sfdisk -A2 /dev/$HD
Goal change boot device from /dev/hda3 to /dev/hda2
To set /dev/hd?2 as boot devive:
sfdisk -A2 /dev/$HD
Using sfdisk to change boot devive is recommended, it does not require two steps to achieve so:
HD=hda
% sfdisk -l /dev/$HD
Disk /dev/hda: 7476 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System /dev/hda1 0+ 63 64- 514048+ 82 Linux swap /dev/hda2 64 320 257 2064352+ b Win95 FAT32 /dev/hda3 * 321 705 385 3092512+ 83 Linux /dev/hda4 706 7475 6770 54380025 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 706+ 1989 1284- 10313698+ 83 Linux [...]
% sfdisk -A2 /dev/$HD Done
% sfdisk -l /dev/$HD
Disk /dev/hda: 7476 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System /dev/hda1 0+ 63 64- 514048+ 82 Linux swap /dev/hda2 * 64 320 257 2064352+ b Win95 FAT32 /dev/hda3 321 705 385 3092512+ 83 Linux /dev/hda4 706 7475 6770 54380025 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 706+ 1989 1284- 10313698+ 83 Linux [...]
Verified again at 2004.08.23.
HD=hda HD=hdb HD=sda
To check partition setting or errors, use the following command:
# check partition sfdisk -V /dev/$HD
To backup the current disk partition setting, use the following command:
sfdisk -d /dev/$HD | tee partition.$HD.info
Most importantly, partitions can be recreated by this simple command:
# recreate partition sfdisk --no-reread /dev/$HD < partition.$HD.info
Then reboot ASAP.
debfoster parted libparted1.6-0 libreiserfs0.3-0 debfoster parted- libparted1.6-0- libreiserfs0.3-0-
(parted) select /dev/hda
(parted) print Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-58644.140 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 502.031 primary linux-swap 2 502.031 2518.000 primary FAT 3 2518.000 5538.032 primary ext2 boot 4 5538.032 58643.525 extended lba 5 5538.063 15610.034 logical [...]
(parted) set 2 boot on (parted) print Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-58644.140 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 502.031 primary linux-swap 2 502.031 2518.000 primary FAT boot 3 2518.000 5538.032 primary ext2 4 5538.032 58643.525 extended lba 5 5538.063 15610.034 logical [...] (parted) quit
set MINOR FLAG STATE change a flag on partition MINOR
MINOR is the partition number used by Linux. On msdos disk labels, the primary partitions number from 1-4, and logical partitions are 5 onwards. FLAG is one of: boot, root, swap, hidden, raid, lvm, lba STATE is one of: on, off
Can't use on DOS partitions.
Can't use on Linux swap partitions.
Both ext2 and ext3 have the same magic number: 0xEF53
fdisk -l | grep -i 'Linux$' | fcol 1 - | xargsi sh -c "echo {}:; tune2fs -l {} | grep -E '^Filesystem.*(name|magic)'"
Filesystem features: filetype sparse_super Mount count: 0 Maximum mount count: 31
Filesystem features: has_journal filetype needs_recovery sparse_super Mount count: 18 Maximum mount count: -1
% mkfs -t ext3 -v -L 'dlCache1' /dev/hdb11 This filesystem will be automatically checked every 28 mounts or 180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
% tune2fs -c 20 -i 15d !$ tune2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004) Setting maximal mount count to 20 Setting interval between check 1296000 seconds
documented on: 2004.07.02
*Tags*: format partition for linux, initial file system for linux
Use mkfs, to be more precisely, use mke2fs!
mkfs -t ext3 -v -L 'ToBurn' /dev/hda11 mkfs.ext3 -v -L 'ToBurn' /dev/hda11
mke2fs 1.27 (8-Mar-2002)
Filesystem label=ToBurn
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
1289280 inodes, 2576424 blocks
128821 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
79 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16320 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (8192 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 37 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
If called as mkfs.ext3 a journal is created as if
the -j option was specified.
