Get help on partitioning here [Part 1]

Ed Brentnall · n00b Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 2

OK, so here's a weird thing. I thought I'd try again while waiting for replies, and guess what? It only went and worked, didn't it! I did exactly the same thing as I did before, after deleting the existing partitions first, and this time, it worked. Bizarre. I'm now going to get on with the Portage installation, and if there are further problems, I'll be back!

:lol:

rush_ad · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:50 pm Post subject:

does the swap/boor/root partition need to be primary? i already have two ntfs on the hard drive and planning to install gentoo on the same drive. what should be my partitioning

curtis119 · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:54 pm Post subject:

rush_ad · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:46 am Post subject:

thanks, got it running.

Xenon2050 · n00b Joined: 20 Oct 2004 Posts: 63

Okay, I've read over the forums a bit more and took the advice of some people and came up with this sceme for partitioning...

Xenon2050 · n00b Joined: 20 Oct 2004 Posts: 63

I think I said in a previous post that i have two 80 GB drive and I wish to dual boot one for XP one for Gentoo... My XP partition is the NTFS and I want to be able to access it when using linux (cuz that's where all my music and documents are) so can linux read the NTFS or should i make a seperate fat32 partition?

rush_ad · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:29 pm Post subject:

linux will read your ntfs partition. just enable the ntfs option in the kernel. it also has write support but i would not enable that as its not to well supported.
once you enable the ntfs support in kernel, make changes in fstab and you should be able to read ntfs.

curtis119 · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:51 pm Post subject:

rush_ad · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:37 am Post subject:

yup, creating fat32 seems like the best idea as of now. also, there is captive that can write ntfs pretty well. i have never tried it but many people have good things to say about it. try out captive.

GoodVibrations · n00b Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 9 Location: Denmark

Hi,

I have the following disclayout (hda1 is Windows):
(My fdisk "talks" Danish)

Disk /dev/hdc: 120.0 Gb, 120034123776 byte
255 hoveder, 63 sektorer/spor, 14593 cylindre
Enheder = cylindre af 16065 * 512 = 8225280 byte

Enhed Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 3039 24410736 83 Linux (/)
/dev/hdc2 3040 7294 34178287 5 Udvidet
/dev/hdc5 3040 3161 979902 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdc6 3162 7294 33198291 83 Linux (/home)

I have Debian installed on the above partitions.

I'm quite new to Linux and thought I would try a Gentoo installation. Thinking that It might teach me a lesson or two about Linux :-)

But I'm not quite ready to wipe my Debian (its' working :-)

)

So I thought I'd create an extended partition (hdc3).
With:
hdc7 boot
hdc8 root
and either use hdc5 as swap or create hdc9 as swap.

Ie the three partitions used as an example in the Handbook.

But when I say "new" in fdisk, I'm only getting the choice of primary or logical. No extended ?
If i create a primary, I'm not allowed to change it to type 5 (extended) afterward.
If I try to just create a logical partition I get a message saying something like "no available free sectors".

What to do ?
TIA

rush_ad · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:39 pm Post subject:

logical and extended are the same things as far as i know. well, knowing that i setup my gentoo.

GoodVibrations · n00b Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 9 Location: Denmark

Oh.

I thought that extended partitions were primary partitions, which held logical partitions?

But still... as mentioned, I'm not allowed to create any more logical partitions either.

rush_ad · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:08 pm Post subject:

try it with logical, should work. worked for me

GoodVibrations · n00b Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 9 Location: Denmark

Googling around I think I've found the answer.
You're only allowed *one* extended partition.
So I need to add the free 60GB to the end of hdc2.
Then I should be able to create som more logical partitions.

I'll try that with DiskDrake.

Btw I took a look at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_boot:

" Partitions Recommendations
/dev/hda1 Primary - WindowsXP - 3GB minimum
/dev/hda2 Primary - /boot - 32MB
/dev/hda3 Primary - swap - 2x ram
/dev/hda4 Logical - / - 2.5GB minimum
/dev/hdax Logical - Any other drive you wish to have "

How can hda4 be a logical partition?
Isn't 1-4 reserved for prim./ext. partitions?

Shouldn't that read:
....
/dev/hda4 Extended
/dev/hda5 Logical - / - 2.5GB minimum
/dev/hdax Logical - Any other drive you wish to have "

?

rush_ad · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:26 am Post subject:

sorry, i think now its going beyond my knowledge. wait till someone else shows some interest.

