problem with fdisk & hdd partition

[rushtosri]

Hi Friends,

I've a system with following config. details:

AMD K-6 processor with 550MHz
10.2GB HDD
196MB RAM,4MB video ram
52x CDRom drive

Recently I decided to install Redhat 7.2 on my system which already had Win 2000 pro working fine. Currently my C: drive has 3GB on which Window 2000 pro is installed and is working fine. I've decided to use 2GB for Linux. 5GB for Windows 2000 pro. The remaining space i want to use it to store my other software. I've installed Linux successfully with a SWAP space of 192MB. Now when i used fdisk to make an extended partition, it shows that the remaining space is only 2.1GB. Some 1GB space is missing. But while installing Linux i found that the remaining space is 5GB, after using 3GB for windows 2000, 2GB for linux. Can anyone tell me how to get my remaining space. Win 2000 pro uses FAT32. Linux uses ext3 file system.

Thankx for your time.
Waiting for your replies...
With regards,
Shri.

 

[Frak]

I am not familiar enough with your OS to give you a 100% sure answer. I do know that different OS'/file systems will vary the amount of disk space available (e.g., cluster size, allocation units).

Sounds like the OS is simply confused from a previous disk partitioning (i.e., a phantom partition) and/or is unable to view the partition because of the difference in file systems or the system used to partition the drive.

Have you tried resizing the partition with third party on-the-fly partioning software like Partition Magic from Power Quest.

My $0.02


Frak

 

[Dan1976]

I would say that the extra space missing is normal. I have about a 10.5GB drive I'm using now, but Win2k only reports that it has a capacity of 9.31GB. The reason for this is, as I understand it, the bigger the hard drive and the partitions, the more overhead is required for the Master Boot Record/ FAT Tables..things like that. Just like a 3.5" Floppy disk is actually 2.0MB of unformatted space, after formatting it, you only have 1.44MB of usable space remaining.

I believe you were told you had 5.0GB left prior to Linux adding it's formatting info to the drive. That's probably why there appears to be discrepancies.

 

[rushtosri]

Hello friends,

Thankx for ur time. Let me tell you that before I installed Windows 2000 pro my hdd was having 4 equal partitions. One of which was used to install Linux. Then I had Windows 98 on my primary partition. And if i add up the space occupied by all the partitions, i used to get exactly around 10GB or so. But now what ever i do i can get only 7.5GB approximately. I even tried using PowerQuest PartitionMagic 6. But no results.

Will appreciate any more feedback..
With regards,
Shri.

 

[Dan1976]

Curios: What do you get when you just boot with a DOS floppy, run FDISK and Display the Partition information?
How big does FDISK say the drive is? Do all the percentages of the partitions add up to 100% of the drive?

I think the option is #4 or #5 just to display the partition info of all partitions at once.

Dan

 

[rushtosri]

Hello Friends,

Now my hdd is showing 10241MB of space on loading the default factory setting in the CMOS setup. fdisk command also now shows correct disk space. Now I want to partition to my hdd as follows:
4GB for Windows 2000 Pro
1GB for Windows ME
2GB for Redhat Linux 7.2
and the remaining space as 3 separate equal partitions.

I tried to do this with PowerQuest Partition Magic 6 software. While creating the last partition for any of them say windows or linux, i get a message saying "This partition crosses the 1024 cylinder boundary and may not be bootable" and finally some 2.5Gb remains unallocated. In CMOS setup, the auto detection section of HDD shows the following:
size Cyls Head Sector Mode
10241MB 1245 255 63 LBA

Any more suggestions and feedback appreciated.
Thankx in advance
With regards,
Shri.