LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions
User Name
Password
Linux - Distributions This forum is for Distribution specific questions.
Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, Novell, LFS, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora - the list goes on and on... Note: An (*) indicates there is no official participation from that distribution here at LQ.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 10-07-2002, 06:54 PM   #1
groston
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 2

Rep: Reputation: 0
Angry Help: Disk partition problem during install


Hi,

I am running into the following problem while trying to install RedHat Linux V8.0.

The computer onto which I ma planning to install Linux is a dual-boot PC, with both Win2k and WinXP installations. The hard drive is 40GB and I used Partition Magic to create ~10GB of free space.

Upon launching the installer and selecting the Disk Druid option to create partitions manually, I was presented the following information:

/dev/hda
/dev/hda1 NTFS/HPFS 20003 1 2550 <<note: XP is installed here>>
free free space 9994 2551 3824
/dev/hda2 extended 8158 3825 4864
/dev/hda5 NTFS/HPFS 8158 3825 4864 <<note: 2000 is installed here>>

Clicking "Add", I was able to successfully create both the /boot and swap partitions. However, when I tried to create the / partition, I received the following error message:

Could not allocate partitions: Partitioning failed: Could not allocate partitions

I received this message regardless of the size of the / partition. I then tried creating / first, then /boot, then swap. In this case, the error message appeared when I tried to create swap.

What can I do to make the installation move forward? Eliminating (or for that matter reinstalling) either of the two existing OS'es is not a viable option. Nor is adding another hard drive as the computer in question is a notebook.
 
Old 10-07-2002, 07:06 PM   #2
Thymox
Senior Member
 
Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Plymouth, England.
Distribution: Mostly Debian based systems
Posts: 4,368

Rep: Reputation: 64
The problem seems, I believe, to stem from the fact that the free space you have is not in the extended partition. Under the current disk architechture you can have 4 primary partitions (hda1 -->hda4), and if you want more than this, one of the primary partitions needs to be an extended partition (as is the case with your current hda2). The extended partitions holds all of the other partitions, called logical partitions, which start at hda5 (since hda1 --> hda4 are reserved for primaries). Now, you have an hda1 which is a primary, and an hda2 which is an extended, and hda5 which is a logical. In order to use more than 2 partitions (hda3 and hda4) you'll need to have the free space as part of the extended parttion. As it stands, your best bet would, IMO, be to use Partition Magic and possibly something like Ghost (God, I haven't mentioned that in a while) to move the data from each partition around so that the free space is at the end of your harddisk and not in the middle.

I hope that wasn't too convoluted and confusing, and good luck.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
disk partition problem whee Linux - Newbie 2 05-28-2005 07:58 PM
Install Linux on Windows and Partition Hard Disk sgaum Linux - Laptop and Netbook 1 03-02-2005 10:59 PM
Disk partition for Linux Install skvaish Linux - Newbie 5 11-03-2004 10:36 AM
Linux disk partition resize after install JezzerP Linux - Software 3 08-12-2003 02:50 AM
Strange Disk Partition Problem Ross Clement Linux - Hardware 5 06-30-2003 06:34 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:21 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration