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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//Norman Walsh//DTD DocBook HTML 1.0//EN">
+<HTML
+><HEAD
+><TITLE
+>Partitions</TITLE
+><META
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+TITLE="The Linux System Administrators' Guide"
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+><TH
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+ALIGN="center"
+>The Linux System Administrators' Guide</TH
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+WIDTH="10%"
+ALIGN="left"
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+><A
+HREF="x817.html"
+>Prev</A
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+><TD
+WIDTH="80%"
+ALIGN="center"
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+>Chapter 4. Using Disks and Other Storage Media</TD
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+ALIGN="right"
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+><A
+HREF="x1029.html"
+>Next</A
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+></TABLE
+><HR
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+WIDTH="100%"></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT1"
+><H1
+CLASS="SECT1"
+><A
+NAME="AEN876"
+>Partitions</A
+></H1
+><P
+>A hard disk can be divided into several
+ <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>partitions</I
+>. Each partition functions as if
+ it were a separate hard disk. The idea is that if you have one
+ hard disk, and want to have, say, two operating systems on it,
+ you can divide the disk into two partitions. Each operating
+ system uses its partition as it wishes and doesn't touch the
+ other one's. This way the two operating systems can co-exist
+ peacefully on the same hard disk. Without partitions one would
+ have to buy a hard disk for each operating system.</P
+><P
+>Floppies are not partitioned. There is no technical reason
+ against this, but since they're so small, partitions would be
+ useful only very rarely. CD-ROM's are usually also not
+ partitioned, since it's easier to use them as one big
+ disk, and there is seldom a need to have several operating
+ systems on one.</P
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H2
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="AEN881"
+>The MBR, boot sectors and partition table</A
+></H2
+><P
+>The information about how a hard disk has been partitioned
+ is stored in its first sector (that is, the first sector of the
+ first track on the first disk surface). The first sector is the
+ <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>master boot record</I
+> (MBR) of the disk; this
+ is the sector that the BIOS reads in and starts when the machine
+ is first booted. The master boot record contains a small program
+ that reads the partition table, checks which partition is active
+ (that is, marked bootable), and reads the first sector of that
+ partition, the partition's <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>boot sector</I
+>
+ (the MBR is also a boot sector, but it has a special status and
+ therefore a special name). This boot sector contains another
+ small program that reads the first part of the operating system
+ stored on that partition (assuming it is bootable), and then
+ starts it.</P
+><P
+>The partitioning scheme is not built into the hardware, or
+ even into the BIOS. It is only a convention that many
+ operating systems follow. Not all operating systems do follow
+ it, but they are the exceptions. Some operating
+ systems support partitions, but they occupy one partition on
+ the hard disk, and use their internal partitioning method
+ within that partition. The latter type exists peacefully
+ with other operating systems (including Linux), and does not
+ require any special measures, but an operating system
+ that doesn't support partitions cannot co-exist on the same
+ disk with any other operating system.</P
+><P
+>As a safety precaution, it is a good idea to write down the
+ partition table on a piece of paper, so that if it ever corrupts
+ you don't have to lose all your files. (A bad partition table
+ can be fixed with <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+>). The relevant information
+ is given by the <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk -l</B
+> command:
+
+<PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+><TT
+CLASS="PROMPT"
+>$</TT
+> <TT
+CLASS="USERINPUT"
+><B
+>fdisk -l /dev/hda</B
+></TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+></TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>Disk /dev/hda: 15 heads, 57 sectors, 790 cylinders</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>Units = cylinders of 855 * 512 bytes</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+></TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+> Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda1 1 1 24 10231+ 82 Linux swap</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda2 25 25 48 10260 83 Linux native</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda3 49 49 408 153900 83 Linux native</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda4 409 409 790 163305 5 Extended</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda5 409 409 744 143611+ 83 Linux native</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
+>/dev/hda6 745 745 790 19636+ 83 Linux native</TT
+>
+<TT
+CLASS="PROMPT"
+>$</TT
+></PRE
+>&#13;</P
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H2
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="AEN905"
+>Extended and logical partitions</A
+></H2
+><P
+>The original partitioning scheme for PC hard disks allowed
+ only four partitions. This quickly turned out to be too little
+ in real life, partly because some people want more than four
+ operating systems (Linux, MS-DOS, OS/2, Minix, FreeBSD, NetBSD, or
+ Windows/NT, to name a few), but primarily because sometimes it
+ is a good idea to have several partitions for one
+ operating system. For example, swap space is usually best put
+ in its own partition for Linux instead of in the main
+ Linux partition for reasons of speed (see below).</P
+><P
+>To overcome this design problem, <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>extended partitions</I
+> were
+ invented. This trick allows partitioning a <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>primary
+ partition</I
+> into sub-partitions. The
+ primary partition thus subdivided is the <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>extended partition</I
