Re: problem mounting large partition ...

[Adam Shand <larry@alaska.net>]

> I won't ask why, but you should probably follow the fhs standard or you
> might break things.

which is?

> I don't recall what the limit is, but with a large partition that may
> contain many small files, you're likely to run out of inodes. And that's
> no fun. I'd suggest breaking up var into smaller partitions: /var,
> /var/spool, /var/lib and /var/cache for instance.  Larger partitions
> also have longer fsck times.

i've had bad luck in the past with non primary partitions.  i try and avoid
them when i can.  i like to keep user stuff (home dirs, web pages etc) out
of /usr so i normally make a large /var and link stuff to it.

> You might try booting into single user mode, then see if you can mount
> the partition -- there may be some other reason why it hangs.  For
> instance, if you used a new version of mkfs you might have made a
> filesystem that is incompatible with the older kernels. 

i've done a stock slink install and it hangs on the re-boot before you get
to deselect.  i don't think that is the problem.

> Also, their may be an issue with addressing >8GB drives -- does the
> kernel report the ``correct'' geometry at boot (C/H/S)?

it didn't until i disabled the drive in bios and then cfdisk found it and
reported it with the correct size.

i'm gonna try an install with the potato disks and see if that helps.  sigh
... back to floppies :)

adam.