you will not be able to write the partition table
 

How can I partition my new hard drive on redhat 8?

When I enter the command fdisk /dev/hdb, I get the above message.
I can create the partitions, but when I try to write them to the drive it tells me unable to write to /dev/hdb.

The drive originally was formatted with NTFS, but I used MSDOS fdisk to delete the old partitions.

What does "fdisk -l" show?

I hate to sound stupid, but how did you get to this point?
Did you boot the installation CD?
Did you boot another drive? (hda maybe?)
The default install will wipe all partitions from the drive if you allow it.
BTW: how did you delete NTFS partitions under DOS, normally MSDOS will not modify NTFS partitions.
I would use an old IBM DOS boot disk (PCDOS 7) to zap NTFS under DOS.
Why is Linux complaining about not zapping away NTFS?

If you want to make a dual boot machine: (Win 2k and Linux?)
Install Windows (partition drive in half during Windows install)
Install Windows to first partition
Install Redhat next in the free space. (other half of drive)
Let Redhat install grub to master boot sector.
Enjoy

With respect to this drive,

Disk /dev/hdc: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 7297 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
-----Device Boot--------Start-----End-------Blocks------Id-----System
------/dev/hdc1-----------1-------7296---58605088+--- 7---HPFS/NTFS

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lost Penguin
I hate to sound stupid, but how did you get to this point?
Did you boot the installation CD?
Did you boot another drive? (hda maybe?)
The default install will wipe all partitions from the drive if you allow it.
BTW: how did you delete NTFS partitions under DOS, normally MSDOS will not modify NTFS partitions.
I would use an old IBM DOS boot disk (PCDOS 7) to zap NTFS under DOS.
Why is Linux complaining about not zapping away NTFS?


This machine has been running for a while. I'm trying to add an additional harddrive to my system. I really don't want to reinstall the OS to add another drive.

The system boots to hda.

I used a Windows XP disk to delete the partition on the drive.

Linux can see the disk, but can't mount it. Try this out when Linux is loaded. "mount -t ntfs /dev/hdc1 /mnt/ntfs" I've called your mount point "/mnt/ntfs" you may use any directory name you wish. NTFS partitions are read only by the latest stable kernel, so be careful working on that partition. To make a linux partition, unmount the drive and use command "mke2fs -j /dev/hdc" but will erase all existing data. ( the -j opyion is for journaling).

I tried this and it still shows it being an ntfs partition. :( :scratch: when I do fdisk-l

Nuke it .....
 

When all else fails:
Go to the drive makers website and download a drive tools bootdisk.
Wipe the puppy back to factory blank specs.
After this boot the Linux CD and install.

Thanks for your help Mr hyde.

I was leaving the filesystem type out of the mount command.

fdisk should be able to remove that partition, as you know you need to create partitions first in order to run the "mke2fs" command( I should have made this point earlier). fdisk runs in text mode on RHL so it's a pain, but maybe you've missed something on the list. When you ran "fdisk -l" it's listing the disk info, could you have asked fdisk to create a partition on the disk but used the "q"(quit without saving) option rather than the "w" (write table to disk and exit) option. I've made this mistake myself in the past. Do you want me to take you through the steps from the begining to make sure we're clear on everything.

BTW you were trying fdisk /dev/hdb in the original post but from your second post looking at fdisk -l the drive device is actually /dev/hdc.

Have you tried?
fdisk /dev/hdc

And if you wiped out the existing partitions then why does it still show the NTFS partition?