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77 <H2>Clonezilla-SysRescCD</H2>
78 <H3>Offline Documentation: Managing partitions</H3>
79 <div style="margin:0; padding: 3px; width: 980; position relative;">
80 <div style="position: absolute; left: 0px;"><H4>25/05/2010 - v 3.1.0</H4></div>
81 <div style="position: absolute; right: 0px;"><H4>Last update: 18/06/2010</H4></div>
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99 <a name="partitions-top"></a>
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102 <!-- Intro -->
103
104 <H2 style="margin-top: 0;"><a name="partitions-intro"></a>Intro <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H2>
105
106 <p>One of the most important maintenance tasks that can only be done by using a live CD is partitioning. No operating system allows partitioning the same disk where the OS itself resides. Trying to do so is like attempting to repair a car while its engine is turned on.<br><br>
107 <!--empty line-->
108 Of course, <b>SystemRescueCD</b> contains multiple programs that are related to partitioning. Most important are <b>GParted</b> (graphical partitioning program), <b>GNU Parted</b> (text-based partitioning program), <b>fdisk</b> and <b>sfdisk</b> (partition table editors) and various filesystem tools (like <b>ntfsprogs</b> and <b>e2fsprogs</b>).<br><br>
109 <!--empty line-->
110 This page contains some theory about partitions and filesystems, advice for choosing the right filesystem and a partitioning example by using <b>GParted</b>.</p>
111
112 <div align="center"><table class="note" border="0" cellpadding="20"><tr><td valign="top"><img src="images/important.png"></td><td>
113 While partitioning, an user error or a bug can damage your partitions.<br><br>Creating a disk image of the disk to be<br>partitioned beforehand is highly recommended.
114 </td></tr></table></div>
115 <div align="center"><table class="note" border="0" cellpadding="20"><tr><td valign="top"><img src="images/info.png"></td><td>
116 The following pressentation has been made using<br><b>SystemRescueCD v 1.4.0</b>
117 </td></tr></table></div>
118
119 <H2><a name="theory"></a>Some theory <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H2>
120
121 <H3><a name="partitions-partition"></a>What is a partition? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
122
123 <p>A partition is a logical division of a hard disk created so that you can have different operating systems on the same hard disk or to create the appearance of having separate hard drives for file management, multiple users, or other purposes.</p>
124
125 <p>In Windows, a one-partition hard disk is labelled the "C:" drive ("A:" and "B:" are typically reserved for diskette drives). A two-partition hard drive would typically contain "C:" and "D:" drives. (CD-ROM drives typically are assigned the last letter in whatever sequence of letters have been used as a result of hard disk formatting, or typically with a two-partition, the "E:" drive.).</p>
126
127 <p>In UNIX-based systems, a partition is used to host the / (root) file system, and optionally the /opt, /usr and /home file systems. There may also be a swap partition, which doesn't host any file system.</p>
128
129 <p>Each operatin system provides some kind of tool to create and manage partitions. Examples of such tools are <b>fdisk</b> in DOS/Windows, <b>fdisk</b>, <b>sfdisk</b> and <b>parted</b> in Linux, etc.</p>
130
131 <H3><a name="partitions-extended"></a>What is the difference between primary, extended and logical partitions? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H2>
132
133 <p>Information about partitions is saved in so-called partition table in Master Boot Record. MBR itself is only 512 bytes in size, and only 64 bytes are reserved for partition table. That's not enough, and there are many workarounds to bypass limitations caused by the size, for example <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing#LBA.2C_ATA_devices_and_Enhanced_BIOS" target="_blank">logical block addressing</a>. Extended partitions are another workaround.</p>
134
135 <p>Partition table can only store information about four partitions. If one has, for example, two GNU/Linux distributions on the same disk, both of them having separate root partitions, shared /home and shared swap, the partition number limit has been hit already.</p>
136
137 <p>A partition that is mentioned in the partition table is called primary partition. Because of the limit, one disk can only contain 1-4 primary partitions.</p>
138
139 <p>An extended partition fixes the problem simply by containing more boot records, called Extended Boot Records (EBR). Each EBR contains information about one logical partition and, if the extended partition contains multiple logical partitions, link to the next EBR. Thus, an extended partition can contain unlimited amount of logical partitions.</p>
140
141 <p>Extended partition contains only EBRs and logical partitions (and maybe unallocated space). Extended partition doesn't contain any filesystem and files can't be stored in it. Of course, logical partition can contain any filesystem (or be unformatted).</p>
142
143 <p>Extended partition itself must be primary partition: an extended partition can't be within another extended partition. In addition, a disk can contain only one extended partition.</p>
144
