From owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 16 01:59:05 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E08B16A4CE for ; Fri, 16 Jan 2004 01:59:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from ghostsearchers.com (host81-152-213-174.range81-152.btcentralplus.com [81.152.213.174]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 44BCC43D64 for ; Fri, 16 Jan 2004 01:59:00 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from teilhk@hotpost.co.uk) Received: from ARLETTE ([200.67.187.13]) by ghostsearchers.com (ghostsearchers [81.152.213.174]) (MDaemon.PRO.v6.8.4.R) with ESMTP id 37-md50000000099.tmp for ; Fri, 16 Jan 2004 09:59:08 +0000 Message-ID: <001b01c3dc17$47f73e10$210110ac@ARLETTE> From: "Teilhard Knight" To: "FreeBSD_Newbies" , "Johnson David" References: <00b701c3d9d6$9c3d2ef0$210110ac@ARLETTE> <200401131136.01110.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 03:58:16 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 X-Spam-Processed: ghostsearchers, Fri, 16 Jan 2004 09:59:08 +0000 (not processed: message from valid local sender) X-MDRemoteIP: 200.67.187.13 X-Return-Path: teilhk@hotpost.co.uk X-MDaemon-Deliver-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Partitioning X-BeenThere: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Gathering place for new users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 09:59:05 -0000 > On Tuesday 13 January 2004 05:10 am, Teilhard Knight wrote: > > I am trying to install FreeBSD 5.1. I have created by means other > > than the installation program, a partitioning of my disk (160 Gig), > > and I want to install on one of those partitions. I have three > > primary partitions and one extended where I have installed Linux in > > one logical partition. I want FreeBSD to go in another logical > > partition. When I installed 4.7 in another computer, I had no > > problems whatsoever. > > Not possible. FreeBSD must be installed to a primary partition. At the > minimum, the root filesystem must be installed to a UFS filesystem on a > primary partition. It might have been possible that you installed to an > *extended* partition, blowing away any logical partitions underneath. > > > But with 5.1 the partitioning utility only sees > > the primary partitions, the first three and the extended one as a > > whole. > > That is correct, and by design. FreeBSD uses a different partitioning > scheme that is not compatible with Microsoft's. IIRC, the original > design of the PC assumed that each OS would have it's own primary > partition. > > An analogy would be to think of primary partitions as houses, with > logical partitions as subdividing a house into apartments. FreeBSD is > not prevented from visiting other houses and apartments, but it must > reside in its own house. Linux gets away with using Microsoft logical > partitions because it is a squatter. It is using an empty apartment > logically owned by another operating system. > > > It sees the extended partition as one partition without the > > logical ones created there. Apparently I must have the partition for > > FreeBSD as FAT, but other tools do not help me because the partition > > is too large to be FAT. > > FreeBSD must be installed to the partition of type 165, not FAT, NTFS, > EXT2, or anything else. It can access filesystems on others, but it > cannot be installed to them. > > When you create your primary partitions, you must mark one of them as > BSD (165). If you are creating them with FreeBSD (or Linux) fdisk, then > the option is there. But if you are using DOS/Windows fdisk, it doesn't > know about BSD partitions. So your options are to either leave > unallocated space, or mark it as FAT remembering which one it is. Then > during FreeBSD installation, create it or remark it as appropriate. > > That huge partition you are seeing is presumably the DOS extended > partition. During FreeBSD installation, you can only see the primary > partions, and an extended partition is really a primary partition. If > you try to install to this extended partitition (by remarking it as a > BSD partition), you will lose everything in the logical partitions > underneath. > > Another drawback you have to be aware of is that the extended partition > MUST be the last primary partition. For this and other reasons, I don't > like extended partitions. With room for four primary partitions, you > should rarely need an extended partition. > > Since this is freebsd-newbies, I cannot give you technical details on > installation. But as an example only, here is how one possible > partition layout for a dual boot between Windows and FreeBSD. THIS IS > ONLY AN EXAMPLE: > > 1 - primary, NTFS, Windows operating system (ad1s1 under FreeBSD) > 2 - primary, BSD (165), FreeBSD operating system (ad1s2) > 3 - primary, FAT, shared data partition (ad1s3) > > The FreeBSD partition names are given in parenthesis, and these assume a > single IDE harddrive (not SCSI or SATA). Thank you, David. I checked what I actually did in the other computer, and you are right, I installed 4.7 in a primary partition of another disk. I appreciate you taking the time to explain to me about partitioning. I now downloaded FreeBSD 5.2, and I am giving it a try. I just hope I am not too newbie to deal with it. Teilhard Knight