issues when formating a partition

[akwida]

I've created a partition, 1.5GB, with the remaining space on my hard drive. when I run "mke2fs /dev/hda4" I get "not enough space to build proposed filesystem while setting up superb lock"

what does this mean?

[GhostDawg]

Is it an extended partition? If so, you don't format it. Use fdisk to create a logical drive and then format as you wish.

[Satanic Atheist]

Is it an extended partition?
From my own experiences:

/dev/hda1 is the primary partition
/dev/hda2 - 4 are extended partitions
/dev/hdan where n=> 5 are logical drives in the extended partition.

This holds true for most drives except my second 30Gb drive which seems to like the block device /dev/hdb as the filesystem to mount (don't ask - it works, OK?).

Trying to format the extended partition may result in you wiping all the data in the logical drives, so I'd be careful!

Nice one GhostDawg - reckon you were spot on with that one!

James

[michaelk]

Originally posted by Satanic Atheist


/dev/hda1 is the primary partition
/dev/hda2 - 4 are extended partitions
/dev/hdan where n=> 5 are logical drives in the extended partition.



To be exact:

1-4 are all primary partitions. You set the partition type of a primary to be an extended. The extended partition is a container for all of the logical partitions. So the size of all the logical will equal the size of the extended partition.

If you format a drive with windows the 2nd primary will be the extended partition. If you use fdisk or cfdisk you can define the partitions any way you want.

log in as root and post the output of

fdisk -l /dev/hda (Thats a small L)

[Satanic Atheist]

Well, I was still correct. Sort of. An extended partition is a specific type of primary partition...

James

[akwida]

thanks for the help, gents. i designated the partition as primary. G2G now!!