145 <p>Logical partitions can always be used for storing data: any operating system can see logical partitions. GNU/Linux distributions can be installed to logical partitions as well, but Windows requires a lot of tweaking. See <a href="http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/index.htm" target="_blank">this outdated guide</a>.</p>
146
147 <H3><a name="partitions-lvm"></a>What is LVM? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
148
149 <p>LVM means "Logical Volume Manager". It allows creating volume groups on top of hard drives and logical volumes within volume groups. Logical volumes are NOT the same thing as logical partitions!</p>
150
151 <p>Volume groups can be created very flexibly: a volume group can allocate, for example, the first half of the first hard drive and the second half of the third drive. One can even create a massive volume group containing all storage he/she has.</p>
152
153 <p>The computer sees a logical volume as a partition: logical volume can be left unformatted or contain any filesystem.</p>
154
155 <p>LVM has many benefits: for example, if one has three hard drives 60 gigabytes each, he/she can create a 160-gigabyte partition for storing massive files and/or saving some disk space. In addition, logical volumes can be resized even when they're in use, so when creating logical volumes one doesn't need to worry if they're too small or big - if they are, he/she can resize them at any time.</p>
156
157 <p>However, resizing a logical volume doesn't resize the filesystem in it, so using a filesystem that can be resized in use (online resizing) is recommended. Very few filesystems can be shrinked online, but most GNU/Linux filesystems (including ext3/4, ReiserFS, XFS and btrfs) can be grown online. It's generally a good idea to leave unallocated space within volume group, so logical volumes can later be grown without shrinking any other logical volume.</p>
158
159 <p>Here come bad news for people who dualboot: Windows doesn't support LVM, it sees volume groups as unformatted partitions. If you try to access volume group within Windows, you're just prompted to format the partition. That prompt is annoying at best and dangerous at worst.</p>
160
161 <p>More information about LVM can be found <a href="http://sunoano.name/ws/public_xhtml/lvm.html" target="_blank">here</a> (almost everything about LVM in a single page) and <a href="http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-Guide-EN-LVM2" target="_blank">here</a> (official SystemRescueCD documentation about LVM).</p>
162
163 <H3><a name="partitions-filesystem"></a>What is a file system? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
164
165 <p>A file system is the way in which files are named and where they are placed logically for storage and retrieval. The DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, and UNIX-based operating systems all have file systems in which files are placed somewhere in a hierarchical (tree) structure. A file is placed in a directory (folder in Windows) or subdirectory at the desired place in the tree structure.</p>
166
167 <p>The most important difference between filesystems is operating system support. Some filesystems are supported by all modern operating systems, but especially the newest filesystems are very rarely supported. Other important limits are maximum file size, journaling support and file permission metadata support.</p>
168
169 <p>The reason that file size limits exist is that all filesystems reserve a fixed number of bits for storing the file size. If the size of the file, in bytes, is bigger than the biggest number that can be stored in file size bits, the operating system must refuse to store the file at all in order to prevent data corruption.</p>
170
171 <p>File permission metadata means that the filesystem stores in the metadata of the file, among other things, information about who owns the file and what different users are allowed to do with the file. That metadata is especially useful in multi-user environment because it mostly prevents users from reading each other's files. Permissions can be bypassed, however.</p>
172
173 <H3><a name="partitions-journaling"></a>What is journaling? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
174
175 <p>Ideally, data in a partition never corrupts. But, in the real world, there are power failures and operating system freezes. And if a computer is forcefully shut down while something is written to the drive, the write operation can't be finished. That can damage the filesystem and destroy any files in the partition.</p>
176
177 <p>Journaling partially fixes that problem by writing most changes to the disk twice: first to a special area called journal and, after that, to the filesystem itself. If power is lost while writing to the journal was in progress, the partial change is just ignored and never committed to the filesystem itself. If power failure or OS freeze happened while writing to filesystem itself, the write operation is finished by using the information in journal.</p>
178
