In this situation, the partitions already defined do not span the entire hard disk, leaving unallocated space that is not part of any defined partition. Figure 25.8, “Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space”, shows what this might look like.
Image of a disk drive with unpartitioned free space, where 1 represents an undefined partition with unallocated space and 2 represents a defined partition with allocated space.
Figure 25.8. Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space
In Figure 25.8, “Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space”, 1 represents an undefined partition with unallocated space and 2 represents a defined partition with allocated space.
If you think about it, an unused hard disk also falls into this category. The only difference is that all the space is not part of any defined partition.
In any case, you can create the necessary partitions from the unused space. Unfortunately, this scenario, although very simple, is not very likely (unless you have just purchased a new disk just for Red Hat Enterprise Linux). Most pre-installed operating systems are configured to take up all available space on a disk drive (refer to Section 25.1.4.3, “Using Free Space from an Active Partition”).
Next, we will discuss a slightly more common situation.