Dual boot, and reformatting existing partitions from FAT32 to NTFS
I am dual booting. I have 2 HDs (hda and hdc) with 1 partition on hda formatted as NTFS with the rest (except for Linux) as FAT32, On hdc I have a Reiserfs partition (data1) with the rest as FAT32. I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS. If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse? Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting? Cheers. -- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
On Friday 23 January 2004 3:03 pm, Basil Chupin wrote:
I am dual booting. I have 2 HDs (hda and hdc) with 1 partition on hda formatted as NTFS with the rest (except for Linux) as FAT32, On hdc I have a Reiserfs partition (data1) with the rest as FAT32.
I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS.
If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse? Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting?
Cheers.
-- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
OK, as I read it, you are setting out to repartition and reformat, rather than just reformat. My guideline is always use the operating system for the filesystem type to do the formatting. So for formatting NTFS partitions, use NT, 2000 or XP. But for partitioning use Linux, the partitioner is much more capable. Start with Yast2 > System > Hardware > Partitioner. This will at least keep fstab workable for SUSE. Take care that you don't change the drive letter of any bootable M$ partition [the others can be fixed, but the bootables can cause grief - with NT you can get around this to some extent, but it's better to work out that it is going to happen and investigate first rather than do it and then ask]. When you use the partitioner, you can choose the filesystem type, and there are choices 0x07 for NTFS and 0x0c for FAT32 [IIRC], under 'do not format'. Note that these choices are just labels, as you don't format and note too that you get a more restricted choice of filesystem types under the 'format' option. Make sure to choose ''NTFS' as the filesystem type, even though you do not format, so that the M$ stuff can see the right drive letters - it works this out by ignoring partitions with the wrong filesystem type labels, so it could be important not to leave empty partitions. Once you have done this, you can format the new partitions from NT or whatever. HTH Vince
Vince Littler wrote:
On Friday 23 January 2004 3:03 pm, Basil Chupin wrote:
I am dual booting. I have 2 HDs (hda and hdc) with 1 partition on hda formatted as NTFS with the rest (except for Linux) as FAT32, On hdc I have a Reiserfs partition (data1) with the rest as FAT32.
I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS.
If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse? Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting?
Cheers.
-- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
OK, as I read it, you are setting out to repartition and reformat, rather than just reformat.
[Rest pruned] Nope, I have no intention of repartitioning- just reformatting :-) . Cheers. -- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
The Saturday 2004-01-24 at 02:03 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:
I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS.
I understand that you are reformatting, no repartitioning.
If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse?
It should be Ok, provided you umount them before editing fstab, and don't try to mount or reboot into linux before reformatng them. I would simply comment out those entries. However... you must know that ntfs partitions are not writeable from linux, don't you?
Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting?
Reformatting do not alters partition tables. And, in case you did, providing that linux partitions were not altered (or done correctly: not likely) and the number and order of partitions were maintained, you wouldn't have problems with linux. And, if you have, just boot the CD rescue system, mount root ("/"), and edit fstab - with "vi", so you'd better learn how to use it. :-p You may prevent some problems by commenting out most entries in the fstab file before doing changes. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
Carlos E. R. wrote:
The Saturday 2004-01-24 at 02:03 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:
I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS.
I understand that you are reformatting, no repartitioning.
If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse?
It should be Ok, provided you umount them before editing fstab, and don't try to mount or reboot into linux before reformatng them. I would simply comment out those entries.
However... you must know that ntfs partitions are not writeable from linux, don't you?
Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting?
Reformatting do not alters partition tables. And, in case you did, providing that linux partitions were not altered (or done correctly: not likely) and the number and order of partitions were maintained, you wouldn't have problems with linux.
And, if you have, just boot the CD rescue system, mount root ("/"), and edit fstab - with "vi", so you'd better learn how to use it. :-p
?vi!? No way, Jose :-) . I use pico, which is at least useable :-) .
You may prevent some problems by commenting out most entries in the fstab file before doing changes.
Thanks Carlos. Exactly what I wanted to read. As you correctly deduced, all I want is to reformat a few current FAT32 (17Gb) partitions as NTFS. (Reason why I want to do is that is that I read that one can only have a file with max size of 4Gb under FAT32 but unlimited size under NTFS - and I will be creating files larger than 4Gb.) Cheers. -- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
The Saturday 2004-01-24 at 16:57 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:
And, if you have, just boot the CD rescue system, mount root ("/"), and edit fstab - with "vi", so you'd better learn how to use it. :-p
?vi!? No way, Jose :-) .
I use pico, which is at least useable :-) .
X-) That's Pine editor. Unfortunately, the rescue CD is limited in space, and only has vi - unless they added something else lately :-?
Thanks Carlos. Exactly what I wanted to read. As you correctly deduced, all I want is to reformat a few current FAT32 (17Gb) partitions as NTFS.
(Reason why I want to do is that is that I read that one can only have a file with max size of 4Gb under FAT32 but unlimited size under NTFS - and I will be creating files larger than 4Gb.)
Ah, that makes sense. However, remember that you will not be able to write to them under Linux. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
Carlos E. R. wrote:
The Saturday 2004-01-24 at 02:03 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:
I now want to reformat at least 3 partions (say 2 on hda and 1 on hdc) as NTFS.
I understand that you are reformatting, no repartitioning.
If I altered fstab to reflect the partitions I want to reformat as NTFS file system BEFORE I exited Suse and then formatted them as NTFS would I have a problem in having them correctly recognised when I booted back into Suse?
It should be Ok, provided you umount them before editing fstab, and don't try to mount or reboot into linux before reformatng them. I would simply comment out those entries.
However... you must know that ntfs partitions are not writeable from linux, don't you?
Or would I need to do a pretend run of the partitioner after booting into Suse and read-in the partition table in case the beginning/ending sectors are altered by the reformatting?
Reformatting do not alters partition tables. And, in case you did, providing that linux partitions were not altered (or done correctly: not likely) and the number and order of partitions were maintained, you wouldn't have problems with linux.
And, if you have, just boot the CD rescue system, mount root ("/"), and edit fstab - with "vi", so you'd better learn how to use it. :-p
You may prevent some problems by commenting out most entries in the fstab file before doing changes.
Just to follow-up to this, the transformation of the partitions from FAT32 to NTFS worked flawlessly following your advice. Cheers. -- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
participants (3)
-
Basil Chupin -
Carlos E. R. -
Vince Littler