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Re: Disk partition problem



On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Alex Rezinsky wrote:

> MS-DOS fdisk (6.22) allow me to make only one
> primary partition and only one extended (possible
> with a few logical inside it). Linux fdisk (slackware 3.0)
> allow me to make up to four primary partitions.
> But I have 1.3GB disk and I want at least 3-4 partitions
> for DOS and 3-4 for Linux. Can I do it? I know that
> bootable dos partiton and swap and root Linux partitions
> must be primary. But rest of partitions may be any type
> (does it correct?).

so far, so good.

basically, what you are limited to is four partitions (aka primary 
partitions), any can be your DOS boot. one of them can be marked extended 
(doesn't have to be, but it is the only way to get more partitions).
an extended partition can contain many other LOGICAL partition (I am not 
sure how many the standards support) of which DOS can only see the first 
4, which means a HD can only be divided into 5 logical drives from a DOS POV.

now, Linux can use the two other primary partitions, and also any of the 
logical partitions WITHIN the 'extended' partition. I saw no limitation 
with Linux's usage of those partitions for any purpose (you CAN boot from 
a logical partition) other than it CAN'T boot from an extended partition 
of a number larger than 4 (i.e. /dev/hda9 and up)

this kind of a table is perfectly legal:

/dev/hda1	DOS boot C:
/dev/hda2	Extended:
  /dev/hda5	Dos D:
  /dev/hda6	Dos E:
  /dev/hda7	Dos F:
  /dev/hda8	Extra Linux
  /dev/hda9	Linux swap
/dev/hda3	Linux swap or some boot manager (OS/2?)
/dev/hda4	Linux boot


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