Re: could not partition harddisk for linux 8.0

[<tim algernonsystems com>]

Max. number of primary partitions (4) exceeded?

-Tim

> Hi, I am having a strange partitioning problem. I am trying to install
> Red Hat Linux 8.0 on a Maxtor 40 GB harddisk (Geom: 4998/255/63).  There
> is already a Windows 2000 professional OS installed in the harddisk and
> I am trying to install and configure a dual boot system.en Below is a
> break-down of the current harddisk status.
>
>                                                         Size    Start
>   End
> /dev/hda
>     /dev/hda1            NTFS/HPFS          7460      1        951 Free
>                  Free space          21046     952    3634 /dev/hda2
>            Extended            10700    3635    4998
>         /dev/hda5        NTFS/HPFS        10700    3635    4998
>
> What happened was I tried installing Linux on the Free space available.
> First I created a /boot mount point, ext3 filesystem, 100 MB fixed size.
> So that it falls below the cut-off of 1023. No prob. Next, I created a
> swap  fixed size. No prob too.
>
> So now I have the following:
>                                                                   Size
>  Start
>
> End
> /dev/hda
>     /dev/hda1                    NTFS/HPFS          7460      1
> 951 /dev/hda3        /boot     ext3                       102
> 952      964 /dev/hda4                    swap
> 259     965      997 Free                           Free space
>    20685     998     3634   /dev/hda2                    Extended
>         10700    3635    4998
>         /dev/hda5                NTFS/HPFS        10700    3635    4998
>
> Now, when I tried to create my / partition using ext3 filesystem, 4000
> MB fill to max. allowable size. The following Error Partitioning message
> appears:
>     Could not allocate requested partitions:
>     Partitioning failed: Could not allocate partitions.
>
> I went back and permutate the combinations i.e I tried installing swap
> first, followed by / then while trying /boot, /boot partitioning failed.
> Or I tried /, followed by /boot then swap would failed. You can get the
> idea... There was once I tried just with /boot and / without any swap
> partition and managed to install the OS fully. Is it ok to do without a
> swap partition?
>
> Are there any points that I overlooked or did I do something that is not
> right during the partition?  Thanks for all your help
>
> Jason