179 <p>Journaling helps most of the time when the computer has been forcefully shut down, but not always. Due to performance reasons, only some write operations are written to the journal, mostly the biggest operations. Of course, journaling doesn't help if that particular operation that was in progress while power was lost didn't go through the journal. Journaling also doesn't protect from everything: for example, using ext4 filesystem in conjuction with programs that write a lot of files in a short time can result in <a href="http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Possible-data-loss-in-Ext4-740467.html" target="_blank">massive data loss</a>, regardless if journaling is enabled or not.</p>
180
181 <p>In addition, journaling reduces performance. It causes more writes to the disk. That's not a big problem on mechanical hard drives, but on SSDs (Solid State Drives) and thumb drives write speed is much slower than read speed. They also have a limited number of writing cycles, so journaling reduces their lifetime. I (Jyrki) actually use ext2 and FAT32 filesystems on my external SSD drive because they do NOT support journaling at all.</p>
182
183 <H3><a name="partitions-filesystems"></a>What are the differences between most popular filesystems? <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
184
185 <p>The following table quickly describes the most important differences between them.</p>
186 <!--not-on-txt-->
187 <table border="1">
188 <tr>
189 <th></th>
190 <th colspan="2">Operating system support</th>
191 <th></th>
192 <th></th>
193 <th></th>
194 </tr>
195 <tr>
196 <th></th>
197 <th>Under Windows</th>
198 <th>Under GNU/Linux</th>
199 <th>Maximum file size</th>
200 <th>Journaling</th>
201 <th>Permissions</th>
202 </tr>
203 <tr>
204 <th>FAT32</th>
205 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Native</td>
206 <td style="background-color: rgb(127,255,0)">Built-in</td>
207 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">4 GB</td>
208 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
209 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
210 </tr>
211 <tr>
212 <th>NTFS</th>
213 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Native</td>
214 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,255,0)">Driver included</td>
215 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,255,0)">16 EB</td>
216 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
217 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
218 </tr>
219 <tr>
220 <th>ext2</th>
221 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,127,0)">3rd party driver</td>
222 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Native</td>
223 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,127,0)">16 GB-2 TB*</td>
224 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
225 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
226 </tr>
227 <tr>
228 <th>ext3</th>
229 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,127,0)">3rd party driver</td>
230 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Native</td>
231 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,127,0)">16 GB-2 TB*</td>
232 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
233 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
234 </tr>
235 <tr>
236 <th>ext4</th>
237 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
238 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Native</td>
239 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,127,0)">16 GB-16 TB*</td>
240 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
241 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
242 </tr>
243 <tr>
244 <th>exFAT</th>
245 <td style="background-color: rgb(127,255,0)">Native (Vista/7)**</td>
246 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
247 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">64 ZB</td>
248 <td style="background-color: rgb(255,0,0)">No</td>
249 <td style="background-color: rgb(0,255,0)">Yes</td>
250 </tr>
251 </table>
252 <!--end-not-on-txt-->
253
254
255
256 <p>* Depends on cluster size<br>
257 ** <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704" target="_blank">This update</a> adds exFAT support to Windows XP</p>
258
259 <p>Operating system support:</p>
260
261 <ul>
262 <li>"Native" means that the kernel supports the filesystem and the OS can boot from a partition using that FS.</li>
263 <li>"Built-in" means that the kernel supports the filesystem, but booting from a partition containing such FS is very difficult.</li>
264 <li>"Driver included" means that ntfs-3g (the driver that adds NTFS support to Linux) comes with most GNU/Linux distributions.</li>
265 <li>"3rd party driver" means that drivers to add filesystem support are available, but must be downloaded and installed separately. The drivers are <a href="http://www.fs-driver.org" target="_blank">Ext2 IFS</a> and <a href="http://www.ext2fsd.com" target="_blank">Ext2fsd</a>.</li>
266 <li>"No" means that there is no way to use the filesystem within the operating system.</li>
267 </ul>
268
269 <H2><a name="filesystems"></a>Filesystems <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H2>
270
271 <p>This section contains more information about most popular filesystems.</p>
272
273 <H3><a name="partitions-fat32"></a>FAT32 <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
274
275 <p>The initial version of FAT (File Allocation Table), now referred as FAT12, was designed for floppy disks. A FAT12 partition can only be up to 32 megabytes in size. After that, PCs equipped with hard drives were introcuded by IBM and the sizes of hard drives began growing. Microsoft answered the need by developing first initial FAT16 and then final FAT16.</p>
