Hello again,

I am in the process of reinstalling Linux on my computer. It has been a while since I have done partitions and I would like to make sure that my thinking is correct before I start to change anything. Before I created my partitions with RedHat's Disk Druid, but this time I am using Slack 9.0, so I have to use Partition Magic (maybe) and fdisk this time.

I have a VFAT partition that is about 4Gb containing Win ME. I want to dual boot to this and Slack. Will someone please remind me how the 1024 limit works? I have done some reading and I've read that my Windows partition MUST be first on the drive and I've also read that, since my Windows partition is over 1024 (or at least fdisk says so), I must create a /boot partition right below the Windows partition for the Linux Kernel. I don't remember doing this last time. If I do need to create this /boot partition, how would I put it in front of the Windows partition and move that partition forward with fdisk. Could I do this with Partition Magic? I'd appreciate it if someone could just clear up what I need to be aware of regarding the 1024 limit and what combination of Partition Magic and fdisk I should use to get the job done.

-JMagi

P.S. One last question... If I remember correctly, the copy of PM I have listed Linux Native partitions as ext2 even when they were the newer ext3. I am using the Slack 9.0 install disk for Linux fdisk. Will this fdisk correctly format PM-created partitions to ext3 rather than ext2 if that is the route I decide to take? Thanks again, and I apologize for posting a question that has been addressed far too often. I have searched the boards and I am getting conflicting suggestions.

Just an update...

When I went into the Linux fdisk and got information on the partitions, I received a warning the the drive contained 1826 cylinders and that I would need to take that into account. Now I go into Partition Magic and it tells me that my Windows partitions is only 497 cylinders (makes more sense since the partition is only about 4 gigs big). Taking this into account, can I do the following without having to worry about the 1024 limit and a /boot partition:

1. Make the following partitions using Partition Magic:
1) Current Windows ME Partition (4 gb, 497 cyl)
2) Linux Swap (300 mb or so? Any suggestions?)
3) Linux Native (ext2 I assume since it is PM doing this)

2. Go into the Slack 9 boot disk, run fdisk, and use the 't' type command to set partition 2 to swap and partition 3 to ext3

Should this work and eliminate my /boot and 1024 problems? Should I put swap or native first on the drive? I have 256 mb of RAM, what size swap should I make?

Thanks again,
JMagi

Ok, I decided to go ahead and try to partition using fdisk. I first used Partition Magic to delete all partitions except my Windows partition. Then I used the Linux fdisk provided on the Slack 9 CD to set up the following:

/dev/hda1: Windows (FAT32)
/dev/hda2: Linux Swap
/dev/hda3: Linux Native

From my research online, I found that most sites and posts said that LILO would recognize Linux even if its partition extended past the 1024 boundry, and that a /boot partition was not necessary, so this is the way I've set it up.

Now, the Slack CD told me to type pkgtool for instructions on how to mount my partitions under /mnt. Following the instructions, I typed the following:

mount /dev/hda3 /mnt -t ext3 (since I wanted it to be ext3, not ext2, like the sample said)

And received the error:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda3, or too many mounted file systems

I then tried:

mount /dev/hda3 /mnt -t ext2

and received the same error. The only thing I can think of is that I never actually "formatted" the partitions or did anything where I set the Linux Native partition to ext2/ext3. Is this my problem? If so how do I go about doing this? Also, do I only need to mount my /dev/hda3 and not also my swap space?

Thanks,
JMagi

Ack, all this is in setup... please feel free to delete this post. Sorry for any inconvenience...

-JMagi