what is that partition for?

[hictio]

would somebody please help me, below you can find a screen dump containing info on the partitions on my system... i really appreciate if somebody could tell if i can delete the `hda1` partition, what is the purpose of that partition? why does it show different block sizes, with fdisk it reports 20465 blocks, while the proc/partitions states only 1. i tried to mount it, i could really use that 2 mb, but it was infructous.
any advice is welcomed.

info: slackaware 4.0.0 / linux 2.2.6 / 486 linux is the only os on the machine, mounted in /dev/hda2, /dev/hda5 has the swap partition.


[22:17:56]
[root@sicanderbul][~/forum/x_publicar]>more /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

3 0 124956 hda
3 1 1 hda1
3 2 104500 hda2
3 5 20416 hda5
[22:18:18]
[root@sicanderbul][~/forum/x_publicar]>fdisk
Using /dev/hda as default device!

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 8 heads, 39 sectors, 801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 312 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 671 801 20436 5 Extended
/dev/hda2 * 1 670 104500+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hda5 671 801 20416+ 82 Linux swap

Command (m for help): q
[22:18:27]
[root@sicanderbul][~/forum/x_publicar]>setterm -dump

[Tuttle]

Partition type 5 is an MS-DOS extended partition (the type that DOS FDISK creates and puts logical drives in). Judging by that table, it would appear that your linux swap partition (hda5) is being stored within that extended partition (hda1).

[hictio]

thanks tuttle, but i don`t have a dos partition, at least i don`t remember having created one... linux is the only os in the hard drive.
if i have one... can i change that into a ext2 partition, and how can i mount that 2mb partition?
truly thanks.

[warchild]

you can change its partition type by using fdisk. However, make sure you are 100% sure that this partition you are about to play with is not in use in any way. After you change it to the correct type, you can use the 'mount' comman to mount it (surprise).

[Tuttle]

Look at the partition table closely:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 671 801 20436 5 Extended
/dev/hda2 * 1 670 104500+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hda5 671 801 20416+ 82 Linux swap

hda1 and hda5 are in the same area of your hard drive. It's been a long time since I worked with partitions from the Linux perspective, but I'm almost positive the reason your swap space is called hda5 and not hda3 is that it's not one of the four primary partitions; it's not partition in its own right, but is sitting within that extended partition. If you force hda1 to ext2fs and mount it, hda5 (your swap) will cease to exist.

[hictio]

thank you very much, tuttle. i have seeing, thanks to the `free` command, that the swap is no used at all, maybe because i have the machine stripped down to the minimum processes.
can i just blow it -the swap partition-, using `fdisk` and then recreate it, the whole idea of this posting is that i`d like to use those 2 mb... i have less than 60 available, and those will come real handy... if you think that it worth the trouble, i`ll do it.
thanks in advance.

warchild, i`ve tried to mount it, but it was infroctous.

[Tuttle]

Yeah, if you delete hda5 and hda1 in that order then you'll be able to make a new ext2fs partition (which will probably be called hda1) and mount that. You might also need to tell Linux it should no longer try to mount hda5 as swap, but I'm not familiar enough with Linux to say where you need to do that.

[hictio]

thank you very much, tuttle. i`ll try that, and let you know what happens. i want to get ahold of those 2 mb...
thanks.

[MKP]

Do what Tuttle said, except don't make it ext2, but "Linux swap (82)". In addition, do a "mkswap" on your new partition and a "swapon". To make it permanent, change the entry in your /etc/fstab to:
"/dev/hda1 swap swap defaults 0 0". You may have to change some scripts in /etc/rc.d; I'm not sure. check the man pages. Good luck.

If you need to contact me, write to [email protected], as I don't check here often.

MKP

Originally posted by Tuttle:
Yeah, if you delete hda5 and hda1 in that order then you'll be able to make a new ext2fs partition (which will probably be called hda1) and mount that. You might also need to tell Linux it should no longer try to mount hda5 as swap, but I'm not familiar enough with Linux to say where you need to do that.

[Tuttle]

MKP, hictio isn't currently using the swap space provided by that partition. I think he wants to mount it for storing user data instead of swap, and for that it's ext2fs.

[hictio]

yes, actually, as of -*right now*-, the system is not using the swap partition, maybe because i have enough ram for the use that the machine is having, a monouser, console only, strip to the minimun, linux.
i was planning in getting back those 2 mb, mostly because i want to install more stuff in the machine.
i`m gathering all the necesary info to install x windows on that machine, so once that is done, i`m sure that i will gonna need a swap partition/space.
so, both of your advices, tuttle and mkp, are truly welcomed, do please keep`em coming ;->
thank you very much.