[RndTbl] drive partitioning for Linux install

Dan Martin ummar143 at cc.umanitoba.ca
Thu Sep 29 21:02:21 CDT 2005


Thanks to all for the advice re setting up my Linux system.  I'm going 
to forget the idea of Linux distros sharing apps, and the idea of 
migrating between different kinds of hardware.  I'm going to make 
partitions for DOS/Win, /boot, swap, and root (/).  Once up and running, 
I will export /home and have other PCs mount it under their /home 
directories.  I'm going to try sharing Mozilla files between Windows 
machines and Linux machines - I think I did this with Netscape once in 
the past.  Eventually I will set up IMAP.

The problem now is partition hell.  I planned on using my DOS DriveStar 
program to copy partitions from one drive to the other.  The advantage 
is that I can run it from a floppy, and treat the contents of both hard 
drives as data, copying from one to the other.  This eliminates any 
potential problem of data inconsistency from copying from a drive which 
is running the system.

I can set up partitions under Linux or using Partition Magic 7.0 (PM7) 
under Windows 2000.  In either case, DOS based programs such as my Drive 
Star or PM7 under DOS detect partition errors and refuse to do anything 
- I can't even destroy the partitions under PM7. 

After many hours of getting nowhere, I destroyed the partitions using 
fdisk under DOS, and set them up under PM7 running under DOS.  
Everything looks fine at that point.  When I exit PM7, I am warned that 
the system will reboot.  After rebooting straight back to DOS and again 
running PM7, it gives a partition table error and refuses to do anything 
to that drive - this from the program that apparently wrote the tables!

The error indicates inconsistency between how DOS reads the partition 
info and how other OSs (including Windows) reads it - the result is 2 
different hard drive geometries being reported.  I don't know how to fix 
this - I would have thought creating the partitions under DOS in PM7 in 
the first place would solve the problem - but it has still retained an 
alternate description of drive geometry.  I can create 3 primary 
partitions without a problem, but if I add an extended partition that 
takes up the rest of the drive, I get the error. 

Does the "c" command in Linux fdisk have anything to do with this?  I 
can't see that it actually does anything.

I may have to forget Drive Star, and copy from a drive running Linux as 
discussed before, or have a second Linux system on the same drive that I 
can boot to copy the first.

Suggestions?


Bill Reid wrote:

> Trevor Cordes wrote:
>
>> On 24 Sep, Bill Reid wrote:
>>
>>>> Almost definitely not possible for numerous reasons.
>>>
>>>
>>> I think this is very possible. I have shared Mozilla mailboxes 
>>> between Linux and Windows in the past. I saw a couple of references 
>>> that sharing of Thunderbird profiles is also possible.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you shared the mbox file, wouldn't locking get all wacky?  Say you
>> were reading your email on Windows while your linux box was POPing some
>> new mail into it.
>>
>
> I would think Samba would handle these situations.
>
>> And sharing profiles/bookmarks, not to mention cache directories, would
>> have similar problems, if attempted at the file level.  I think the
>> safest bet would be to do like Adam suggested and use IMAP and maybe
>> throw in LDAP for address books or (if Mozilla/TB support it)
>> application layer roaming capabilities.
>>
>
> IMAP is of course the best solution but as you say not that simple to 
> set up.
>
> The problem with LDAP is that Mozilla/TB does not support updating the 
> LDAP entries. Reading no problem.
>
> -- Bill
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-- 
  -Dan

Dr. Dan Martin, MD, CCFP, BSc, BCSc (Hon)

GP Hospital Practitioner
Computer Science grad student
ummar143 at cc.umanitoba.ca
(204) 831-1746
answering machine always on



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