[bigoli]

I would like to add more Extended partitions, but neither fdisk or cfdisk will let me. I get the following when I try to add partitions.



Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 1051 8442126 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 1052 2071 8193150 5 Extended
/dev/hda3 * 2072 2454 3076447+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 1052 1115 514048+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda6 1116 1498 3076416 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 1499 2071 4602591 83 Linux

Command (m for help): n
Command action
l logical (5 or over)
p primary partition (1-4)
l <- I enter an 'l'
No free sectors available

Command (m for help): v
38732963 unallocated sectors <- I assume this means 'free'


What is wrong here!

Thanks.

James Oliver

[CouchMaster]

http://www.brunolinux.com/04-The_Fil...ing_Tools.html

[Big-K]

DiskDrake is the only one I've ever used that's been able to succesfully resize a partition(if you only have one partition thats the sort of thing you'll need).

[codejockey]

I think the problem is in your extended partition (/dev/hda2). You've specified that it ends at cylinder 2071, and you've created filesystems that take up all of this space (the last one being /dev/hda7 which ends on cylinder 2071). This means that you cannot add additional filesystems in this extended partition.

So what if you created another extended partition, perhaps one that began on cylinder 2072 and continued until the end of the disk (this is the 38732963 unallocated sectors, BTW)? Well, you could -- but it will have to be /dev/hda4, since that is the only primary partition slot that is still available. You might try creating another primary partition (/dev/hda4) using 2072 for the beginning cylinder and 4865 for the end cylinder, which effectively uses the rest of the disk. Then try changing the type (ID) of the partition to extended. If this works, you should then be able to use fdisk/cfdisk to create as many filesystems in this new extended partition as you need.

If it doesn't work, you may still have some alternatives. You could, as Big-K suggests, resize your extended partition, and specify the ending cylinder between 2072 and 4865 (inclusive). Unfortunately, neither fdisk nor cfdisk allow you to do this (Xenix, anyone?!? ), so you will need another utility to accomplish this (unless, of course, you are willing to edit the partition table manually). You might also see if Windoze will create this extended partition for you (or even, dare I say it?! -- DOS fdisk). I haven't tried to use Windoze/DOS to create a second extended partition (so I can't vouch for the results) but it's at least worth investigating.

Hope this helps.

[bigoli]

codejockey:

Thanks. I believe you're right about the extended partitions.

You've given me something to think about. I could delete partitions in the order hda3(after move existing data to another disk), hda7, hda6, hda5, and hda2 - then remake partition hda2, an Extended partition all the way to cylinder 4865. Then I could define partitions hda5, hda6, and hda7 as using the same cylinders as before. I think that may work. I'll have to think about it. There may be some formating issues I haven't considered.

James Oliver