# cfdisk knackered...

## suck_ma_penguin

cfdisk is reproting the "ends beyond the final partial cylinder" error, and i think it's because my /dev/hda3 starts before /dev/hda2 (god only knows how), but I just thought I'd get some confirmation, If this is the case, what can I do to sort it out?

Here is the output of fdisk p:

```

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/hda1   *           1           4       32098+  83  Linux

/dev/hda2            5100       12515    59565082+   5  Extended

/dev/hda3               5        5099    40925587+  83  Linux

/dev/hda5            5100        7124    16265781   83  Linux

/dev/hda6            7125        7762     5124703+   b  W95 FAT32

/dev/hda7            7763       12226    35857048+  83  Linux

/dev/hda8           12227       12364     1108453+  82  Linux swap

/dev/hda9           12365       12515     1208938+   b  W95 FAT32
```

Can i save my datain any way ( I am prepared to delete hda,2,5,6,7,8,9) hda1 is /boot and hda3 is /.

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## NeddySeagoon

suck_ma_penguin,

You have /dev/hda3 physically on the drive before /dev/hda2 but thats OK.  If you look at the layout taking that into account, I dont see any partition overlaps.

The error message is really telling you that you you are attempting to access some disk blocks off the end of the drive.

What does 

```
hdparm -i /dev/hda
```

have to say about the total number of blocks on the drive and how does that relate to the end of the drive as described by the partition table?

----------

## suck_ma_penguin

Here's the output of hdparm, but I don't really know what I'm looking for in all that...

```
/dev/hda:

 Model=IC35L100AVVA07-0, FwRev=VA5OA52A, SerialNo=VNC6R0A6L0YBMA

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=52

 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=1863kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=201045600

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 

 AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-5 T13 1321D revision 1: 

 * signifies the current active mode

```

----------

## suck_ma_penguin

Also, here is the output from parted (different to fdisk)

```

Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-98166.796 megabytes

Disk label type: msdos

Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags

1          0.031     31.376  primary   ext3        boot

3         31.377  39997.771  primary   ext3        

2      39997.771  98166.796  extended              

5      39997.802  55882.353  logical   ext3        

6      55882.384  60886.977  logical   fat32       

7      60887.008  95903.657  logical   ext3        

8      95903.688  96986.162  logical   linux-swap  

9      96986.193  98166.796  logical
```

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## NeddySeagoon

suck_ma_penguin,

Theres no overlaps there either and both the final partition and the extended partition go right up to the end of the drive.

Can you cut and paste the full text of the cfdisk error and the partition table as cfdisk sees it ?

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## suck_ma_penguin

Full cfdisk output is:

```
FATAL ERROR: Bad primary partition 1: Partition ends in the final partial cylinder

                          Press any key to exit cfdisk
```

I also get the following errors from gparted:

/dev/hda1 

```
This ext2 filesystem has a rather strange layout!  Parted can't resize this (yet).

```

/dev/hda5 

```
This ext2 filesystem has a rather strange layout!  Parted can't resize this (yet).

```

----------

## suck_ma_penguin

After a bit more sniffing using parted, I think there are gaps between some of my partitions. Could this be confusing things?

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## NeddySeagoon

suck_ma_penguin,

Did you use cfdisk to format this drive?

I suspect that the problems are caused because the partitions do not start on cylinder boundaries.

The concept of cylinder boundaries is no longer relevant but it confuses some partitioing programs.

Does fdisk flag problems ?

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## suck_ma_penguin

The only thing fdisk says is that my cylinders aren't 1024 long or whatever, which I know doesn't matter. If not having used cfdisk is the reason, why is it confusing parted too?

Can I just delete /dev/hda2 with all the extended data and change my fstab to /dev/hda2 instead of /dev/hda3 and linux will still boot?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

suck_ma_penguin,

/dev/hda2 is your extended partition. It contains all the partitions from /dev/hda5 on. If you delete it you delete those partitions too.

You really don't want to do that.

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## suck_ma_penguin

Actually, that's exactly what I have been meaning to do for ages, this gave me a kick up the arse; it contained windows and an old linux install. Now I have:

```

                                     cfdisk 2.12

                              Disk Drive: /dev/hda

                       Size: 102935347200 bytes, 102.9 GB

             Heads: 255   Sectors per Track: 63   Cylinders: 12514

    Name        Flags      Part Type  FS Type          [Label]        Size (MB)

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hda1        Boot        Primary   Linux ext3                          32.91 

    hda3                    Primary   Linux ext3                       41907.81

                            Pri/Log   Free Space                       59912.94

    hda2                    Primary   Linux swap                        1077.52

     [Bootable]  [ Delete ]  [  Help  ]  [Maximize]  [ Print  ]

     [  Quit  ]  [  Type  ]  [ Units  ]  [ Write  ]

                 Toggle bootable flag of the current partition

```

I need a way of extending my main partition (some kind of rescue disk with parted?) and also, I need advice on a partitioning scheme:

I have tried separate /home and /mp3 (for my music), but I always run out of space! Any advice welcome.

Thanks a lot for all your help, even if I did just delete everything in the end!

----------

## NeddySeagoon

suck_ma_penguin,

Heres what I have by way of partitions

```
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/hda5             7.6G  2.6G  4.7G  36% /

/dev/hda6              16G   11G  3.5G  76% /usr

/dev/hda7             1.9G  954M  879M  53% /usr/local

/dev/hda8             966M  251M  666M  28% /tmp

/dev/hda9              31G  7.9G   21G  28% /var

/dev/hda10             93G   53G   37G  60% /home

none                  507M     0  507M   0% /dev/shm

eccles:/home          1.9G  1.3G  526M  72% /mnt/eccles

/dev/hda1              69M   11M   55M  17% /boot

```

<swap> is 2Gb

I don't know what to do about resizing, not having done it.

----------