+>; the
+ subpartitions are <I
+CLASS="GLOSSTERM"
+>logical partitions</I
+>. They behave
+ like primary
+
+ <A
+NAME="AEN913"
+HREF="#FTN.AEN913"
+>[1]</A
+>
+
+ partitions, but are created differently. There is no speed
+ difference between them.</P
+><P
+>The partition structure of a hard disk might look like that
+ in <A
+HREF="x876.html#HARD-DISK-LAYOUT"
+>Figure 4-2</A
+>. The disk is divided into
+ three primary partitions, the second of which is divided into
+ two logical partitions. Part of the disk is not partitioned
+ at all. The disk as a whole and each primary partition has a
+ boot sector.</P
+><DIV
+CLASS="FIGURE"
+><P
+><B
+><A
+NAME="HARD-DISK-LAYOUT"
+>Figure 4-2. A sample hard disk partitioning.</A
+></B
+></P
+><P
+><IMG
+SRC="hd-layout.gif"></P
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H2
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="AEN920"
+>Partition types</A
+></H2
+><P
+>The partition tables (the one in the MBR, and the ones for
+ extended partitions) contain one byte per partition that
+ identifies the type of that partition. This attempts to
+ identify the operating system that uses the partition, or what
+ it uses it for. The purpose is to make it possible to avoid
+ having two operating systems accidentally using the same
+ partition. However, in reality, operating systems do not
+ really care about the partition type byte; e.g., Linux
+ doesn't care at all what it is. Worse, some of them use it
+ incorrectly; e.g., at least some versions of DR-DOS ignore the
+ most significant bit of the byte, while others don't.</P
+><P
+>There is no standardization agency to specify what each byte
+ value means, but some commonly accepted ones are included in
+ in <A
+HREF="x876.html#PARTITION-IDS"
+>Table 4-1</A
+>. The same list is
+ available in the Linux <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+> program.</P
+><DIV
+CLASS="TABLE"
+><P
+><B
+><A
+NAME="PARTITION-IDS"
+>Table 4-1. Partition types (from the Linux <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+> program).</A
+></B
+></P
+><TABLE
+BORDER="1"
+CLASS="CALSTABLE"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>0</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Empty</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>40</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Venix 80286</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>94</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Amoeba BBT</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>1</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS 12-bit FAT</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>51</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Novell?</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>a5</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>BSD/386</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>2</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>XENIX root</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>52</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Microport</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>b7</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>BSDI fs</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>3</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>XENIX usr</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>63</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>GNU HURD</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>b8</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>BSDI swap</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>4</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS 16-bitf &lt;32M</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>64</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Novell</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>c7</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Syrinx</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>5</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Extended</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>75</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>PC/IX</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>db</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>CP/M</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>6</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS 16-bit &gt;=32M</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>80</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Old MINIX</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>e1</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS access</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>7</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>OS/2 HPFS</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>81</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Linux/MINIX</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>e3</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS R/O</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>8</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>AIX</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>82</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Linux swap</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>f2</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>DOS secondary</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>9</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>AIX bootable</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>83</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Linux native</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>ff</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>BBT</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>a</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>OS/2 Boot Manag</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>93</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>Amoeba</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>&nbsp;</TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+>&nbsp;</TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H2
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="AEN1008"
+>Partitioning a hard disk</A
+></H2
+><P
+>There are many programs for creating and removing
+ partitions. Most operating systems have their own, and it
+ can be a good idea to use each operating system's own, just
+ in case it does something unusual that the others can't.
