Re: could not partition harddisk for linux 8.0

[Bob McClure Jr <robertmcclure earthlink net>]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2003 at 10:05:07PM +0800, Jason Chee wrote:
> 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.

That's because you have allocated all four of your primary
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?

No.

> 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

You need to resize hda2 (but not hda5, which is part of hda2) to
include the free space.  Then you could make a new hda6 to be your
root (/) partition.

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure earthlink net  http://www.bobcatos.com
Smooth seas don't make skillful sailors.