Partitioning on i386

Partitioning on i386

[Benjamin Walkenhorst]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello everybody,

I am currently facing the problem that I *do* have enough space on my disks
to do pretty much anything I want (about 64GB in toto), but I've run out of
partitions.

One of those is occupied by a NetBSD 1.6-installation. NetBSD, as well as
other BSD-based operating systems, uses its own partitioning-scheme, allowing
it to place several partitions into one primary partition within a DOS-based
partition-table.

Can I do something similar with Linux? I think the kernel configuration menu
mentions something like "Minix Sub-partitions". Are they what I might be
looking for?
In other words, can I somehow exceed the usual 7-partition-limit in
DOS-partition-tables?

Thanks in advance,

Kind regards,

Benjamin

- --
Benjamin Walkenhorst
eMail: krylon@gmx.net
homepage: http://www.krylon.de



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Re: Partitioning on i386

[urgrue]

Sounds like what you want is to create an extended partition. Into this 
you can create logical partitions (I just created ten, I don't know 
what the limit is).


> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Hello everybody,
> 
> I am currently facing the problem that I *do* have enough space on my
> disks
> to do pretty much anything I want (about 64GB in toto), but I've run
> out of
> partitions.
> 
> One of those is occupied by a NetBSD 1.6-installation. NetBSD, as well
> as
> other BSD-based operating systems, uses its own partitioning-scheme,
> allowing
> it to place several partitions into one primary partition within a
> DOS-based
> partition-table.
> 
> Can I do something similar with Linux? I think the kernel
> configuration menu
> mentions something like "Minix Sub-partitions". Are they what I might
> be
> looking for?
> In other words, can I somehow exceed the usual 7-partition-limit in
> DOS-partition-tables?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Benjamin
> 
> - --
> Benjamin Walkenhorst
> eMail: krylon@gmx.net
> homepage: http://www.krylon.de
> 
> 
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Public Key available at http://www.krylon.de
> 
> iD8DBQE/MgZKoYumWdMvhMQRArO4AJ4zwH1UQ2RhRCCcQLdVytMM0ASU/ACfTUUl
> sYyayVjafFs+shOuf1PdYO4=
> =Auyn
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-
> admin"
> in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> 
> 

Re: Partitioning on i386

[Benjamin Walkenhorst]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Donnerstag, 7. August 2003 11:33 urgrue wrote:

Hello,

> Sounds like what you want is to create an extended partition. Into this
> you can create logical partitions (I just created ten, I don't know
> what the limit is).

Okay, I did not know you can put as many logical partitions into an extended 
partition as you want. I thought you could create just 4.

On the other hand, most of my linux stuff resides in primary partitions, so I 
would have to re-partition my disk. And that is too much trouble at the 
moment. (If I can move linux-stuff to logical partitions, I get more free 
primary partitions and thus can install more OSes. ;-) I am currently trying 
to get as many OSes on my machine as I can. I already got Win2k, GNU/Linux 
and NetBSD, next I want to get FreeBSD and Solaris 8 running, if I manage to 
re-partition my disks one day.)

Thank you very much,

Benjamin

- -- 
Benjamin Walkenhorst
eMail: krylon@gmx.net
homepage: http://www.krylon.de
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Re: Partitioning on i386

[Andrew Kelly]

Benjamin Walkenhorst wrote:
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> On Donnerstag, 7. August 2003 11:33 urgrue wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> > Sounds like what you want is to create an extended partition. Into this
> > you can create logical partitions (I just created ten, I don't know
> > what the limit is).
> 
> Okay, I did not know you can put as many logical partitions into an extended
> partition as you want. I thought you could create just 4.

Careful, there is a limit on on logical partitions, too.
You are allowed 4 primary partitions, or 
3 primary partitions + 1 extended partion. The extended
partion is a container partion for logical partitions and,
as such, not usable for storage. Within the extended partition
you may create up to 12 logical partitions.
So, 15 usable parts. are all you'll get.
 
Unless of course I'm wrong.
;-)

Andy

Re: Partitioning on i386

[urgrue]

i see. so you want LOTS of partitions. well, one way is to not split 
everything up so much. linux only _needs_ one partition, technically 
speaking.
i recall there was some way to use files as partitions. you can mount 
them using the loop device. but i dont really know specifics. anyway i 
think this is a worse idea than just one bigger partition, with quota 
enabled if size really matters.
and you know maybe linux and bsd and solaris can share a swap 
partition? i dont know how easily thats done but in the worst case with 
some messy boot-time scripting.



