On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 08:51 -0600, Jeff Vian wrote: > On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 08:56 -0500, Chasecreek Systemhouse wrote: > > On 2/11/06, Mikkel L. Ellertson <mikkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > > > I am fairly sure you can install Ubuntu to extended partitions. At > > > least I have not run into a Linux distribution that you had to have > > > a primary partition for. Depending on your BIOS, you probably need > > > one primary partition on the drive, marked active, but lilo and Grub > > > don't care about what partition is marked active when installed to > > > the MBR. > > > > Question is what application allows you to mess with logical > > partitions hiding inside extended partitions? I ran into this Monday, > > yesterday, morning: > > > > Dual Boot: Windows 2003 Server and FC4. Layout - > > > > /dev/hda1 is Windows 2003 server 10GB > > /dev/hda2 is Linux /boot > > /dev/hda3 is Swap > > /dev/hda4 is extended with only /root on /dev/hda5 > > > > Students were asked by another instructor to delete Partition 0 > > (Windows 2003) and split it into 2 logical partitions. > > > > Student comes to me and asks if that is even possible and I reply "Not > > with Windows." > > > > Fedora Core Question: Is that even possible with FC4 (or FC5, or any > > Linux Distro)? > > > > Seriously, I am curious =) > > Not with the partitions as given. > A hard drive may have a maximum of 4 primary partitions (one of which is > usually an extended partition with logical partitions in it) and AIUI > this is a limitation of the partition table itself. > > Since the partition table already has 4 primary partitions (hda1 thru > hda4) you have the drive partition table limitation. You can delete the > existing partition (hda1) and you can recreate a new smaller hda1, but > AIUI the space between the end of the new hda1 and the beginning of hda2 > will be unusable unless something else is done to relocate/reconfigure > the partitions. > Actually, this appaers to be a "Stupid" with a capital "S" request of the other instructor who might be ultimately demonstrating Microsoft's inability to "stick with" a standard. Everything Jeff described is as I also understand the standard. The MBR has room for only four partitions (which we label 1-4), and to get more partition descriptors, we are allowed to take one (and it is only one) of those standard partitions and turn it in to an Extended Partition which can then itself be divvied up in to multiple logical partitions.... Now, for the divergence.... In Windows Server 2003, the Disk Administrator Tool (whatever it is called...), now allows us to create multiple "Extended Partitions"..... Bad, bad, bad..... So technically in 2003, he could re-type hda1 as an Extended partition and create two logical partitions inside that new second, Extended partition..... While Windows 2003 will live with it, earlier Windows/DOS will barf, and, at least initially, the Linux kernel will be summarily confused, though it may be something that is on the radar to be addressed by the kernel folks..... But, the moral of the story is that just because a tool lets you jump off a bridge without a bungee cord, doesn't mean you should do it...... Of course, flipping it around, perhaps the instructor was expecting the students to use parted.... Delete the first partition, physically move partition two to the beginning of the drive, move partition three up against the relocated partition two and resize partition four to use from the new end of partition three to the end of the drive. Then move partition five (inside four) to the beginning of four. Then there should be leftover space of around 10GB at the end of the extended partition four that could be allocated to two new logical partitions......... Wow, that's a mouthful..... And, of course, before using parted, we should make sure we have a GOOD backup, read lots of disclaimers about data being eaten now.... --Rob
