Very Computer

I have one 30GB hard drive installed in my computer. I installed DOS 6.2
and Windows 98 several
month ago and the system work fine all the time. When I partitioned the
disk I used Windows 98 fdisk and partitioned the disk following the next
scheme:

Partition  Status  Type         Volume Label          Mbytes
System      Usage
C: 1           A   PRI DOS   DISK1PART01          2047    FAT16      25%

    2                 EXT-DOS
20473                    100%

The Extended Dos partition contains 10 DOS Logical partitions (D:...M:)

As you can see, I didn't use the rest of the disk spaces (around 8 GB)
to be used in the future for Linux.

Now became the time to install Linux and I decided install an old
version of Slackware 3.5 just to get some training before install the
Red Hat 7.1. I am relatively new in Linux although I already installed
it one time in my previous computer and I have also experience using
fdisk. That time every thing was fine.

This time I started creating the boot and root disks. I start Linux from
diskettes and start linux fdisk. fdisk show me the partitions I already
have: /dev/hda1 (DOS) and /dev/hda2 (Windows 95)

Now I created new partitions using the option "n" and assign the start
cyl and the size in MB for each partition. I know I have only two
primary partitions because the other two are already used in DOS and
Windows. So I created a primary partition for Linux (82) with 4GB and an
extended partition using the rest of the free space on the disk. In this
extended partition I created another Linux partition (82) and a Swap
partition (83). When done, I exit and save by typing option "w".

After that the computer reboot and I continued the installation, again
using my boot and root disks and I logged in as root, I typed "setup"
but here is the problem, I get a message "Unable to read /dev/hda". I
typed again fdisk and this time the information about partitions has not
any sense, something like this:

Device Boot          Begin           Start           End
Blocks              Id          System
/dev/hda21           262                    1           261
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda22           523                262           522
2096482                5        Extended
/dev/hda25           523                262           522
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda26             21                784         1044
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda27           543              1306         1566
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda28         1065              1828         2088
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda29         1587              2350         2610
2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M

I reboot the computer and fortunately my system is working properly as
before, the only new thing I noted is the partition table obtained when
executing Windows 98 fdisk. Here it is:

Partition  Status  Type       Volume Label             Mbytes
System     Usage
C: 1           A   PRI DOS    DISK1PART01          2047    FAT16
25%
    2                  EXT-DOS
2683                     33%
    3                  EXT-DOS
20473                   100%

The second line (Extended DOS) was inserted and now I don't know how to
delete it. This is not a problem because the old system is working fine.

The problem is that I can not get a correct disk partition when using
Linux fdisk. I didn't tried to delete nothing there because I want to
get some advice from the experts before. It is not Windows what I want
to save, it is my data. Can I delete some partitions using Linux fdisk
without risk to damage other DOS partitions and start again partitioning
the free space in my hard drive? or do I have to forget about this 8GB
of my disk? What it may be the reason to this happen? It is possible
that I made a mistake during assigning space to each partition but I
double checked this very careful. I repeat again what I did: I created a
primary partition with 4GB (ext2) for Linux and with the rest of the
free space I created an extended partition. Then the extended partition
I divided in two areas: one is another Linux (83) and, at the end, 20MB
for the Swap partition. That's it. Or may be the problem is that I used
two different fdisk programs (DOS and Linux) to partition my hard drive?

If any of you can help me in finding an elegant solution to this
problem, without the need to backup everything, I would appreciate so
much.

Thanks,

Ernesto

If you would show the partition table as printed out by Linux fdisk
before making any changes, it would be helpful.  But I think that you
have encountered a limitation of the normal install of Linux.  Only 15
hda* are available.  And since you say that you have 10 extended DOS
partitions, and since those start with hda5, you have used up all but 1
of them and that one gets used by swap in the Slackware install.

If the mknod command is available to you in the Slackware shell, then
you can possibly create a few more /dev/hda* entries.  Otherwise,
eliminate 1 or more of the DOS extended partitions.

Quote:> I have one 30GB hard drive installed in my computer. I installed DOS 6.2
> and Windows 98 several
> month ago and the system work fine all the time. When I partitioned the
> disk I used Windows 98 fdisk and partitioned the disk following the next
> scheme:

> Partition  Status  Type         Volume Label          Mbytes
> System      Usage
> C: 1           A   PRI DOS   DISK1PART01          2047    FAT16      25%

>     2                 EXT-DOS
> 20473                    100%

> The Extended Dos partition contains 10 DOS Logical partitions (D:...M:)

> As you can see, I didn't use the rest of the disk spaces (around 8 GB)
> to be used in the future for Linux.

