Subject: [Q] Partition tables (DOS and Linux) From: David Silberstein <DASBC@CUNYVM.BITNET> Date: Sunday, 30 May 1993 14:58:59 EDT
When I ordered my computer, I asked them to partition the drive
in half so that I could put Linux on the second half
without losing the primary DOS partition. When I booted up the
most recent SLS version and ran fdisk, this is the partition
table info it gave me (or something very much like it - this is a
reconstruction using fdisk):
Disk /dev/hda: 12 heads, 55 sectors, 1010 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 660 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1 503 165962+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda2 504 504 1009 166980 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 504 504 1009 166979+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
I then deleted /dev/hda2 (and /dev/hda5 disappeared), and put in this
table (the one I currently have):
Disk /dev/hda: 12 heads, 55 sectors, 1010 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 660 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1 503 165962+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/dev/hda2 504 504 1004 165330 83 Linux Ext
/dev/hda3 1005 1005 1010 1980 82 Linux swap
Command (m for help):v
54 unallocated sectors
======================
My questions:
What is an Extended partition, and why use one (in DOS)?
Is it safe for me to go all the way to the 1010th cylinder for my
swap partition?
(The 1010th cyl is the landing zone, according to my CMOS).
Thanx in advance for any info - and sorry if this is a FAQ (which I did
read before posting this)