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Old 12-27-2005, 08:34 AM   #1
live_dont_exist
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Unformatted space?


Hey Guyz,

Was just wondering..is there any way to see how much unformatted space I have while booted into Linux?I mean :-

fdisk -l is going to give me a list of partitions that I have and I can figure out how much space they take but it doesnt show me how much space I have left on my disk if I want to install another OS.

df -kh will give me free space left on my existing partitions.I just want to know how to do this while in Linux. I know I can just pop a CD in to the drive and find out the necessary using the Linux installer but is there any other way?

Any pointers r appreciated...
Thnx
Arvind
 
Old 12-27-2005, 09:42 AM   #2
PTrenholme
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Look at qtparted.

Caution: If any of your disks are NTFS formatted, be aware that NTFS uses (and requires) "unpartitioned" space as a sort of "swap" space. This usually shows up as a 1 to 2 mB "free" area at the end of any disk containing a NTFS partition.

Edit: Not quite right. See comment below.

Last edited by PTrenholme; 12-28-2005 at 11:12 AM.
 
Old 12-27-2005, 10:47 AM   #3
xgreen
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as root

cfdisk /dev/hdx
 
Old 12-27-2005, 12:11 PM   #4
michaelk
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Windows uses a file for swap called pagefile.sys (NT and later).

The info from fdisk will display the size of the drive in addition to the size of the partitions.
fdisk -l (that is a small L)
 
Old 12-27-2005, 03:56 PM   #5
PTrenholme
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelk
Windows uses a file for swap called pagefile.sys (NT and later).

The info from fdisk will display the size of the drive in addition to the size of the partitions.
fdisk -l (that is a small L)
This is, of course, quite true.

And I was incorrect to refer to it as a "swap area."

But, as I said, the NTFS requires a small, hidden, area at the end of any NTFS formatted partition, and any attempt to use that space can, potentially, cause unrecoverable problems with NTFS. I believe that repartitioning tools usually deal with this NTFS strangeness.

From http://www.linux-ntfs.org/
Quote:
4.2. Notes
4.2.1. Other information

Everything is a file in NTFS. The index to these files is the Master File Table (MFT). The MFT lists the Boot Sector file ($Boot), located at the beginning of the disk. $Boot also lists where to find the MFT. The MFT also lists itself.

Located in the centre of the disk, we find some more Metadata files. The interesting ones are: $MFTMirr and $LogFile. The MFT Mirror is an exact copy of the first 4 records of the MFT. If the MFT is damaged, then the volume could be recovered by finding the mirror. The LogFile is a journal of all the events waiting to be written to disk. If the machine crashes, then the LogFile is used to return the disk to a sensible state.

Hidden at the end of the volume, is a copy of the boot sector (cluster 0). The only Metadata file that makes reference to it is $Bitmap, and that only says that the cluster is in use.
(Emphasis added.)

Just a "heads up" for those using the Windows XP or 2000 (or NT) operating systems and looking at disk partitions. Especially "dual booters."
 
Old 12-28-2005, 01:14 AM   #6
live_dont_exist
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Thnx guys ..appreciate the assistance given..that serves the purpose beautifully...and just for anyone else reading this thread...qtparted is a GUI utility based on a CLI utility called 'parted' so if you wanna stay CLI you can use parted...

Cheers
Arvind
 
  


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