276
277 <p>FAT16 partition can be up to two gigabytes in size. In the middle of 1990s, that limit was becoming a problem. Microsoft pushed the limit up by updating FAT again.</p>
278
279 <p>FAT32 was first introduced with Windows 95 OSR2. Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000 and newer support FAT32 too. Linux kernel has supported FAT32 almost as long as Windows, but booting GNU/Linux from FAT32 partition is difficult and actually requires DOS to be installed in the partition as well. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT_filesystem_and_Linux#Installing_Linux_on_and_booting_it_from_FAT_volumes_using_umsdos" target="_blank">more information</a>)</p>
280
281 <p>FAT32 partition can be up to two terabytes in size. As of now (March 2010), there are hard drives that hit the limit, but don't exceed it. A single file within FAT32 partition can be up to four gigabytes in size.</p>
282
283 <p>Because FAT32 is, in the end, based on FAT12, it has very few features. It doesn't support file permissions, hard/symbolic links, encryption, compression, alternative data streams, journaling... It lacks support for nearly anything that defines a modern filesystem. However, due to very few features, FAT32 is very fast filesystem if it's not fragmented or on a Flash-based drive. Mind you, FAT32 fragments very fast.</p>
284
285 <p>Due to excellent operating system support, I recommend FAT32 for storing files which should be accessible in both Windows and GNU/Linux. FAT32 is also a good filesystem on Solid State Drives and thumb drives due to its performance.</p>
286
287 <H3><a name="partitions-ext2"></a>ext2 <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
288
289 <p>Ext2 or ext2fs is the successor of extfs (extended file system). Extfs didn't support separated timestamps for access, data modification and inode modification. In order to add support for them, and make the filesystem extendable, a new filesystem had to be created.</p>
290
291 <p>Ext2 was developed in January 1993, earlier than any other filesystem mentioned in this page.</p>
292
293 <p>Because ext2 is designed for GNU/Linux, support in Linux kernel was implemented immediately. The first Windows driver supporting ext2, <a href="http://www.ext2fsd.com" target="_blank">Ext2fsd</a> 0.01, was released on 25 January 2002. Both Windows drivers for ext2 work only on Windows NT operating systems (NT 4.0 up to Vista, 7 isn't supported yet).</p>
294
295 <p>The best property of ext2 is extensibility. The superblock contains information about which version the filesystem is (ext2, ext3 or ext4) and which extensions and features are in use. By using these pieces of information, the operating system or driver can decide whether or not mounting the partition is safe. That's the most important reason why most GNU/Linux distributions still use successors of ext2 as default filesystems.</p>
296
297 <p>Depending on cluster size, ext2 partition can be up to 2-32 terabytes in size. File size limit is 16 GB-2 TB.</p>
298
299 <p>Ext2 supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links and extended file attributes. Encryption, compression and journaling are unsupported.</p>
300
301 <p>Due to lack of journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, I recommend using ext2 if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a SSD drive and want to be able to access files within Windows too. In fact, that's exactly the setup I have.</p>
302
303 <p>However, lack of journaling support is the worst limitation of ext2. And what was done in order to get rid of the limitation?</p>
304
305 <H3><a name="partitions-ext3"></a>ext3 <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
306
307 <p>Ext3, the successor of ext2, was introduced in Linux kernel on November 2001. It supports journaling, can be grown online and indexes large directories.</p>
308
309 <p>Ext2 IFS and Ext2fsd can mount ext3 partition as ext2 if the journal is empty. (If it's not, something is wrong - journal is always emptied when the partition is unmounted or the computer is shut down.) Thus, ext3 support under Windows is just as good/bad as ext2 support.</p>
310
311 <p>Partition and file size limits are the same as in ext2: partition size limit is 2-32 TB and file size limit 16 GB-2 TB, depending on cluster size.</p>
312
313 <p>Due to journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, ext3 is a good choice if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a mechanical hard drive and want to be able to access files within Windows.</p>
314
315 <H3><a name="partitions-ext4"></a>ext4 <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
316
317 <p>Linux kernel support for ext4, the successor of ext3, was marked stable code on October 2008. Ext4 contains multiple performance and stability improvements over ext3.</p>
318
319 <p>The most important new feature is extents. An extent is a contiguous area of storage that has been reserved for a file. When a process starts to write to a file, the whole extent is allocated even before the write operation begins. The idea is that even if the file is larger than expected, it doesn't fragment if it doesn't exceed the size of the extent.</p>
320
