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Hi! I am a returning user of Slackware. This time, I am going to install the 64-bit version of Slack 13. I have been using Ubuntu for the past two years but now I am back to my first love.
Something has been bothering me however, and that is the fact that I forgot why I put a /boot partition on my old desktop before.
I know that the minimal requirement in partitioning only requires a / and a swap partition but I did it by the book and divided it into /, /home, /usr/local and swap..but I also added a /boot partition to it.
The current hard drive already has an OS installed on it, a Windows XP and an Ubuntu Karmic Koala. I am planning to ditch the Ubuntu in favour of the Slack.
The question is, should the /boot partition be strictly located on the first few cylinders of the drive which currently has Windows XP on it? Or would it still be perfectly possible to put the /boot partition anywhere on the hard drive. I don't want to remove this OS since it's required at work.
I seriously can't remember what advantages or disadvantages a /boot partition would have apart from the kernels residing on it.
I suggest that you do a 'fdisk -l' while you still have your GNU/Linux OS. Looking at your profile it states you use 'Slax'. If you have it then boot the CD and perform the 'fdisk -l';
Code:
sample fdisk -l;
Disk /dev/hda: 100.2 GB, 100256292864 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12188 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe275e275
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1868 15004678+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 1869 1931 506047+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda3 1932 2181 2008125 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 2182 12188 80381227+ 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 2182 2680 4008186 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 2681 3057 3028221 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 3058 3088 248976 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 3089 3213 1004031 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 3214 5704 20008926 83 Linux
/dev/hda10 5705 8195 20008926 83 Linux
/dev/hda11 8196 10686 20008926 83 Linux
/dev/hda12 10687 11437 6032376 83 Linux
/dev/hda13 11438 12188 6032376 83 Linux
Notice the '/dev/hda1' partition. It is a M$ Windows install.
M$ doesn't play well unless you install it first therefore the position of the partition. Sure, you can do things to fool M$ but not done by the average user. The M$ bootloader is installed initially and can be used to boot a GNU/Linux install but most use 'lilo' or 'grub' to control the dual boot systems.
As for the separate '/boot' partition for an install. Some bootloaders don't play well with some filesystems. So a '/boot' that is configured as 'ext2' to utilize 'grub2' with 'ext4' could be used. I believe you are confusing the '/boot' partition with the 'bootloader' that is used to initialize. The 'MBR' system has the boot of the Initial Program Loader (IPL) on the first sectors to launch the Secondary Program Loader (SPL) which is utilized to init the OS.
I had this dilemma too. But I was advised that a seperate /boot partition is not compulsory and that it is required if we are using LVM/RAID. I'm happy with just 'swap' and '/' partitions.
Yes. I think I have that confusion. But all of these stemmed since in my old system I have the Linux partition installed before I installed the Win OS and not the other way around.
So, you mean it would be fine if I put the /boot partition anywhere on the hard drive huh?
Something has been bothering me however, and that is the fact that I forgot why I put a /boot partition on my old desktop before.
Because it was old.
The limitation was the BIOS - basically any code required by the loader had to reside within the first 1024 "cylinders". Say the first 8 Gig. Any BIOS from the last 5-7 years should do away with that - both grub and lilo now check if the BIOS can handle the extended calls.
Personally I still use a /boot so I can delete distros with impunity, and not lose the ability to boot or update the boot menu.
Yes. I think I have that confusion. But all of these stemmed since in my old system I have the Linux partition installed before I installed the Win OS and not the other way around.
So, you mean it would be fine if I put the /boot partition anywhere on the hard drive huh?
Indeed the '/boot' should reside under the 1024 but with modern system BIOS there is no need for that restriction. In your old system you still had the 'MBR' style boot process. Your install depended on that boot technique.
You could place your '/boot' in a separate partition. As stated by others the advantage would be if you hop a lot or re-install and wish to save the '/boot'.
I see your point syg00. The last system I had with slack on it was very old indeed compared to the new ones.
@onebuck
Could you please tell me which one of those are primary and which one are extended? does it have a /boot partition on it?
In the example I gave there are 3 primary partitions '/dev/hda1,2,3' with the extended partition '/dev/hda4'. Within the extended partition there are 9 logical partitions. The '/' is on '/dev/hda3' which has the '/boot'. I don't need a separate partition for '/boot'.
GNU/Linux allows 4 primary partitions. You can allocate one of those as a extended to contain logical partitions. You can hide partitions but that is beyond the scope of a typical user. You can search here on LQ as partitioning has been covered many times.
BTW, partition schemes are personal thus very debatable. Typical Desktop systems work fine with a '/' and swap partitions.
Last edited by onebuck; 12-04-2009 at 06:48 AM.
Reason: typo
Hi
I have vista and various distros on my hard disk, mostly I use slack though. I have a separate /home so I can delete/reinstall distros as and when. To facilitate this I've created a separate GRUB partition, using this page http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux...bpartition.htm as a guide. I used gparted from a live cd to slide my existing partitions around before I created it.
fdisk -l gives me this:
Code:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1530 12288000 27 Unknown
/dev/sda2 1531 7308 46409737 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 7309 19457 97586842+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 7308 7308 2048 83 Linux <-- my grub partition
/dev/sda5 7309 8881 12635091 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 8882 9390 4088511 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda7 9391 10760 11004493+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 10761 12990 17912443+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 12991 16505 28234206 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 16506 17771 10169113+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 17772 18267 3984088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 18268 19457 9558643+ b W95 FAT32
Partition table entries are not in disk order
Now I can fiddle about with distros and the rest of the family hardly notices. Works for me. Just my 2 cents.
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