Re: [SLE] converting FAT16 to ext2
Hi there again, I'm echoing this to the list, as it may be of (some) interest. Hope you don't mind. "Joseph Zieniewicz" wrote:
Thanks to both of you for the fast reply. This news group is very helpful
You're welcome and yes, they are. Very.
I do not want to save the info on /dev/hdb1, just want to use the entire drive for linux and have more space for SuSE 6.3. I was just concerned that I used Partition Magic on /dev/hdb and by using fdisk it wouldn't mess up the rest of the drive.
No, there's nothing to worry about here, since you aren't creating/destroying partitions. The reason why you shouldn't generaly 'mix and match' PM and Linux fdisk is that they each number partitions in a different way. DOS fdisk/PM numbers the partitions in physical order that they appear on the disk, whereas Linux fdisk numbers them in order of creation. So if you left a little space towards the start of the drive and filled it with a partition later on, this would be given the next free number (last number) with Linux fdisk, but with PM the numbering of the following partitions would change to include the position of the new partition in number order. Using both methods with both flavours of fdisk can get complicated and can lead to errors, which is why you shouldn't 'mix and match'. Phew.
From my personal experience I've never had many problems 'mixing and matching', but I'm probably just lucky.
When you mentioned backup, did you mean the whole drive or only /dev/hdb1?
When Nicholas said backup, I'm pretty sure he meant just /dev/hdb1 , but since you don't have any data there that you want keeping, it should be alright just to go right ahead. You may not have to use fdisk as I detailed, because mkfs may automatically change the partition type. I'm not sure though, which is why I included the bit about fdisk anyway. Of course, if there was 'mission critical' data on the rest of the disk, or you were extremely paranoid, you would make a backup of the entire disk. But then again, if this was the case you'd be doing it anyway... Hope that helps, Chris -- __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
Chris Reeves wrote:
Hi there again,
I'm echoing this to the list, as it may be of (some) interest. Hope you don't mind.
"Joseph Zieniewicz" wrote:
Thanks to both of you for the fast reply. This news group is very helpful
You're welcome and yes, they are. Very.
I do not want to save the info on /dev/hdb1, just want to use the entire drive for linux and have more space for SuSE 6.3. I was just concerned that I used Partition Magic on /dev/hdb and by using fdisk it wouldn't mess up the rest of the drive.
No, there's nothing to worry about here, since you aren't creating/destroying partitions. The reason why you shouldn't generaly 'mix and match' PM and Linux fdisk is that they each number partitions in a different way. DOS fdisk/PM numbers the partitions in physical order that they appear on the disk, whereas Linux fdisk numbers them in order of creation. So if you left a little space towards the start of the drive and filled it with a partition later on, this would be given the next free number (last number) with Linux fdisk, but with PM the numbering of the following partitions would change to include the position of the new partition in number order. Using both methods with both flavours of fdisk can get complicated and can lead to errors, which is why you shouldn't 'mix and match'. Phew.
From my personal experience I've never had many problems 'mixing and matching', but I'm probably just lucky.
When you mentioned backup, did you mean the whole drive or only /dev/hdb1?
When Nicholas said backup, I'm pretty sure he meant just /dev/hdb1 , but since you don't have any data there that you want keeping, it should be alright just to go right ahead. You may not have to use fdisk as I detailed, because mkfs may automatically change the partition type. I'm not sure though, which is why I included the bit about fdisk anyway.
Of course, if there was 'mission critical' data on the rest of the disk, or you were extremely paranoid, you would make a backup of the entire disk. But then again, if this was the case you'd be doing it anyway...
Hope that helps, Chris -- __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\
Hi Chris, Thanks for explaining the difference when you use linux fdisk and Partition Magic. I have used PM in the past to add, resize and move ext2 partitions without any problems o I used PM to format /dev/hdb1 as ext2 and it worked perfectly. Being hdb1 started at cylinder 1 I felt that if I used PM I would retain the partition numbering in the beginning of the hard drive as you explained above. I didn't backup anything and took a chance but you were right on the money. Thanks again. Joseph Zieniewicz -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
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chris.reeves＠iname.com -
jozien＠cybercomm.net