GoodVibrations · n00b Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 9 Location: Denmark

Well it worked.
I resized my extended partition (hdc2) to use all of the free space on the disk (60 GB) and then I was able to create the logical partitions I wanted.

I used qtparted though. I couldn't find out how to see my extended partition in diskdrake.

So on with the show, and in with Gentoo.

rush_ad · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:16 pm Post subject:

good, have fun with gentoo

Feu_Argent · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 12:27 am Post subject:

I didn't catch this question anyywhere else in the forums... I may be daft, but I have a very simple question.

Is it requried to have a partition to install Gentoo, and if so, does creating a partition erase the second partition? (in other words making one partition creates two empty partitions total...). And if not, how do I make a partition? I have a partitioning program through my DOS prompt, but I forget the name of it, and I don't remember if the Gentoo install process has automatic paritioning programs in it. Please help!
_________________
PENGUINES!!!

airjunman · n00b Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

hey,
another newbie here ... amtrying to install gentoo on a 60GB HDD with Win XP already installed on it . this is a Sony VAIO laptop and had the partitions set as C: and D:... i freed up some space after the D drive and made a Linux partition using Partition Magic 8.0 ... now when i booted using the LiveCD and got to the part of fdisk(as per the installation handbook) and listed the partitions it showed the following:

(name,cylinders,type)
hda1 1-654 Compaq diagnostics(i assume thats somethin Sony put on the laptop to be used during a recovery, it doesnt show up when listing the hard drive space in XP)
hda2 655-2478 HPFS/NTFS
hda3 2479-5987 W95 exte'd (LBA)
hda4 5988-7296 Linux
hda5 2479-5987 HPFS/NTFS

now how do i install boot, swap and root partitions on this since there is place for just one linux partition according to this .... do i have to delete or merge a Windows partition in order to make space for the Linux partitions?

'JUNman
P.S:to get away from the problem, why do I have an extended partition for Windows when there is just one logical partition? couldn't it have kept hda3 as a primary partition of type HPFS/NTFS instead? Is that to keep the option open of adding more logical drives later on?

manpage · n00b Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 4

hello gentoo folks

i am planning of installing gentoo on my machine but i wanted something that the "HANDBOOK" doesn't say so... i hope you would take this as a curious question about gentoo

if let's say i have a 4gb hd and i want to partition

/ 100mb <--- root partition
swap
/boot 25mb <--- boot partition
/tmp 128mb
/home 500
/usr 2024
/var 500mb <------ ????

i know it may sound wierd because the gentoo handbook says you need 1.5gb but what if i just want a running gentoo kernel? to boot linux and put the shell can i spare the 1.5gb and make it smaller?

my question rather is ....

how small can the /var partition IF ( /var has it's own partition) be, to have a running/booting gentoo linux ?

any answers would be greatly appreciated

thanks,
manpage

Mårten · n00b Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Sweden

Hi!
I'm new to this forum, and to Linux. Recently i heard about Gentoo from a friend. He said it was a good variant of Linux. What I've figured out is that it's pretty much a hardcore system and not for noobs, or am i wrong?
I have never succeded in installi a full linux system. Well, i tried to install Debian but i couldn't get the graphic part to work. Well, i have now decided to download or buy Gentoo.
I have worked with both Window and Mac OS. My first problem is how to partition my harddrive.
I have one 80 Gig seagate which i will use for both Windows and linux. But what i don't understand is which boot(program, like windows start diskette) to use. And how do i get the labels "/home", "/boot" and "/user". Mb this is too much toi ask for. But i would like a guide, probably there is already one out (i haven't fpound it) how to partition a system.
Well, that's all for now.
I hope that u don't find me too much of a noob. I know alot about Windows (which i hate) but now i want a better OS that i can REALLy work with.
So long for now.

Thanks in advance
Mårten

manpage · n00b Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 4

in order to make the gentoo install happen you need to read the gentoo handbook

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml

it basically explains each step though they often say that it's not for noobs... hey it's linux if anyone else can try it
so can you :wink:

just follow the steps and choose your own gentoo stage... there might be some other issue why you weren't able to install linux using some other distribution (HARDWARE FAMILIARITY, ETC.) just read the docs carefully and you should be able to make it happen

cheers!

brassj41 · n00b Joined: 28 Mar 2003 Posts: 39

manpage · n00b Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 4