321 <p>Another important improvement is larger partition size limit: an ext4 partition can be even one exabyte in size. (An exabyte is a million terabytes.) In addition, a directory within an ext4 partition can contain up to 64 000 subdirectories (instead of 32 000, as in ext2/3) and timestamps are much more accurate. The file size limit is 16 GB-16 TB, depending on cluster size.</p>
322
323 <p>Unfortunately, Ext2 IFS and Ext2Fsd don't support ext4 and are unable to mount ext4 partition if extents are enabled. They can be disabled, but other improvements of ext4 aren't that important for most people - using ext2 or ext3 is just easier.</p>
324
325 <p>Due to its features, ext4 is a good filesystem on computers that only have GNU/Linux installed. Because journaling can be disabled, it is suitable for Solid State Drives and thumb drives too.</p>
326
327 <H3><a name="partitions-ntfs"></a>NTFS <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
328
329 <p>At the end of 1980s, IBM and Microsoft were developing OS/2 operating system. Both companies expected OS/2 1.1, released on 1988, to be the first popular operating system having a GUI, Presentation Manager. Even though it didn't become too popular during its first years, Microsoft didn't complain: Windows 2 didn't sell any better.</p>
330
331 <p>But on May 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0. Millions of copies of it were sold during its first year, and Microsoft began to believe that OS/2 had failed due to decisions of IBM. At autumn 1990, Microsoft stopped cooperating with IBM, recasted OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT and continued developing it alone, leaving IBM alone with OS/2.</p>
332
333 <p>Windows NT was targeted for network file servers, and there were already competition, most importantly Novell NetWare and OS/2. Among other things, the filesystem of Windows NT had to be fast, space efficient and reliable.</p>
334
335 <p>NTFS (New Technology File System) was introcuded with Windows NT 3.1. Newer versions of NTFS have been introduced with newer versions of Windows NT, and the filesystem is most likely still under development. All versions of Windows NT support NTFS, but support in Linux kernel was implemented as late as on December 2003.</p>
336
337 <p>NTFS is still, in my opinion, the most feature-filled filesystem around. It supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links, encryption, compression, alternative data streams, journaling... There are very few features NTFS doesn't support.</p>
338
339 <p>Depending on cluster size, a NTFS partition can be up to 8 ZB-1 YB in size. (A zettabyte (ZB) is a milliard terabytes and a yottabyte (YB) a billion terabytes.) File size limit is 16 EB.</p>
340
341 <p>Windows 7 can only be installed on a NTFS partition, and Vista requires a <a href="http://www.computersplace.com/install-windows-vista-on-a-fat32-partition/windows-vista" target="_blank">work-around</a> if one wants to install it on a FAT32 partition. Of course NTFS partitions can be used for data storage as well: due to features of NTFS, I recommend doing so on mechanical hard drives on Windows-only computers.</p>
342
343 <H3><a name="partitions-exfat"></a>exFAT <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
344
345 <p>NTFS is a great filesystem, but due to its complexity and journaling, it's not suitable for Flash-based drives. Even Microsoft itself has recommended using FAT32 on removable Flash media.</p>
346
347 <p>However, FAT32 only allows files up to four gigabytes in size. The limit is already becoming too small, for example a DVD disc image can exceed that limit. In addition, FAT32 lacks file permission support. In order to get rid of these limitations, Microsoft took FAT from its grave and updated it one more time.</p>
348
349 <p>ExFAT (extended FAT), also known as FAT64, was introduced with Windows CE 6.0, on November 2006. Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 and newer support exFAT too, and by installing <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704" target="_blank">this update</a> Windows XP can be extended to support exFAT as well. Unfortunately, the only read-write exFAT driver for GNU/Linux (<a href="http://www.tuxera.com/products/exfat-for-embedded-systems/" target="_blank">Tuxera exFAT for Embedded Systems</a>) is payware.</p>
350
351 <p>The partition and file size limits of exFAT are the same: 64 zettabytes. Another important improvement is file permission support that, oddly, is lacking in Windows Vista. In addition, a directory within an exFAT partition can contain up to 2 796 202 files (instead of 65 536, as in FAT32) and timestamps have become more accurate.</p>
352
353 <p>No operating system can be installed to an exFAT partition, so such partitions can only be used for data storage. Due to lack of journaling and support for huge files, exFAT is a good filesystem on Solid State Drives and thumb drives that are only used within Windows Vista and/or 7.</p>
354
355
356
357 <H3><a name="annex-b-list"></a>Partition list <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#annex-b-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
358
359 <p>The following table presents known partition types along with their IDs:</p>
360
361 <p class="newcode" style="margin-right: 0;">&nbsp;0&nbsp;&nbsp;Empty&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;80&nbsp;&nbsp;Old&nbsp;Minix<br>
