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Re: FIPS Alert
Moshe Maor writes:
> On Mon, 23 Dec 1996, Danny Dory wrote:
>
> > Dear Linux-IL members,
> >
> > Contrary to what was stated some time ago on this very list, FIPS *cannont*
> > reduce the size of a DOS partition entirely on its own: it needs a native
> > defragmentation utility to run ahead of it! Following is a quote from the
> > RedHat version 4.0 fips.doc:
> >
> > "You need a defragmentation program in order to move all data to the
> > begining of the hard disk. FIPS will only split your partition if you have
> > enough free space at the end."
> I don't know any repartitioning utility which DOES the defragmentation phase
> by itself! and that's include the shiny PQM.
> The question discussed here in the past was regarding to additional disk work
> that must be carried out DURING the repartitioning scheme, besides the
> obvious rewriten of the partition table itself. (Which is a terribly easy
> task...;-)
Not to take away from FIPS, or any other repartition utilities, but
people should note that FIPS doesn't resize clusters. This means that
if you have a 1.7gb drive all formated for MSDOS, and try to cut it
down with FIPS, you'll end up with something like 32k clusters -
i.e. - a one character file will suck up 32k of your disk. Also,
there'll be a limit to how small you can make the partition - there's
some minimum number of clusters.
So, if anyone cares, the optimum procedure would be something like:
1. Use fips to shrink the thing.
2. Format the 2nd partition for DOS.
3. Copy the complete system from the 1st partition to the 2nd
partition.
4. Make a dos boot disk.
5. Reboot from boot disk.
6. Wipe out the 1st partition using DOS fdisk.
7. Recreate the 1st partition using DOS fdisk (at the desired size,
probably about 0MB for the fanatic, and maybe 100-300 mb for the
clueless newbie).
8. Format the thing using DOS format.
As far as I recall, if you don't remove the partition before
reformatting, DOS, being such a piece of junk, will keep the same
cluster size!!! :(
Harvey
References: