Linux partition query
 

Hi Friends,

I have a quick query, i have installed Red Hat 6.1,and when i look at the parttions it show as given below ,

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 26 204800 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 26 12428 99614720 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 12428 14386 15728640 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 14386 17845 27789312 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 14386 16344 15728640 83 Linux

My doubt is what it does mean by "Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary " , is that any issue with my hard disk or created partitions since i saw a thread when searched in google better to backup data .i plan to use this machine as a database server.will be helpfull if someone can help me out, thanks

I think that the terms "cylinder", "track", "head"---and a few others---are simply vestiges of another era of PC technology. Regardless, the message you refer to is not important----the computer will work fine.

thanks pixellany , i had left some space unpartitioned in the HDD while installing , may thats the reason ?

the reason is probably coming from the early dos ages: it was suggested to not split a track onto different partitions because of some performance issues (using a single track is always quicker). In those days fdisk automatically adjusted the partitions to use full tracks. Nowadays we have logical tracks, sectors and heads so it has lost its meaning. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder-head-sector). This is not related to unpartitioned space.

thank you friend