Installing Slackware on a primary slave (/dev/hdb)

vharishankar · 02-16-2005, 07:32 AM

I have already Debian Linux installed on /dev/hda2 (root) and /dev/hda6 (home) and I don't want to mess it up.

I have a new hard disk which is connected as primary slave (/dev/hdb) but it doesn't show up in the partition manager.

I want to install Slackware 10.0 on the primary slave but before that I'd like to create a partition for Slackware on the new hard disk.

Can anybody tell me any good partition managers which can detect the new disk. cfdisk failed with an error message (something to do with partition table inconsistency).

I would really like to create new partitions outside of the Slackware setup environment (the boot disc) and then load the setup program.

Any recommendations? None of my partitioning tools have detected the new disk so far, but it's visible to the BIOS.

gnashley · 02-16-2005, 10:20 AM

Just use fdisk from slackware setup. when you boot from CD or install floppy, the setup routines don't run until you call them -you have a chance beforehand to create partitions before starting setup, and can also reboot without problems.

Bruce Hill · 02-16-2005, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Harishankar
I have a new hard disk which is connected as primary slave (/dev/hdb) but it doesn't show up in the partition manager.

Are you certain you have the jumper on slave for this disk?
Are you certain it's on the ribbon cable with /dev/hda?

Quote:

cfdisk failed with an error message (something to do with partition table inconsistency).

Did you issue "cfdisk /dev/hdb" ?

Quote:

I would really like to create new partitions outside of the Slackware setup environment (the boot disc) and then load the setup program.

As gnashley said, you should boot with the Slack-10.0 CD1
and then login as root and then issue "cfdisk" before you
ever enter the setup program. Then you can reboot your
computer before you actually enter the setup program.

Quote:

Any recommendations? None of my partitioning tools have detected the new disk so far, but it's visible to the BIOS.

This recommendation comes from the fdisk manual:

Code:

There are  several  *fdisk  programs  around.   Each  has  its  problems  and
       strengths.   Try them in the order cfdisk, fdisk, sfdisk.  (Indeed, cfdisk is
       a beautiful program that has strict requirements on the partition  tables  it
       accepts,  and  produces  high  quality  partition  tables. Use it if you can.
       fdisk is a buggy program that does fuzzy things - usually it happens to  pro_
       duce reasonable results. Its single advantage is that it has some support for
       BSD disk labels and other non-DOS partition tables.  Avoid  it  if  you  can.
       sfdisk  is  for hackers only - the user interface is terrible, but it is more
       correct than fdisk and more powerful than both fdisk and  cfdisk.   Moreover,
       it can be used noninteractively.)

And also there are several good tutorials and other places
that tell you to use Linux tools for Linux, and Windoze tools
for Windoze...