Re: reclaiming space from redmond!
> so the question is: how do i merge */dev/hda8* (linux "/") with
> /dev/hda5 (windows "d:drive")?
> tia,
> -prash.
I think you are missing a fundamental point here. In Linux you don't
"merge" disks, you mount them. You seem to be under the impression
that in Linux the entire file system must be on one partition, except
for /boot - at least that is how it looks from your fstab set up.
Maybe you have this impression because Windows refers to different
disks and partitions explicitly (C: D: E: etc) while Linux does not.
I also have two physical disks divided into many partitions (about 21 in
total), but in my case the Linux files are spread all over these
partitions. For example I have /boot in one partition, / in
another, /home in another, /usr in another, and so on.
I have Windows partitions too, including one that Linux calls /data,
which is formatted FAT16, is mounted whether I boot Linux or Windows
and which serves as a transfer area between the two OS's.
The simple solution for you would be to mount your /dev/hda5 as /data
every time you boot by editing /etc/fstab to include this line :-
/dev/hda5 /data vfat exec,umask=0 0 1
By moving data to hda5 it would take the pressure off your hda8
partition.
Or, if you are feeling more expert and you want hda5 be a native Linux
partition (ie with ext2, ext3 or Reiser file system), you might first
want to boot Windows and move the stuff from D: (same partition as
hda5, right?) to I: say (plenty of spare room there), if you want to
keep the stuff. Then re-boot to Linux and reformat /dev/hda5 with a
Linux file system and give it a temporary Linux name such as /transient
(by means of the mount command). Then copy the contents of the
current /usr (or /home) directory into /transient, and rename /usr
as /oldusr (or /home as /oldhome).
Now edit /etc/fstab to include the line
/dev/hda5 /usr ext2 defaults 1 1
(different from the simple approach above) and reboot to pick up /usr
from its new partition. Of course replace /usr by /home if that is
what you ar re-locating, and ext2 by ext3 or reiserfs depending what fs
you are using.
Check that the new /usr or /home has got all the stuff from the old
location (/oldusr or /oldhome) and if so delete the old location stuff.
That should free a lot of space in hda8.
Hey I've just read what Kent West wrote and he says much the same
advice. My main point is that you can mount any partition from any
disk into the Linux file tree - either on the fly with the 'mount'
command or at boot up with the /etc/fstab file. You do not 'merge'
partitions.
Nuke
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