[debian-knoppix] problem with parted 1.6.3
I used KNOPPIX 3.1 2002-12-12-EN to help me when replacing a disk on a
Windows 98 box. I had a bit of an adventure due to a bug in parted
1.6.3.
The details are outlined in my message to bug-parted and the reply
from parted's author (included below). Summary: upgrade to parted
1.6.4. It was released just a few days before KNOPPIX 3.1
2002-12-12-EN.
Thanks, Klaus, for a very useful tool.
Hugh Redelmeier
hugh@mimosa.com voice: +1 416 482-8253
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 02:56:24 -0500 (EST)
From: "D. Hugh Redelmeier" <hugh@mimosa.com>
To: bug-parted@gnu.org
Subject: fat32 cluster size too small
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212300149120.19309-100000@redshift.mimosa.com>
I used parted to create a 60g fat32 partition on a hard disk. When I
used MS Win98's scandisk on the partition, it said:
ScanDisk could not continue because your computer does not have enough
available memory
I was rather shocked since I wasn't running any other applications
(except the stuff that has managed to start itself) and I have 256M of
RAM.
According to
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q229154>
the problem is that the cluster size is too small for this size of
partition. The cluster sizes are supposed to be:
Hard disk size Cluster size
-------------------------------
512 MB to 8 GB 4 KB
8 GB to 16 GB 8 KB
16 GB to 32 GB 16 KB
32 GB and larger 32 KB
I think that parted gave this partition a 4k cluster size.
I didn't actually check. For one thing, I don't know how to check.
For another, I immediately broke the partition into three of 20g to
avoid the problem (before I found the MS Knowledge Base article).
I had the same problem with the 20g partitions. In this case, I have
evidence that the partition given by parted was 4k.
I'd say that this is a bug in parted: it should conform to the rules
outlined in q229154.
Once parted gave them a 4k cluster size, Win98's format (quick or
full) would not change it. Even if I deleted the partitions and
recreated them!
I eventually solved the problem by dd'ing 10 megs of /dev/zero over
the start of each partition and then using Win98's format (full).
What a hack!
I'd say that this behaviour is a Win98 bug. But I'll never convince
Microsoft.
It might be nice to be able to specify a desired cluster size in the
mkfs command (for fat32 file systems).
It would also be nice to have a command that would display the cluster
size.
Hugh Redelmeier
hugh@mimosa.com voice: +1 416 482-8253
PS: I was using parted 1.6.3 on KNOPPIX GNU/LINUX 3.1 of 2002-12-12.
PPS: thanks very much for creating parted! A very useful tool.
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 10:23:30 +1100
From: Andrew Clausen <clausen@gnu.org>
To: "D. Hugh Redelmeier" <hugh@mimosa.com>
Cc: bug-parted@gnu.org
Subject: Re: fat32 cluster size too small
Message-ID: <20021230232330.GB1056@gnu.org>
On Mon, Dec 30, 2002 at 02:56:24AM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> It might be nice to be able to specify a desired cluster size in the
> mkfs command (for fat32 file systems).
Yeah, it would be nice. We don't have a decent interface for this
kind of stuff, but we should make one.
> It would also be nice to have a command that would display the cluster
> size.
This is basically the same problem as the above one.
> PS: I was using parted 1.6.3 on KNOPPIX GNU/LINUX 3.1 of 2002-12-12.
1.6.4 fixes the problem you just described above. Coincidence!
Cheers,
Andrew
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