Very Computer

by **Jif** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:55:44

Hi, I'm new to the world of Linux -- or, rather, I'd like to be.
I'm trying to install, but Mandrake isn't recognizing all of my hard drive
space. It only sees just shy of 2GB instead of the entire 8. I wonder if
this is a bios issue (they're so old there's no option to boot from CD) or
if there are utilities that will help me to get around this? I have tried
everything I could think of, which albeit probably isn't much. I've looked
online, I'm out of ideas and would really appreciate some help or even a
nudge in the right direction. Here's what I've done so far:
I tried to upgrade my bios, but apparently they are some Tiawanese beta
version and there's no info to be found.
I went to the Maxtor site (it's a Maxtor hd) and got something that will
help me partition it, but it will only see more than 2 gb if I choose FAT32.
When I choose FAT32 the Mandrake install it has a problem reading that. It
reads the FAT16 2GB just fine though -- figures. I've tried using that
partition utility every which way to no avail.
I thought I would try an end run and initially install muLinux since I
read that that will use UMSDOS and I could have it recognize my existing
Maxtor partition, but the img is too large (by 40kb argh) to fit on a floppy
so I can transfer it from this computer to the one I'm trying to install
Linux on.

There will be nothing else on this system but Linux, but I would still
like a bit more than 2 gb of space. Is there something out there that can
help or do I need to get a new mb or am I just stuck? Or am I just missing
something really obvious?

Thanks for any and all ideas
Jif

by **Drew Bentle** » Wed, 09 May 2001 23:30:09

Sounds to me that if the hard drive won't read past 2 GB unless its Fat32,
then your out of luck. Linux uses the ext2 file system and can't use fat
for its own partitioning and filesystem. You should be able though to use
2 gig of space for Mandrake though with plenty of space there after.

> Hi, I'm new to the world of Linux -- or, rather, I'd like to be.
> I'm trying to install, but Mandrake isn't recognizing all of my hard
drive
> space. It only sees just shy of 2GB instead of the entire 8. I wonder
if
> this is a bios issue (they're so old there's no option to boot from CD)
or
> if there are utilities that will help me to get around this? I have
tried
> everything I could think of, which albeit probably isn't much. I've
looked
> online, I'm out of ideas and would really appreciate some help or even a
> nudge in the right direction. Here's what I've done so far:
> I tried to upgrade my bios, but apparently they are some Tiawanese
beta
> version and there's no info to be found.
> I went to the Maxtor site (it's a Maxtor hd) and got something that
will
> help me partition it, but it will only see more than 2 gb if I choose
FAT32.
> When I choose FAT32 the Mandrake install it has a problem reading that.
It
> reads the FAT16 2GB just fine though -- figures. I've tried using that
> partition utility every which way to no avail.
> I thought I would try an end run and initially install muLinux since
I
> read that that will use UMSDOS and I could have it recognize my existing
> Maxtor partition, but the img is too large (by 40kb argh) to fit on a
floppy
> so I can transfer it from this computer to the one I'm trying to install
> Linux on.

> There will be nothing else on this system but Linux, but I would
still
> like a bit more than 2 gb of space. Is there something out there that
can
> help or do I need to get a new mb or am I just stuck? Or am I just
missing
> something really obvious?

> Thanks for any and all ideas
> Jif

--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/

by **Stuart William** » Thu, 10 May 2001 10:45:16

I havent used mandrake before, but if you could find I updated bios and then
flash it; it might fix it. I thinking that you have an old 486? The hard
limitation was like 524 MB, 2 GB, and 8 GB. Also it might not be the bios at
all since the FAT is limited to 2GB per partition, FAT32 isnt. This is why
you have to enable large disk support with the newest version of windows
fdisk(uses FAT32).

Partition Magic might could make the drive ext2 from windows machine(this
drive as slave), but this might not work.

email me more hardware details

Good Luck

Very Computer

Newbie problems partitioning

Newbie problems partitioning

Newbie problems partitioning

Newbie problems partitioning