An extended partition _is_ a primary partition.
The partition numbers from 5 and up refer to partitions
_within_ the extended partition.
There can be only four primary partitions -- all or none of
which may be extended partitions. Non-extended primary
patrons can have no partitions within them, so if there are
four non-extended primary partitions, then there can be no
more than four partitions total.
Unlike Micro$oft OSs, Linux can boot from an extended
partition, so all primary partitions could be extended partitions
if you had no need for a Micro$oft OS.
All that said, there are two kinds of extended patrons
recognized by Linux fdisk and friends -- DOS extended (type 5),
and Linux extended (type 85).
Micro$oft OSs do not recognize type 85 (nor do Partition
Magic and Boot Magic), so that explains why Windoze cannot
see your ext2 partitions.
If you change the type 85 partition to type 5, both Micro$oft
OSs and Linux will be able to see the ext2 partitions within
the extended partition.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Maxim Heijndijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "expert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: July 08, 2001 8:17 AM
Subject: [expert] Installer creates extended partition on hda2.
> I used to be able to mount my ext2 partitions from Windows.
> The past half year I tried reiserfs, which gave me problems, so I'm
> back to ext2 again. However, I cannot mount my ext2 partitions from
> Windoze anymore.
>
> This is the output of fdisk -l /dev/hda :
>
> Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 784 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/hda1 * 1 196 1574338+ 6 FAT16
> /dev/hda2 197 784 4723110 85 Linux extended
> /dev/hda5 197 392 1574338+ 83 Linux
> /dev/hda6 393 405 104391 82 Linux swap
> /dev/hda7 406 758 2835441 83 Linux
> /dev/hda8 759 784 208813+ 83 Linux
>
> It seems that the Mandrake-8.0 Installer (diskdrake) created an extended
> partition on hda2. Shouldnt that be hda5 ? I thought hda1-4 could only
> be primary partitions. Is there a way to change this without losing my data
?
>
> --
> Best regards, M@X.
>
> * Climate Control Psychedelic Soundscapes - http://go.to/cchq/
> * Linux Shell Scripts & RPM Software Packages - http://go.to/conmen/
>
>