362 &nbsp;1&nbsp;&nbsp;FAT12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;81&nbsp;&nbsp;Minix&nbsp;/&nbsp;old&nbsp;Linux<br>
363 &nbsp;2&nbsp;&nbsp;XENIX&nbsp;root&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="Red">82&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux&nbsp;swap&nbsp;/&nbsp;Solaris</font><br>
364 &nbsp;3&nbsp;&nbsp;XENIX&nbsp;usr&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="Green">83&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux</font><br>
365 &nbsp;4&nbsp;&nbsp;FAT16&nbsp;&lt;32M&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;84&nbsp;&nbsp;OS/2&nbsp;hidden&nbsp;C:&nbsp;drive<br>
366 &nbsp;5&nbsp;&nbsp;Extended&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;85&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux&nbsp;extended<br>
367 &nbsp;<font color="Red">6&nbsp;&nbsp;FAT16</font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;86&nbsp;&nbsp;NTFS&nbsp;volume&nbsp;set<br>
368 &nbsp;<font color="Green">7&nbsp;&nbsp;HPFS/NTFS</font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;87&nbsp;&nbsp;NTFS&nbsp;volume&nbsp;set<br>
369 &nbsp;8&nbsp;&nbsp;AIX&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;88&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux&nbsp;plaintext<br>
370 &nbsp;9&nbsp;&nbsp;AIX&nbsp;bootable&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8e&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux&nbsp;LVM<br>
371 &nbsp;a&nbsp;&nbsp;OS/2&nbsp;Boot&nbsp;Manager&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;93&nbsp;&nbsp;Amoeba<br>
372 &nbsp;b&nbsp;&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT32&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;94&nbsp;&nbsp;Amoeba&nbsp;BBT<br>
373 &nbsp;<font color="Red">c&nbsp;&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT32&nbsp;(LBA)</font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9f&nbsp;&nbsp;BSD/OS<br>
374 &nbsp;e&nbsp;&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT16&nbsp;(LBA)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a0&nbsp;&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;Thinkpad&nbsp;hibernation<br>
375 &nbsp;<font color="Green">f&nbsp;&nbsp;W95&nbsp;Ext'd&nbsp;(LBA)</font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a5&nbsp;&nbsp;FreeBSD<br>
376 10&nbsp;&nbsp;OPUS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a6&nbsp;&nbsp;OpenBSD<br>
377 11&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;FAT12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a7&nbsp;&nbsp;NeXTSTEP<br>
378 12&nbsp;&nbsp;Compaq&nbsp;diagnostics&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a8&nbsp;&nbsp;Darwin&nbsp;UFS<br>
379 14&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;FAT16&nbsp;&lt;32M&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a9&nbsp;&nbsp;NetBSD<br>
380 16&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;FAT16&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ab&nbsp;&nbsp;Darwin&nbsp;boot<br>
381 17&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;HPFS/NTFS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b7&nbsp;&nbsp;BSDI&nbsp;fs<br>
382 18&nbsp;&nbsp;AST&nbsp;SmartSleep&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;b8&nbsp;&nbsp;BSDI&nbsp;swap<br>
383 1b&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT32&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;bb&nbsp;&nbsp;Boot&nbsp;Wizard&nbsp;hidden<br>
384 1c&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT32&nbsp;(LBA)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;be&nbsp;&nbsp;Solaris&nbsp;boot<br>
385 1e&nbsp;&nbsp;Hidden&nbsp;W95&nbsp;FAT16&nbsp;(LBA)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;bf&nbsp;&nbsp;Solaris<br>
386 24&nbsp;&nbsp;NEC&nbsp;DOS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c1&nbsp;&nbsp;DRDOS/sec&nbsp;(FAT-12)<br>
387 39&nbsp;&nbsp;Plan&nbsp;9&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c4&nbsp;&nbsp;DRDOS/sec&nbsp;(FAT-16&nbsp;<&nbsp;32M)<br>
388 3c&nbsp;&nbsp;PartitionMagic&nbsp;recovery&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c6&nbsp;&nbsp;DRDOS/sec&nbsp;(FAT-16)<br>
389 40&nbsp;&nbsp;Venix&nbsp;80286&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c7&nbsp;&nbsp;Syrinx<br>
390 41&nbsp;&nbsp;PPC&nbsp;PReP&nbsp;Boot&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;da&nbsp;&nbsp;Non-FS&nbsp;data<br>
391 42&nbsp;&nbsp;SFS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;db&nbsp;&nbsp;CP/M&nbsp;/&nbsp;CTOS&nbsp;/&nbsp;...<br>
392 4d&nbsp;&nbsp;QNX4.x&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;de&nbsp;&nbsp;Dell&nbsp;Utility<br>
393 4e&nbsp;&nbsp;QNX4.x&nbsp;2nd&nbsp;part&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;df&nbsp;&nbsp;BootIt<br>
394 4f&nbsp;&nbsp;QNX4.x&nbsp;3rd&nbsp;part&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;e1&nbsp;&nbsp;DOS&nbsp;access<br>
395 50&nbsp;&nbsp;OnTrack&nbsp;DM&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;e3&nbsp;&nbsp;DOS&nbsp;R/O<br>
396 51&nbsp;&nbsp;OnTrack&nbsp;DM6&nbsp;Aux1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;e4&nbsp;&nbsp;SpeedStor<br>
397 52&nbsp;&nbsp;CP/M&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;eb&nbsp;&nbsp;BeOS&nbsp;fs<br>
398 53&nbsp;&nbsp;OnTrack&nbsp;DM6&nbsp;Aux3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ee&nbsp;&nbsp;EFI&nbsp;GPT<br>
399 54&nbsp;&nbsp;OnTrackDM6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ef&nbsp;&nbsp;EFI&nbsp;(FAT-12/16/32)<br>
