[SOLVED] weird partition on netbook

schneidz · 01-04-2015, 04:05 PM

hi i have a asus eee and i see this partition. anyone kow what it is or how to view the files on it:

Code:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 149.1 GiB, 160041885696 bytes, 312581808 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x08fbdfc3

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *           63 167782859 167782797   80G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       167782860 298134269 130351410 62.2G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       298134270 312480314  14346045  6.9G 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda4       312480315 312581807    101493 49.6M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda4 sd-tmp
mount: /dev/sda4 is write-protected, mounting read-only
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda4,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error

       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so.

i am trying to make room for another partition for a fedora install but i am not sure which partitions to delete. did m$ and a$u$ collude to make it difficult to dual-boot (whats the point of 4 oem partitions) ?

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-04-2015, 04:14 PM

It's an EFI system partition, used to boot up your system in EFI-mode.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_System_partition

Your system may be using it to boot up so don't remove it.

Try booting up an Arch live .iso and check if your system is even capable of booting up in EFI-mode by running:

Code:

# efivar -l

This will return a long list of EFI variables if your system has this capability.

If it returns nothing, you should be OK to delete it.

Teufel · 01-04-2015, 04:25 PM

you can't boot your current system without sda4.
sda3 seems a factory restoration partition.
Neither sda3 nor sda4 will give you enough free space for fedora, so I wouldn't delete them.
I'd resize sda1 if it has enough free space to get some unallocated space for new partition (15-20Gb) if your drive has GPT partition table. If it is DOS-like partition table, you can't add new partition without repartitioning it totally.

schneidz · 01-04-2015, 04:31 PM

^ so what is /dev/sda2 (seems to be some backup utility ?)

i think fedora will run happily in about 5 gb.

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-04-2015, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teufel

if your drive has GPT partition table. If it is DOS-like partition table, you can't add new partition without repartitioning it totally.

The drive is an MBR type ("dos") and you can add extended partitions to that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_boot_record

schneidz · 01-04-2015, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head_on_a_Stick

Try booting up an Arch live .iso and check if your system is even capable of booting up in EFI-mode by running:

Code:

# efivar -l

i ran this from fedora live usb:

Code:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ sudo efivar -l
efivar: error listing variables: Function not implemented

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-04-2015, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schneidz

i ran this from fedora live usb:

Code:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ sudo efivar -l
efivar: error listing variables: Function not implemented

Looks like it may not be EFI capable then (I could be sure if it was from Arch 'cos I know that loads gummiboot automatically in an EFI system).

It is unusual to see an EFI system running off an MBR disk but it is possible.

I would say it's probably safe to remove but I think I would probably leave it (just in case©), shrink one of the Windows partitions and make an extended partition for Fedora.

schneidz · 01-04-2015, 04:43 PM

thanks, i will probably delete sda2 and sda3 since they seem like wasted unused space... still not sure why all 4 partitions are necessary to be used up by the oem ?

Teufel · 01-04-2015, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head_on_a_Stick

The drive is an MBR type ("dos") and you can add extended partitions to that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_boot_record

You can have 4 primary partitions (like it partitioned right now) or 3 primary and one extended that may contain few logical partitions.
Since 4 partitions exists already, you can't add the fifth partition, whether it extended or primary.
To add new one you have to delete one of the existing.

Teufel · 01-04-2015, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schneidz

still not sure why all 4 partitions are necessary to be used up by the oem ?

sda1 and sda4 neccessary to boot a system. sda2 seems data storage partition and sda3 is recovery partition.
So only two of them really neccessary.

rokytnji · 01-04-2015, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teufel

You can have 4 primary partitions (like it partitioned right now) or 3 primary and one extended that may contain few logical partitions.
Since 4 partitions exists already, you can't add the fifth partition, whether it extended or primary.
To add new one you have to delete one of the existing.

Wrong/mistaken. I renamed a primary partition to Extended/Logical. Then resized it. Then added Linux.
Still have the Compaq partition layout that came with the drive. Nothing deleted.

http://postmyimage.com/img2/211_gparted.png

Edit: Google will be your friend for finding a free live partioner iso that can rename existing Windows primary partitions.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-a-4175508686/

frankbell · 01-04-2015, 09:32 PM

Linux install quite nicely to an extended partition. The "install to primary partition" is a DOS/Windows thing.

My personal belief is that Windows uses all the primary partitions because it can so as to cause confusion to its enemies, not because it needs them.

yancek · 01-04-2015, 09:48 PM

Are these the partitions that were there when you got the computer?
Do you have windows 8 installed? If so, was it pre-installed?
If it has windows 8 and was pre-installed it is quite likely that it was installed using UEFI and your sda4 indicates an EFI partition. If that's the case, it will using GPT and you don't have the 4 partition limit. I think you can have up to 128 partitions but don't use it so am not really sure. Definitely more than 4 in any case but you would still need to shrink something as it appears these partitions are using the entire disk. It seems unusual to have the EFI partition as sda4 as it usually is the first partition although sometimes sda2. I would expect that sda3 is a Recovery partition and sda1 or sda2 would be the windows system, don't know what the other would be.

schneidz · 01-05-2015, 12:03 AM

^ it had windows-7 oem. i havent touched it since i bought it. i just finished installing fc-21.

sda1 is the windows drive c:
sda2 seems to be some incremental restore point ?
sda3 seems to be factory restore (redundant)
sda4 is for boot partition.

@roky: didnt know you could change a primary partition to an extended without data loss.

Teufel · 01-05-2015, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Wrong/mistaken. I renamed a primary partition to Extended/Logical. Then resized it. Then added Linux.
Still have the Compaq partition layout that came with the drive. Nothing deleted.

http://postmyimage.com/img2/211_gparted.png

Well, I have my drive divided into 4 primary partitions:

Code:

# partition table of /dev/sdc
unit: sectors
/dev/sdc1 : start=     2048, size=  3704832, Id=83
/dev/sdc2 : start=  3706880, size=  3201024, Id=83
/dev/sdc3 : start=  6907904, size=  3999744, Id=83
/dev/sdc4 : start= 10907648, size=  4657152, Id=83

At third partition I created a file named "foo".
Could you be so kind to instruct me, how do I rename sdc3 from primary to extended and create inside it a couple of logical partitions without losing my "foo" file?