Windows recovery environment
/dev/nvme0n1p7 1176301568 1957793791 781492224 372.7G Linux filesystem
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
Disk /dev/sda: 29.12 GiB, 31260704768 bytes, 61056064 sectors
Disk model: Cruzer Fit
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2cf4ba3a
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 0 5999871 5999872 2.9G 0 Empty
/dev/sda2 5271500 5279499 8000 3.9M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda3 6000640 61056063 55055424 26.3G 83 Linux
$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.5
Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present
***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory.
***************************************************************
Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
33 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Disk /dev/sda: 61056064 sectors, 29.1 GiB
Model: Cruzer Fit
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 8CF0A28E-AAD6-4288-B195-4CF693FFA61F
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 61056030
Partitions will be aligned on 4-sector boundaries
Total free space is 5992606 sectors (2.9 GiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
2 5271500 5279499 3.9 MiB EF00 EFI system partition
3 6000640 61056063 26.3 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
The machine doesn't start anymore, it goes into some scanning tool from DELL every time I start.
If I press F12 I can see the booting dialog with Ubuntu and Windows Boot Manager, but if I select them I am told "No Boot Device Found". I am currently writing from a Live Ubuntu USB, with "Try Ubuntu".
I wonder, what have I deleted looking at the picture? the second 134MB partition says to be a Microsoft Reserved partition, so I suppose the key partition I formatted was the Ubuntu boot?
Do you think that if I install the Ubuntu boot in the key partition I will be fine to start the Win/Ubuntu partitions again?
Could you some up the steps I should take to make sure I don't make any further mess? I need a little guidance for confidence.
Is it the EFI partition that I deleted or something else? Maybe I shall just install GRUB in the key partition?
