Thus spake William Case (billlinux [ at ] rogers [ dot ] com) [10/06/08 11:03]: : > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System : > /dev/sda1 1 1305 10482381 83 Linux : > /dev/sda2 1306 1560 2048287+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris : > /dev/sda3 * 1561 1573 104422+ 83 Linux : > /dev/sda4 1574 60801 475748910 5 Extended : > /dev/sda5 1574 2878 10482381 83 Linux : > /dev/sda6 2879 2891 104391 83 Linux : > /dev/sda7 2892 4196 10482381 83 Linux : > /dev/sda8 4197 4209 104391 83 Linux : > /dev/sda9 4210 5514 10482381 83 Linux : > /dev/sda10 5515 5527 104391 83 Linux : > /dev/sda11 5528 60801 443988373+ 83 Linux : > : : I get: : : ]# fdisk -l : [snip] : Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System : /dev/sda1 * 1 4089 32844861 c W95 FAT32 (LBA) : /dev/sda2 4090 4982 7173022+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) : /dev/sda5 4090 4982 7172991 83 Linux : : [snip] : Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System : /dev/sdb1 2 4998 40138402+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) : /dev/sdb5 * 2 11 80293+ 83 Linux : /dev/sdb6 12 164 1228941 82 Linux swap / : Solaris : /dev/sdb7 165 1184 8193118+ 83 Linux : /dev/sdb8 1185 3723 20394486 83 Linux : /dev/sdb9 3724 4998 10241406 b W95 FAT32 : : I see on sda my linux backup partition /dev/sda5 is part of the : extended /dev/sda2 and what you say about starting the linux partition : on the fifth partition is true. However, and I never noticed it before, : sdb1 is a W95 Ext'd partition. sdb is my "linux" drive with only sdb9 : formatted as FAT32. sdb9 is my backup partition for WindowsXP on sda. : : I don't (remember) know how it got there; but it has been set up that : way for a while. I am always screwing around so it doesn't surprise me. : : 1. What effect could that have had on running my Linux system, if : any? None whatsoever. : 2. What effect might that have had on grub, if any? None whatsoever. : 3. What is the best way of fixing it? Doing a completely fresh : installation (including repartitioning and formatting) of Fedora : 9 after backing up sdb9? All the other partitions are backed up : to sda5. To follow the adage, if it ain't broke... As was explained previously, the standard partition table (this changes with EFI / GPT partitioning) only permits four partitions. What this means is you can only have four mount points. There's a funky way around this, and that is essentially to have a partition created that encompasses the remainder of the drive, and provide what are called an 'extended' partition. Note that after your extended partition -- sdb1 -- the next partition is sdb5. Also note that sdb1 actually encompasses your *entire* drive. The wording "W95 Ext'd (LBA)" is just the partition type, and it's a way to instruct the computer about how to read the partition. It doesn't mean that it's a Windows partition, it just means that it's hidden from some Operating Systems, and can address the full size of your disk. This page explains it better than I can: <http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/determining-filesystem-type.html> Look down the page for 0x05 ('extended') and 0x0f ("W95 Ext'd (LBA)") partition type differences. Note that it doesn't address any size concerns with 0x05 partitions; there may or may not be any. An easy way to find out is to boot off a LiveCD, change the partition type to 0x05, reboot your machine, and see if it works. (I suspect it won't, as 0x05 doesn't seem to support LBA.) As far as adjusting your partition table, I only have two recommendations: 1) Do it. It's fun. It's an excellent learning experience. While you're at it, you probably want to read up on the boot cycle. 1b) Back up your data first. You *will* lose it. You'll also learn that 'losing' it doesn't mean it's lost, but you should be prepared to lose it all anyhow. 2) Try to keep the partitions ordered. In other words, don't have partition 2 end at a cylinder boundary before the beginning of partition 1. It's not *likely* anything will break this way, but a heck of a lot of programs will complain. Including fdisk. Personal notes, I hate extended partitions. For no real technical reason. There's nothing that breaks when you use them. But it tells me that you're likely subjecting yourself to too many partitions (though, having said that, it's not uncommon for a Linux server to have /, /tmp, /var, /home, and /usr -- if not /var/mail -- on their own partitions), and it just seems dirty. GPT is nicer. Personal preference, I guess.