Notes:
-t must be the 1st parameter for mkfs, otherwise it will complains:
mke2fs 1.27 (8-Mar-2002) mkfs.ext2/3: bad blocks count - /dev/hda11
mkfs -t ext2 -v -L 'ToBurn' /dev/hda11
mke2fs 1.27 (8-Mar-2002)
Filesystem label=ToBurn
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
1289280 inodes, 2576424 blocks
128821 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
79 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16320 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632
Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 31 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
mkfs -t vfat -v -F 32 -n 'os4' /dev/hda10 mkdosfs -v -F 32 -n 'os4' /dev/hda10
mkdosfs 2.8 (28 Feb 2001) /dev/hda10 has 255 heads and 63 sectors per track, logical sector size is 512, using 0xf8 media descriptor, with 11888036 sectors; file system has 2 32-bit FATs and 8 sectors per cluster. FAT size is 11587 sectors, and provides 1483103 clusters. Volume ID is 3df9542f, volume label os4 .
-F FAT-size
Specifies the type of file allocation tables used (12, 16 or 32
bit). If nothing is specified, mkdosfs will automatically
select between 12 and 16 bit, whatever fits better for the
filesystem size. 32 bit FAT (FAT32 format) must (still) be
selected explicitly if you want it.
-n volume-name
Sets the volume name (label) of the filesystem. The volume name
can be up to 11 characters long. The default is no label.
fdisk -l /dev/hda
# fdisk -l /dev/hda # by cylinder
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2491 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 64 514048+ 83 Linux /dev/hda2 65 319 2048287+ 83 Linux /dev/hda3 * 320 1057 5927985 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) /dev/hda4 1058 2491 11518605 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 * 2085 2491 3269196 b Win95 FAT32 /dev/hda6 1058 2084 8249314+ 83 Linux
# fdisk -lu /dev/hda # by sector
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2491 cylinders Units = sectors of 1 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 63 1028159 514048+ 83 Linux /dev/hda2 1028160 5124734 2048287+ 83 Linux /dev/hda3 * 5124735 16980704 5927985 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) /dev/hda4 16980705 40017914 11518605 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 * 33479523 40017914 3269196 b Win95 FAT32 /dev/hda6 16980831 33479459 8249314+ 83 Linux
Whenever a partition table is printed out, a consistency check is performed on the partition table entries. This check verifies that the physical and logical start and end points are identical, and that the partition starts and ends on a cylinder boundary (except for the first partition).
> fdisk -l > >Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2491 cylinders >Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes > > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System >/dev/hda1 1 64 514048+ 83 Linux >/dev/hda2 65 319 2048287+ 83 Linux >/dev/hda3 * 320 1057 5927985 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) >/dev/hda4 1058 2491 11518605 5 Extended >/dev/hda5 1058 2030 7815591 83 Linux >/dev/hda6 2031 2491 3702951 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
FYI: Data on this disk will be damaged. If data are important, Linux partitioning tools should not be used.
An extended partition ending 1 based cylinder 1024 or later *must* by type 0F or 85 if DOS or Windows is present. The type of hda6 should be 0B.
Svend Olaf
> Isn't 0B a Fat 16 partition ? This person wanted win95 fat32 , which is > >32MB , the code for which is, I believe "c"
A FAT16 partition > 32 MB is type 06, or 0E for a primary FAT16 partition ending 1 based cylinder 1025 or later. Type 0C is used for primary FAT32 partitions ending 1 based cylinder 1025 or later. Logical FAT32 partitions always are type 0B.
If cylinders are numbered from 1, extended partitions ending cylinder 1025 (not 1024) or later should be type 0F or 85.
Svend Olaf
>/dev/hda4 1058 2491 11518605 5 Extended >/dev/hda5 1058 2030 7815591 83 Linux >/dev/hda6 2031 2491 3702951 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
You can just change the type of hda4 from 05 to 0F (F), and the type of hda6 from 0C to 0B (B) using the Linux fdisk t command. This however should be done before hda6 is formatted.
Svend Olaf