400 55&nbsp;&nbsp;EZ-Drive&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;f0&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux/PA-RISC&nbsp;boot<br>
401 56&nbsp;&nbsp;Golden&nbsp;Bow&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;f1&nbsp;&nbsp;SpeedStor<br>
402 5c&nbsp;&nbsp;Priam&nbsp;Edisk&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;f4&nbsp;&nbsp;SpeedStor<br>
403 61&nbsp;&nbsp;SpeedStor&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;f2&nbsp;&nbsp;DOS&nbsp;secondary<br>
404 63&nbsp;&nbsp;GNU&nbsp;HURD&nbsp;or&nbsp;SysV&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;fd&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux&nbsp;raid&nbsp;autodetect<br>
405 64&nbsp;&nbsp;Novell&nbsp;Netware&nbsp;286&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;fe&nbsp;&nbsp;LANstep<br>
406 65&nbsp;&nbsp;Novell&nbsp;Netware&nbsp;386&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ff&nbsp;&nbsp;BBT<br>
407 70&nbsp;&nbsp;DiskSecure&nbsp;Multi-Boot<br>
408 75&nbsp;&nbsp;PC/IX</p>
409
410 <p>The partitions you are most likely to see in use, are:</p>
411
412 <ul>
413 <li><b><font color="Red">FAT16 (ID = 6) </font></b><br>
414 This is the old DOS partition type<br>
415 You may still find it in pure DOS installations, like vendor diagnostics tool partitions, and small USB sticks (128 - 250 MB)</li>
416
417 <li><b><font color="Green">HPFS/NTFS (ID = 7)</font></b><br>
418 This is the <b>Windows XP</b> partition, also known as <b>NTFS</b></li>
419
420 <li><b><font color="Red">W95 FAT32 (LBA) (ID = c)</font></b><br>
421 This is the <b>Windows 95 - 98</b> partition<br>
422 It is used in any kind of disk and large USB devices (1 GB and more)</li>
423
424 <li><b><font color="Green">W95 Ext'd (LBA) (ID = f)</font></b><br>
425 Extended partition. It acts as a container for other partitions<br>
426 There is one more extended partition type (ID = 5), but it does not seem to be in use as much</li>
427
428 <li><b><font color="Red">Linux swap / Solaris (ID = 82)</font></b><br>
429 Swap partition, acting as <b>Virtual Memory</b><br>
430 Modern computers with 1 - 2 GB of memory may not use it at all</li>
431
432 <li><b><font color="Green">Linux (ID = 83)</font></b><br>
433 Linux partitions, such as <b>ext2</b>, <b>ext3</b> and <b>reiserfs</b></li>
434 </ul>
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442 <H2><a name="example"></a>Partitioning example <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H2>
443
444 <p>This section contains a partitioning example. I simulate the following situation in a virtual machine:</p>
445
446 <p>I have two partitions in my disk: <b>/dev/sda1</b> that contains a GNU/Linux distribution, and <b>/dev/sda2</b> that is a swap partition. Here we can see the output of <b>fdisk</b>:</p>
447
448 <p class="newcode">root@sysresccd /root % fdisk -l<br>
449 <br>
450 Disk /dev/sda: 2097 MB, 2097152000 bytes<br>
451 64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders<br>
452 Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes<br>
453 Disk identifier: 0x00058a4a<br>
454 <br>
455 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Device&nbsp;Boot&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Start&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;End&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blocks&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Id&nbsp;&nbsp;System<br>
456 /dev/sda1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;812&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1636960+&nbsp;&nbsp;83&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux<br>
457 /dev/sda2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;813&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1015&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;409248&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;82&nbsp;&nbsp;Linux swap / Solaris</p>
458
459 <p>Now I'm going to install another distribution on the same disk. First of all, I need one more partition, because only one distro can be installed on one partition. In addition, I want to separate /home to its own partition in order to be able to share it between distributions.</p>
460
461 <p>Because the whole disk is already allocated, I must shrink at least one existing partition in order to create new partitions. I'll shrink both of them to half (<b>/dev/sda1</b> from 1,6 gigabytes to 800 megabytes, and <b>/dev/sda2</b> from 400 MB to 200 MB). In addition, I'll move <b>/dev/sda2</b> right next to <b>/dev/sda1</b> to keep the partitions in order.</p>
462
463 <p>But how many partitions there will be in total? One, two, three... four! Phew, I was near to paint myself into a corner. If I created only primary partitions, I'd be unable to create any more partitions on the disk. Thus, I'll create an extended partition instead and two logical partitions within it. Then I'll be able to create more logical partitions later if required.</p>
464
465 <p>There is one more challenge: moving /home to a separate partition. It's very easy to move the folder itself, but the distro in <b>/dev/sda1</b> will surely be confused if it doesn't find /home when it boots next time. Thus, I must edit its <b>/etc/fstab</b> and configure it to mount the /home partition automatically - before booting the distro itself.