You should have added it to the extended partition, and leave free space
to create new logicals

Quote:> Now became the time to install Linux and I decided install an old
> version of Slackware 3.5 just to get some training before install the

That's asking for trouble. Installers have improved since then.

Quote:> Red Hat 7.1. I am relatively new in Linux although I already installed
> it one time in my previous computer and I have also experience using
> fdisk. That time every thing was fine.

You didn't want to create an impossible table then I suppose.

Quote:> This time I started creating the boot and root disks. I start Linux from
> diskettes and start linux fdisk. fdisk show me the partitions I already
> have: /dev/hda1 (DOS) and /dev/hda2 (Windows 95)

Realy confusing, what type is hda2, it's extended right? So type 0x0F?

Quote:> Now I created new partitions using the option "n" and assign the start
> cyl and the size in MB for each partition. I know I have only two
> primary partitions because the other two are already used in DOS and
> Windows. So I created a primary partition for Linux (82) with 4GB and an
> extended partition using the rest of the free space on the disk. In this

And here you do something really weird. You can have only one extended
partition per disk. not one for linux and one for DOS. I'm surprised the
fdisk
let you do this. It must be a really old fdisk. (Unaware of 0x0F?)

Quote:> extended partition I created another Linux partition (82) and a Swap
> partition (83). When done, I exit and save by typing option "w".

making it final. You *ed up. :-)

Quote:> After that the computer reboot and I continued the installation, again
> using my boot and root disks and I logged in as root, I typed "setup"
> but here is the problem, I get a message "Unable to read /dev/hda". I

That's pretty informative, heh.

Quote:> typed again fdisk and this time the information about partitions has not
> any sense, something like this:

> Device Boot          Begin           Start           End
> Blocks              Id          System
> /dev/hda21           262                    1           261
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/hda22           523                262           522
> 2096482                5        Extended
> /dev/hda25           523                262           522
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/hda26             21                784         1044
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/hda27           543              1306         1566
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/hda28         1065              1828         2088
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/hda29         1587              2350         2610
> 2096451                6        DOS 16-bit >=32M

A really big mess.

Quote:> I reboot the computer and fortunately my system is working properly as
> before, the only new thing I noted is the partition table obtained when
> executing Windows 98 fdisk. Here it is:

And this works? Windows isn't usually very fault tolerant.

Quote:> Partition  Status  Type       Volume Label             Mbytes
> System     Usage
> C: 1           A   PRI DOS    DISK1PART01          2047    FAT16
> 25%
>     2                  EXT-DOS
> 2683                     33%
>     3                  EXT-DOS
> 20473                   100%

> The second line (Extended DOS) was inserted and now I don't know how to
> delete it. This is not a problem because the old system is working fine.

try to delete it with DOS fdisk. I really need a listing from a linux fdisk
to see if it can be cured. It looks like backing up to me though.
(I don't see how it could get in between!)

Quote:> The problem is that I can not get a correct disk partition when using
> Linux fdisk. I didn't tried to delete nothing there because I want to
> get some advice from the experts before. It is not Windows what I want
> to save, it is my data. Can I delete some partitions using Linux fdisk
> without risk to damage other DOS partitions and start again partitioning
> the free space in my hard drive?

If you can find the correct partitions in linux fdisk to delete please do
so.
(but make a backup first) You don't like the backup stuff, but you *ed
this disk up so badly, I don't see any other option. You're so unbelievably
lucky windows still boots.

Quote:> or do I have to forget about this 8GB
> of my disk? What it may be the reason to this happen? It is possible

You probably used an old fdisk unaware of LBA extended paritions.

Quote:> that I made a mistake during assigning space to each partition but I
> double checked this very careful. I repeat again what I did: I created a
> primary partition with 4GB (ext2) for Linux and with the rest of the
> free space I created an extended partition. Then the extended partition

You should not have done this. Period . This is the source of all errors.

Quote:> I divided in two areas: one is another Linux (83) and, at the end, 20MB
> for the Swap partition. That's it. Or may be the problem is that I used
> two different fdisk programs (DOS and Linux) to partition my hard drive?

> If any of you can help me in finding an elegant solution to this
> problem, without the need to backup everything, I would appreciate so
> much.

No. You're past the "elegant solutions" point
(Unless you made a hardcopy of the partitiontable before you started to
install linux)

Eric

Eric