Sharing swap between FC6 and Ubuntu

Regulus · 11-03-2006, 02:01 PM

Hi,

On my laptop, I am trying to configure a dualboot of Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu 6.10, and I would like to share the swap partition between the two distros. My 80GB disk is partitioned as follows:

Code:

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        1217     9775521   83  Linux
/dev/hda2            1218        2191     7823655   83  Linux
/dev/hda3            2192        2446     2048287+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4            2447        9729    58500697+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5            2447        9729    58500666   83  Linux

Where hda2 contains Ubuntu and hda1 contains FC6 (with /home on hda5). I first installed Ubuntu, which also formatted hda3. However, this partition was reformatted when installing FC6, and after that Ubuntu gives the following error upon booting:

Code:

fsck.ext3
Unable to resolve UUID=[some hexadecimal number]

The reformat by FC6 of hda3 removed the UUID number, hence the problem above. However, adapting /etc/fstab, by mounting /dev/hda3 instead of the UUID-string, does not help.

Any thoughts on what may be the problem and how it could be solved?

Many thanks in advance,
Regulus

Redeye2 · 11-03-2006, 02:31 PM

Check for the entries in the /etc/mtab file also. They may be a mismatch.

Regulus · 11-03-2006, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redeye2

Check for the entries in the /etc/mtab file also. They may be a mismatch.

Yes, good point. Unfortunately, /etc/mtab does not contain a reference to the swap partition.

I get the impression that the reference to the UUID number must be in some other file.

Regards,
Regulus

Regulus · 11-04-2006, 05:50 AM

The problem has been solved.

I realized that after installing FC6 as the 2nd distro, I allowed the installer to reformat the swap disk, which I believe is the cause of the problems. I reinstalled Ubuntu on hda2 and did not allow the installer to reformat the swap disk and let Ubuntu use it as FC6 configured it. This worked flawlessly.

So, the bottom point is that when sharing swaps between distros, you should not allow installers to reformat the swap disk after it has been setup by the first distro you installed.

Regards, Regulus

DavidTangye · 11-04-2006, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus

The problem has been solved.So, the bottom point is that when sharing swaps between distros, you should not allow installers to reformat the swap disk after it has been setup by the first distro you installed.

I am pleased that you got the multi-boots cooperating. I think that your general rule might not be right though. It could be an Ubuntu issue. It would have been interesting to know if you had have let Ubuntu reformat the swap partition the second time through, whether FC6 would be happy with that. It might have been.

Lately I was sharing a swap partition between Puppy 2.10, Ubuntu 6.06, and PCLinusOS 0.93. I cannot remember what I first used to format it, maybe Knoppix or Puppy, and was always hopeful that it did not matter. Maybe I was just lucky :-).