> On the other hand, most of my linux stuff resides in primary
> partitions, so I
> would have to re-partition my disk. And that is too much trouble at
> the
> moment. (If I can move linux-stuff to logical partitions, I get more
> free
> primary partitions and thus can install more OSes. ;-) I am currently
> trying
> to get as many OSes on my machine as I can. I already got Win2k,
> GNU/Linux
> and NetBSD, next I want to get FreeBSD and Solaris 8 running, if I
> manage to
> re-partition my disks one day.)
> 
> Thank you very much,
> 
> Benjamin
> 
> - --
> Benjamin Walkenhorst
> eMail: krylon@gmx.net
> homepage: http://www.krylon.de
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> Comment: Public Key available at http://www.krylon.de
> 
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> EsFgWIl1xsiXW/M2nn9S4pI=
> =gvKD
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> 
> 

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS)]

hELLO,

i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed. 

the existing drive partitions are like 

c:drive  8GB
D: drive 10 GB
Free space 9 GB

i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk partitiioning
failed. so i chose manual partitioning.

whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and swap or
/boot and /.

any time its not allowing me to create the third one.

how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?

do i need to work with partition maginc and destroy my current win2k
installation??


please help

reg
v.r

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Scott Taylor]

At 09:39 08/07/03, Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) wrote:
>hELLO,
>
>i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed.
>
>the existing drive partitions are like
>
>c:drive  8GB
>D: drive 10 GB
>Free space 9 GB
>
>i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk partitiioning
>failed. so i chose manual partitioning.

Which version of RedHat?

>whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and swap or
>/boot and /.
>
>any time its not allowing me to create the third one.

Because drive D: is taking up the extended partition space.


>how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?

If you can remove Drive D: from window then do so.  Create /boot and then 
create / and /swap in extended space.  Leave the rest unpartitioned then 
recreate drive D: next time in Win2K.

There are good how-to's at http://tldp.org to help with dual booting Win2K 
and other OS.

HTH

Scott.

Re: Partitioning on i386

[teddymills]

Well it sounds like your trying to install RH 19Gb into your drive.
The /boot kernel i believe must still reside in the first 8GB of the drive.

This is the way I install dual systems.
1. install the Windows software onto a 4GB partition (leave rest of drive
unallocated)
2. install RH or linux onto a single partition , say 4GB

3. Boot back into Windows and setup a large partition of the unallocated as
you require...
4. Setup any extra partitions for the linux as you require....

5. Say, damn, this makes a hell of a lot of sense....except that dual
booting kind of defeats
    the purpose of the computer since only one OS can be up at a time...thus
Teddy sayeth
    "Dualbooting means you should setup a second computer..."


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS)" <Venkata.Ramdas@med.ge.com>
To: <linux-admin@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: <krylon@gmx.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 12:39 PM
Subject: RE: Partitioning on i386


> hELLO,
>
> i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed.
>
> the existing drive partitions are like
>
> c:drive  8GB
> D: drive 10 GB
> Free space 9 GB
>
> i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk partitiioning
> failed. so i chose manual partitioning.
>
> whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and swap
or
> /boot and /.
>
> any time its not allowing me to create the third one.
>
> how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?
>
> do i need to work with partition maginc and destroy my current win2k
> installation??
>
>
> please help
>
> reg
> v.r
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-admin" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>

Re: Partitioning on i386

[Jon Fullmer]

I believe you are correct, Andrew, when dealing with SCSI drives.  But (if
I'm not mistaken) with IDE drives, the maximum is 40 total partitions (3
primary 1 extended 37 logical).

 - Jon

on 8/7/03 6:42 AM, Andrew Kelly at akelly@transparency.org wrote:

> 
> 
> Benjamin Walkenhorst wrote:
>> 
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>> 
>> On Donnerstag, 7. August 2003 11:33 urgrue wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>>> Sounds like what you want is to create an extended partition. Into this
>>> you can create logical partitions (I just created ten, I don't know
>>> what the limit is).
>> 
>> Okay, I did not know you can put as many logical partitions into an extended
>> partition as you want. I thought you could create just 4.
> 
> Careful, there is a limit on on logical partitions, too.
> You are allowed 4 primary partitions, or
> 3 primary partitions + 1 extended partion. The extended
> partion is a container partion for logical partitions and,
> as such, not usable for storage. Within the extended partition
> you may create up to 12 logical partitions.
> So, 15 usable parts. are all you'll get.
> 
> Unless of course I'm wrong.
> ;-)
> 
> Andy
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-admin" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> 

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS)]

Hello,

Iam trying to install redhat Linux 9.0.

i dont understand this cylinders concept? does it mean that first i need to
reserve some 1024 cylinders for linux installation and then start windows
after 1024 or what? if we already have a windows installed then how can i
reserve this space??


can anybody guide me with some instructions for this partitioning?

thanks & regards
v.r

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Taylor [mailto:scott@dctchambers.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 10:02 AM
To: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org
Cc: krylon@gmx.net
Subject: RE: Partitioning on i386


At 09:39 08/07/03, Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) wrote:
>hELLO,
>
>i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed.
>
>the existing drive partitions are like
>
>c:drive  8GB
>D: drive 10 GB
>Free space 9 GB
>
>i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk partitiioning
>failed. so i chose manual partitioning.

