From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jul 29 07:15:33 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5207816A4E2 for ; Sat, 29 Jul 2006 07:15:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Received: from gaia.nimnet.asn.au (nimbin.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.45.143]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7712043D4C for ; Sat, 29 Jul 2006 07:15:31 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Received: from localhost (smithi@localhost) by gaia.nimnet.asn.au (8.8.8/8.8.8R1.4) with SMTP id RAA07047; Sat, 29 Jul 2006 17:15:29 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 17:15:28 +1000 (EST) From: Ian Smith To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <20060728214327.E315216A4DD@hub.freebsd.org> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Cc: Gobbledegeek Subject: Re: Using extended partitions.. ? 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, 29 Jul 2006 07:15:33 -0000 On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org wrote: > I've wanted to try this for a long time, but I believed its not > possible, but never asked anyone so.... > > Is it possible to have multiple freebsd slices (partitions) on a > single disk ? For example, I already got a fbsd slice with > partitions in it, now I want to add another and use that space, > after deleting a windoze partition. Yes, with one caveat, below .. > What about using an extended logical partition as a freebsd slice? Nope. Well, you can access them (eg as MSDOS or HPFS), but you cannot install to them, and I don't think they can be UFS at all. Best delete the 'logical drives' within and make a new primary slice. > I am quite comfortable with linus fdisk, but the fbsd one > feels like the plauge to me. Is the linux port of fdisk a better > choice? I don't think that would work, or at least be useful. > I run all my linux partitions from within ext-logical ones (all > but root) and I want to clear them and reuse them for freebsd. Clear that space and make a FreeBSD slice; then allocate one or more partitions in the new primary slice (aka DOS partition, confusing eh?) One thing to watch out for (speaking from a rather nasty experience); if the new slice is _before_ your installed FreeBSD slice, and you're using sysinstall to fdisk/label the new partition, sysinstall might fancy that the new slice is where you want to install FreeBSD, and start doing so. I once freed a logical partition containing some HPFS (OS/2) 'drives' and even though I'd used 'W' and ESC to quit out of sysinstall, it began a fresh installation in the (now first) FreeBSD slice. Took some doing to clean up that mess. If the new slice is after your FreeBSD install (or on another drive), you should have no worries even using sysinstall. Cheers, Ian