+ Many of the programs are called <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+>,
+ including the Linux one, or variations thereof. Details on
+ using the Linux <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+> are given on its
+ man page. The <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>cfdisk</B
+> command is similar
+ to <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+>, but has a nicer (full screen)
+ user interface.</P
+><P
+>When using IDE disks, the boot partition (the partition
+ with the bootable kernel image files) must be completely
+ within the first 1024 cylinders. This is because the disk is
+ used via the BIOS during boot (before the system goes into
+ protected mode), and BIOS can't handle more than 1024 cylinders.
+ It is sometimes possible to use a boot partition that is only
+ partly within the first 1024 cylinders. This works as long
+ as all the files that are read with the BIOS are within the
+ first 1024 cylinders. Since this is difficult to arrange,
+ it is <I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>a very bad idea</I
+> to do it; you never know when
+ a kernel update or disk defragmentation will result in an
+ unbootable system. Therefore, make sure your boot partition
+ is completely within the first 1024 cylinders.</P
+><P
+>Some newer versions of the BIOS and IDE disks can, in fact,
+ handle disks with more than 1024 cylinders. If you have such
+ a system, you can forget about the problem; if you aren't quite
+ sure of it, put it within the first 1024 cylinders.</P
+><P
+>Each partition should have an even number of sectors,
+ since the Linux filesystems use a 1 kilobyte block size, i.e.,
+ two sectors. An odd number of sectors will result in the
+ last sector being unused. This won't result in any problems,
+ but it is ugly, and some versions of <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fdisk</B
+>
+ will warn about it.</P
+><P
+>Changing a partition's size usually requires first backing up
+ everything you want to save from that partition (preferably the
+ whole disk, just in case), deleting the partition, creating
+ new partition, then restoring everything to the new partition.
+ If the partition is growing, you may need to adjust the sizes
+ (and backup and restore) of the adjoining partitions as well.</P
+><P
+>Since changing partition sizes is painful, it is preferable to
+ get the partitions right
+ the first time, or have an effective and easy to use backup
+ system. If you're installing from a media that does not require
+ much human intervention (say, from CD-ROM, as opposed to floppies),
+ it is often easy to play with different configuration at first.
+ Since you don't already have data to back up, it is not so
+ painful to modify partition sizes several times.</P
+><P
+>There is a program for MS-DOS, called
+ <B
+CLASS="COMMAND"
+>fips</B
+>, which resizes an MS-DOS partition without
+ requiring the backup and restore, but for other filesystems it
+ is still necessary.</P
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H2
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="AEN1024"
+>Device files and partitions</A
+></H2
+><P
+>Each partition and extended partition has its own
+ device file. The naming convention for these files is that a
+ partition's number is appended after the name of the whole disk,
+ with the convention that 1-4 are primary partitions (regardless
+ of how many primary partitions there are) and 5-8 are logical
+ partitions (regardless of within which primary partition
+ they reside). For example, <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>/dev/hda1</TT
+>
+ is the first primary partition on the first IDE hard disk, and
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>/dev/sdb7</TT
+> is the third extended partition on
+ the second SCSI hard disk. The device list in XXX (device list)
+ gives more information.</P
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><H3
+>Notes</H3
+><TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+CLASS="FOOTNOTES"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+WIDTH="5%"
+><A
+NAME="FTN.AEN913"
+HREF="x876.html#AEN913"
+>[1]</A
+></TD
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+VALIGN="TOP"
+WIDTH="95%"
+><P
+>Illogical?</P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+><DIV
+CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
+><HR
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
+WIDTH="100%"
+BORDER="0"
+CELLPADDING="0"
+CELLSPACING="0"
+><TR
+><TD
+WIDTH="33%"
+ALIGN="left"
+VALIGN="top"
+><A
+HREF="x817.html"
+>Prev</A
+></TD
+><TD
+WIDTH="34%"
+ALIGN="center"
+VALIGN="top"
+><A
+HREF="book1.html"
+>Home</A
+></TD
+><TD
+WIDTH="33%"
+ALIGN="right"
+VALIGN="top"
+><A
+HREF="x1029.html"
+>Next</A
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+WIDTH="33%"
+ALIGN="left"
+VALIGN="top"
+>Formatting</TD
+><TD
+WIDTH="34%"
+ALIGN="center"
+VALIGN="top"
+><A
+HREF="c701.html"
+>Up</A
+></TD
+><TD
+WIDTH="33%"
+ALIGN="right"
+VALIGN="top"
+>Filesystems</TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></BODY
+></HTML
+> \ No newline at end of file