From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 26 17:06:08 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0ABEF106566C for ; Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:06:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwmaillists@googlemail.com) Received: from mail-ew0-f209.google.com (mail-ew0-f209.google.com [209.85.219.209]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 906648FC1D for ; Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:06:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ewy5 with SMTP id 5so1760626ewy.36 for ; Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:06:06 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:date:from:to:subject :message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=XqKR7dYyFxOQNZ+2cK38O6gBmWIk+wJ4KKo/G3KWAIw=; b=ie8/YXzW1Utt94bSCcFccj6f80zc5fBRODKmo8ZVR0ALlM/wbXj40mS6zqwXyKgnrY Cfaow2ZAd6V4lbV6XxGudPBlxacZogGl+cp7+V1PUZEV1bvqdkAVPixI5ddKd7TX+6cQ YUGwFiIKpdQaoqD0+zE9A6fc1jqeF6RgEaAiA= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=BiRWgMziWlVoPy2ag/tSWgezhJbQPgsQyLIpKYyFI6/IRQ3/ZD50O2xRZDvYkB4IML EQEehgYEjoq6GHKn1fjlQBAnauxdBp3Mv+oKj9pZ5zE8bcN3iAA6LIm0EpzkC6dKrP9j aJ7oJXriYM6/dLgZOex7ddXdd2nmP4a89iHDE= Received: by 10.216.53.205 with SMTP id g55mr358082wec.160.1253984766513; Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:06:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gumby.homeunix.com (bb-87-81-140-128.ukonline.co.uk [87.81.140.128]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 7sm1668591eyg.6.2009.09.26.10.06.02 (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:06:05 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:05:55 +0100 From: RW To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20090926180555.06a8c443@gumby.homeunix.com> In-Reply-To: References: X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.2 (GTK+ 2.16.6; i386-portbld-freebsd7.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Question about FreeBSD installation procedure X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:06:08 -0000 On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:01:18 +0800 (WST) Bret Busby wrote: > Hello. > > I have been interested in installing FreeBSD on my laptop (HP/Compaq > NX5000, 2MB RAM), in a free 20MB partition. > > I noticed that the Linux Format magazine to which I subscribe, in > Issue 124, comes with FreeBSD 7.2 on the DVD. > > >From what I understand, FreeBSD (and possibly all BSD) uses hard > >disc slices rather than partitions, and therefore cannot > easily be installed in a free partition, but needs for hard disc > slices to be used. A slice is a primary partition in IBM PC terminology. A disk can have four primary partitions or three primary partitions and an extended partition. The extended partition can contain logical partitions > Is it yet possible to install FreeBSD into a hard disc partition, > rather than needing to install into hard disc slices? > I have attached a copy of the screenshot showing the partition table; Attachments are stripped. > I wanted to install FreeBSD into sda8. Assuming that's a logical partition, then no. If you have less than three primary partitions, you might be able to delete the logical partition, shrink the extended partition and convert the free space into a primary partition.