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Partitions

Partitions

Post by Richard Rothwel » Thu, 10 Sep 1998 04:00:00



I currently have a 6Gb disk formatted as one DOS Primary Partition with
6 extended partitions of about 1Gb each.  I planned to use one of these
extended partitions to install Linux but am not sure if I can use an
extended partition.  Is this correct?  Do I need to create two primary
partitions?  If so is there a way to do this without loosing any data on
the disk?  Any help would be appreciated.

Richard Rothwell

 
 
 
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Partitions

Post by Der Guhvie » Thu, 10 Sep 1998 04:00:00



> I currently have a 6Gb disk formatted as one DOS Primary Partition with
> 6 extended partitions of about 1Gb each.  I planned to use one of these
> extended partitions to install Linux but am not sure if I can use an
> extended partition.  Is this correct?  Do I need to create two primary
> partitions?  If so is there a way to do this without loosing any data on
> the disk?  Any help would be appreciated.

I think current wisdow allows for 4 primary partitions max.
One of these primary partitions can be marked as an extended
partition. Within this extended partition, you can have
logical partitions. So I believe you have created an extended
partition and within this some logical partitions. Can Linux
be installed on a logical partition? I think yes. However,
with regard to the 1024 cylinder limit, I am not sure how
this will affect you. You would need to create at a minimum
a swap partition and the `/' (root) partition. If you shave
of say 32Mb for the swap of one 1Gb partition and leave the
rest for Linux, this will be more than adequate. As for loosing
data, the only way this can happen is if you enter incorrect
geometry, then reformat the partitions. So please be extremely
careful. Backing up your data will never hurt you. It would
do you good to backup frequently.

--
Caio                       |Oliver's Law: Experience is something you
The Guhvanoh <ViNyL 4eVeR> |  do not get until just after you need it.
/* Standard disclaimer */  |        
#include <disclaimer.h>    |       Email: akabi at home dot com      

 
 
 
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1. Partition Software - Partition Magic, Bootit, Boot Manager or Ranish Partition Manager


spake unto us, saying:

By default, Solaris and Linux will not be able to see each other, and
the Windows flavors will not be able to see either one.  So your only
concern will be the visibility between NT and Win95.

If you install those two in primary partitions on the same drive, there
shouldn't be a problem with that either.

Bootit is a utility I know of but have not used.

The only "Boot Manager" I know about is the OS/2 Boot Manager (also the
same as the IBM Boot Manager included as part of Partition Magic 3.x),
and it's a nice basic boot menu, but I'm not sure it's available at all
as a separate product.  I've used it for years (since 1992 I think).

Partition Magic is a glorified (and relatively powerful) fdisk utility
which I've used for quite a while.  Very useful, IMhO.  Newer versions
have things I'm not familiar with (I'm still using the OS/2 version of
PM 2.03).

Ranish's Partition Manager looks like a REALLY slick utility, and it's
on my list to play with.  But I copped out and bought a copy of System
Commander here instead.  :-)

I think I would recommend that you add System Commander to your list
above, since it allows you to selectively change primary partition
visibility (in many cases) for each individual boot menu entry.

Really, though, you probably don't need it.  The only question I would
have is how to get NT's boot manager to get along with Solaris' boot
manager, and I suspect that can be done.

--

       OS/2 + Linux (Slackware+RedHat+SuSE) + FreeBSD + Solaris +
        WinNT4 + Win95 + PC/GEOS + Executor = PC Hobbyist Heaven!
                   OPCODE: HCF = Halt and Catch Fire

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