466
467 <p>Now there are only two decisions left: the numbers and sizes of the new partitions. I decide to install the new distro to <b>/dev/sda5</b> and move /home to <b>/dev/sda6</b>. Let <b>/dev/sda5</b> be 800 megabytes and <b>/dev/sda6</b> 200 MB in size.</p>
468
469 <p>Now it's time to boot into <b>SystemRescueCD</b>. Graphical mode is required this time.</p>
470 <img src="images/systemrescuecd.png">
471 <p>I close the terminal and open <b>GParted</b> by clicking the third icon in the bottom pane.</p>
472 <img src="images/gparted-00.png">
473 <p>I right-click the partition <b>/dev/sda1</b> and select <b>Resize/Move</b>.</p>
474 <img src="images/gparted-01.png">
475 <p>I enter 799 MB as the new size, click the <b>Free Space Following (MiB)</b> combo box and press <b>Resize/Move</b>.</p>
476 <img src="images/gparted-02.png">
477 <p>I right-click now <b>/dev/sda2</b> and select <b>Resize/Move</b>.</p>
478 <img src="images/gparted-03.png">
479 <p>I enter 0 MB as preceding free space and 200 MB as partition size, click the <b>Free Space Following (MiB)</b> combo box and press <b>Resize/Move</b>.</p>
480 <img src="images/gparted-04.png">
481 <p>I right-click the unallocated area and select <b>New</b>.</p>
482 <img src="images/gparted-05.png">
483 <p>I select <b>Extended Partition</b> as the partition type. The size was already 998 megabytes (the maximum) and as said, an extended partition doesn't contain any filesystem. I click <b>Add</b>.</p>
484 <img src="images/gparted-06.png">
485 <p>I right-click the unallocated area within the extended partition and select <b>New</b>.</p>
486 <img src="images/gparted-07.png">
487 <p>I choose the ext4 filesystem and enter 798 MB as the partition size. After that, I click first the <b>Free Space Following (MiB)</b> combo box and then <b>Add</b>.</p>
488 <img src="images/gparted-08.png">
489 <p>I right-click the remaining unallocated space and select <b>New</b> one more time.</p>
490 <img src="images/gparted-09.png">
491 <p>I choose the ext4 filesystem again. The partition size setting was already 201 megabytes (the whole available space), so I just press <b>Add</b>.</p>
492 <img src="images/gparted-10.png">
493 <div align="center"><table class="note" border="0" cellpadding="20"><tr><td valign="top"><img src="images/important.png"></td><td>
494 The next step is to commit the changes.<br><br>After that some operations, for example<br>partition deletion, can no longer be undone.
495 </td></tr></table></div>
496 <p>Finally I commit the changes by pressing the rightmost icon in the main bar.</p>
497 <img src="images/gparted-11.png">
498 <p>After <i>slowly</i> reading the warning, I confirm my decisions by pressing <b>Apply</b>.</p>
499 <img src="images/gparted-12.png">
500 <p><b>GParted</b> begins to commit the changes...</p>
501 <img src="images/gparted-13.png">
502 <p>...and when everything is done, it shows me this window that I close.</p>
503 <img src="images/gparted-14.png">
504 <p>Then I can see the brand new partitions.</p>
505
506 <H3><a name="partitions-home"></a>Moving /home <span class="hideprint">[<a href="#partitions-top" title="go to top of the page">^</a>]</span></H3>
507
508 <p>I close <b>GParted</b> and launch <b>Terminal</b> by pressing the second icon in the bottom pane.</p>
509
510 <p>I create directories as mount points:</p>
511
512 <p class="newcode">mkdir /mnt/sda1<br>
513 mkdir /mnt/sda6</p>
514
515 <p>Then I mount the partitions:</p>
516
517 <p class="newcode">mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1<br>
518 mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6</p>
519
520 <p>I move the directory:</p>
521
522 <p class="newcode">mv /mnt/sda1/home/* /mnt/sda6/</p>
523
524 <p>After that, I unmount /dev/sda6, because it no longer needs to be mounted:</p>
525
526 <p class="newcode">sync<br>
527 umount /dev/sda6</p>
528 <img src="images/terminal.png">
529 <p>As you can see, under Linux it's perfectly normal that the terminal doesn't answer to the commands. Don't worry - they are really executed.</p>
530
531 <p>Now I close <b>Terminal</b> and launch <b>Geany</b> by pressing the fourth icon in the bottom pane.</p>
532 <img src="images/geany-00.png">
533 <p>I select <b>File</b> -> <b>Open</b>.</p>
534 <img src="images/geany-01.png">
535 <p>I press <b>File System</b> and navigate to folder <b>/mnt/sda1/etc</b>.</p>
536 <img src="images/geany-02.png">
537 <p>I double-click the file <b>fstab</b>.</p>
538 <img src="images/geany-03.png">
539 <p>I add the following line:</p>
540
541 <p class="newcode">/dev/sda6&nbsp;/home&nbsp;ext4&nbsp;defaults&nbsp;0&nbsp;2</p>
542
543 <p>Finally, I select <b>File</b> -> <b>Save</b>.</p>
544 <img src="images/geany-04.png">
545 <p>It's a good idea to reboot the computer now and check if the distribution in <b>/dev/sda1</b> still works. Anyway, the disk should now be ready for the new distro.</p>
546
547
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