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Old 11-23-2009, 08:32 PM   #1
L1nuxn00b703
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Linux partition numbering scheme


Hello,
Quick question, does partition numbers matter on a disk in Linux:

Example:
Code:
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/cciss/c0d0p5      31G  2.1G   28G   7% /
/dev/cciss/c0d0p3      67G  180M   64G   1% /data
/dev/cciss/c0d0p2     124G  188M  118G   1% /home
/dev/cciss/c0d0p1     183M  7.0M  166M   5% /boot
tmpfs                 2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/cciss/c0d0: 250.0 GB, 250023444480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30396 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

           Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/cciss/c0d0p1   *           1          24      192748+  83  Linux
/dev/cciss/c0d0p2              25       16689   133861612+  83  Linux
/dev/cciss/c0d0p3           16690       25696    72348727+  83  Linux
/dev/cciss/c0d0p4           25697       30396    37752750    5  Extended
/dev/cciss/c0d0p5           25697       29873    33551721   83  Linux
/dev/cciss/c0d0p6           29874       30395     4192933+  82  Linux swap / Sol
I know that the only difference is the size and start and end cylinders but would p5 be the same as p8? And is data on the lower cylinders portion of the disk the same as data on the higher cylinders of the disk. Hope this makes sense. Thanks.
 
Old 11-23-2009, 08:57 PM   #2
i92guboj
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Quote:
I know that the only difference is the size and start and end cylinders
A partition is, physically, an area of the disk, which is defined by a starting point and an ending point.

Quote:
but would p5 be the same as p8?
There's no "p8" in your code at all. Maybe you mean p4. In any case, no partitions are the same. That would make no sense.

If you meant p4 and p5, then they start at the same point because p4 is an extended partition.

When you use an MBR model, the partition table can only hold up to four partitions. Extended partitions were created to overcome this limitation. An extended partition is a partition that can hold additional partitions inside of it.

You have three primary partitions and one extended partition. This means that the only way for you to get additional partitions with an MBR based system is by creating logical drives inside the extended partition. Hence, p4 contains p5 and p6, as you can see clearly by looking at the numbers. p5 starts where p4 starts, and p6 ends where p4 ends.

Quote:
And is data on the lower cylinders portion of the disk the same as data on the higher cylinders of the disk. Hope this makes sense. Thanks.
No idea what do you mean. Data at the beginning is at the beginning, and data at the end is at the end. Data in one cylinder can't be on another cylinder, since each point of the 3-dimensional space is supposed to be unique, unless there's some kind of n-dimensional worm hole inside your hard disk being n>=4. :P

Last edited by i92guboj; 11-23-2009 at 09:01 PM.
 
Old 11-24-2009, 07:38 AM   #3
salasi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by i92guboj View Post
No idea what do you mean.
Congratulations; you did better at decoding the original post (as far as I can tell) than I did. Although by this
Quote:
And is data on the lower cylinders portion of the disk the same as data on the higher cylinders
I think the OP is getting confused by the surfaces of the several (potentially) platters inside the disk drive.

In any case, the data is not duplicated. That would imply a loss of space on a large scale, although if you do want a loss of space on a large scale, there are RAID mode that allow that.
 
Old 11-24-2009, 08:43 PM   #4
L1nuxn00b703
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Sorry for the confusing post, let me rephrase my question:

Say if I install the /data on /dev/cciss/c0d0p3 with a 67G partition for a client but then the client wants the /data on /dev/cciss/c0d0p2? Would I have to reinstall or is there no difference between p3 and p2?
 
Old 11-24-2009, 08:46 PM   #5
i92guboj
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You can move the data to whatever partition, as long as it's formatted on a format that your OS will understand and that it's mounted.

If what you want to move is the OS itself, then this is possible in linux, you will need to adjust your bootloader and your /etc/fstab files at least though.
 
  


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