Which version of RedHat?

>whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and swap or
>/boot and /.
>
>any time its not allowing me to create the third one.

Because drive D: is taking up the extended partition space.


>how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?

If you can remove Drive D: from window then do so.  Create /boot and then 
create / and /swap in extended space.  Leave the rest unpartitioned then 
recreate drive D: next time in Win2K.

There are good how-to's at http://tldp.org to help with dual booting Win2K 
and other OS.

HTH

Scott.




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Re: Partitioning on i386

[Scott Taylor]

Jon Fullmer said:

> I believe you are correct, Andrew, when dealing with SCSI drives.  But
> (if
> I'm not mistaken) with IDE drives, the maximum is 40 total partitions
> (3
> primary 1 extended 37 logical).

man fdisk

RTFM

It has nothing to do with SCSI or IDE, only primary partitions are
limited.  Most Linux installs allow for 37 partitions by making nodes
/dev/hd?0 - /dev/hd?36.  Doesn't mean you can't create more.




--
Scott
long .signature files are annoying

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Scott Taylor]

See Miguel, this is what I refer to as "Top Posting".  This person
didn't even bother to reply to my last questions and even started a
new question slightly off topic without starting a new thread.
Obviously doesn't deserve any more of my time.

Scott.


Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) said:

> Hello,
>
> Iam trying to install redhat Linux 9.0.
>
> i dont understand this cylinders concept? does it mean that first i
> need to
> reserve some 1024 cylinders for linux installation and then start
> windows
> after 1024 or what? if we already have a windows installed then how
> can i
> reserve this space??
>
>
> can anybody guide me with some instructions for this partitioning?
>
> thanks & regards
> v.r
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Taylor [mailto:scott@dctchambers.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 10:02 AM
> To: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org
> Cc: krylon@gmx.net
> Subject: RE: Partitioning on i386
>
>
> At 09:39 08/07/03, Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) wrote:
>>hELLO,
>>
>>i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed.
>>
>>the existing drive partitions are like
>>
>>c:drive  8GB
>>D: drive 10 GB
>>Free space 9 GB
>>
>>i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk
>> partitiioning
>>failed. so i chose manual partitioning.
>
> Which version of RedHat?
>
>>whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and
>> swap or
>>/boot and /.
>>
>>any time its not allowing me to create the third one.
>
> Because drive D: is taking up the extended partition space.
>
>
>>how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?
>
> If you can remove Drive D: from window then do so.  Create /boot and
> then
> create / and /swap in extended space.  Leave the rest unpartitioned
> then
> recreate drive D: next time in Win2K.
>
> There are good how-to's at http://tldp.org to help with dual booting
> Win2K
> and other OS.
>
> HTH
>
> Scott.
>
>
>
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-admin"
> in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> -
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>


--
Scott
long .signature files are annoying





--
Scott
long .signature files are annoying

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS)]

Hello Scott,

Sorry if i didn't answer your questions.

I followed the same process as you said. 

I deleted the D: which is of 11 GB. 

I created /boot, / and swap. installed Redhat lInux 9.0. and its asking for
the dual boot too.

Thanks for the help.

When i entered in Win2k and see the disk partition , there is a 11 GB un
allocated space now. which i can neither partition or do anything with that.

may be you can guide if you want to.

Thanks,
V.r


-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Taylor [mailto:scott@dctchambers.com]
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 1:55 AM
To: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org
Subject: RE: Partitioning on i386




See Miguel, this is what I refer to as "Top Posting".  This person
didn't even bother to reply to my last questions and even started a
new question slightly off topic without starting a new thread.
Obviously doesn't deserve any more of my time.

Scott.


Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) said:

> Hello,
>
> Iam trying to install redhat Linux 9.0.
>
> i dont understand this cylinders concept? does it mean that first i
> need to
> reserve some 1024 cylinders for linux installation and then start
> windows
> after 1024 or what? if we already have a windows installed then how
> can i
> reserve this space??
>
>
> can anybody guide me with some instructions for this partitioning?
>
> thanks & regards
> v.r
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Taylor [mailto:scott@dctchambers.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 10:02 AM
> To: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org
> Cc: krylon@gmx.net
> Subject: RE: Partitioning on i386
>
>
> At 09:39 08/07/03, Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) wrote:
>>hELLO,
>>
>>i have a hdd of 27 gb under which Windows 2000 is installed.
>>
>>the existing drive partitions are like
>>
>>c:drive  8GB
>>D: drive 10 GB
>>Free space 9 GB
>>
>>i started the red hat installation and the automatic disk
>> partitiioning
>>failed. so i chose manual partitioning.
>
> Which version of RedHat?
>
>>whenever i try, iam able to create either /  and swap  or /boot and
>> swap or
>>/boot and /.
>>
>>any time its not allowing me to create the third one.
>
> Because drive D: is taking up the extended partition space.
>
>
>>how can i proceed to have a win2k and linux dual boot?
>
> If you can remove Drive D: from window then do so.  Create /boot and
> then
> create / and /swap in extended space.  Leave the rest unpartitioned
> then
> recreate drive D: next time in Win2K.
>
> There are good how-to's at http://tldp.org to help with dual booting
> Win2K
> and other OS.
>
> HTH
>
> Scott.
>
>
>
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-admin"
> in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
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>


--
Scott
long .signature files are annoying





--
Scott
long .signature files are annoying
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Re: Partitioning on i386

[Jon Fullmer]

First, I was mistaken. It's actually a maximum of 15 partitions for a SCSI
drive and a maximum of 63 partitions for IDE.  I apologize for not verifying
my response.  I had run into this issue before, and I remembered that IDE
drives allowed for a lot more partitions, but I couldn't remember the
maximum (I knew that the SCSI limit was correct).

Next, RTFM?  Good advice!  Here's an excerpt from the Partition HowTO
(http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/partition-3.html):

"The primary partition used to house the logical partitions is called an
extended partition and it has its own file system type (0x05). Unlike
primary partitions, logical partitions must be contiguous. Each logical
partition contains a pointer to the next logical partition, which implies
that the number of logical partitions is unlimited. However, linux imposes
limits on the total number of any type of prtition on a drive, so this
effectively limits the number of logical partitions. This is at most 15
partitions total on an SCSI disk and 63 total on an IDE disk."

I ran into this issue over a year ago when I tried to create more than 15
partitions on a SCSI drive and kept getting mysterious failures. From my
research back then, it seemed that I also discovered this limitation to be
unique to the Intel platform (which makes sense, as other platforms aren't
bound to the primary/extended partition set up), but I've never proven that
one way or the other yet.  That, and the HowTO entry I quoted would seem to
designate this limitation as unique to Linux, not the platform.

Anyway, I hope that helps.  As I've mentioned, I've hit the 15-partition
SCSI ceiling before, but I would think you'd be pretty safe with IDE.  It's
hard to imagine setting up more than 63 partitions on a single drive.  But
then, with 256 GB drives....

 - Jon

on 8/8/03 2:53 AM, Scott Taylor at scott@dctchambers.com wrote:

> Jon Fullmer said:
> 
>> I believe you are correct, Andrew, when dealing with SCSI drives.  But
>> (if
>> I'm not mistaken) with IDE drives, the maximum is 40 total partitions
>> (3
>> primary 1 extended 37 logical).
> 
> man fdisk
> 
> RTFM
> 
> It has nothing to do with SCSI or IDE, only primary partitions are
> limited.  Most Linux installs allow for 37 partitions by making nodes
> /dev/hd?0 - /dev/hd?36.  Doesn't mean you can't create more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Scott
> long .signature files are annoying
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-admin" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
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> 

RE: Partitioning on i386

[Scott Taylor]

At 03:04 AM 08/08/2003, Ramdas, Venkata (MED, TCS) wrote:
>Hello Scott,
>
>I followed the same process as you said.
>
>I deleted the D: which is of 11 GB.
>
>I created /boot, / and swap. installed Redhat lInux 9.0. and its asking for
>the dual boot too.
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>When i entered in Win2k and see the disk partition , there is a 11 GB un
>allocated space now. which i can neither partition or do anything with that.

Windows doesn't know how to handle foreign partitions.  It looks like you 
used the entire remaining space for Linux.

Your drive should look something like this:

partition 1  NTFS (C:)            8xxxMB
partition 2 (extended Partition)
    partition 3  ext3  Linux /boot  240MB
    partition 4  swap  /swap        512MB
    partition 5  ext3  /           6114MB
left over, unused space           4xxxMB

That left over space should be formatable by NT

Read this:
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+WinNT.html