On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 10:07:54AM -0800, cac...@quantum-sci.com wrote:
On /dev/sda I have sda1 which is my / bootable filesystem for Debian
formatted ext4. This is 256MB on a 2TB drive.
I want to set up the rest of the drive as BTRFS for various functions, and I
presume that I first have to create a partition using fdisk for this? Since
my first part is ext4? So I:
# fdisk /dev/sda
WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk
doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.
I think the above may be the root cause of your problem. You're
using the new GPT partition table format, not the traditional DOS one,
and fdisk is claiming that it can't handle it.
WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
sectors (command 'u').
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 243202 1953514583+ ee GPT
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
No free sectors available
Command (m for help):
-
Whaa?
Maybe it's possible that I just mkfs.btrfs /dev/sda and it will set
up -only- the remaining space, but I'm afraid that this may destroy
my OS.
No, that will almost certainly destroy your existing partitioning,
and hence, as you say, your OS install.
Also, what if I want to set up the whole drive as BTRFS? Could this
be bootable, and can the canned Debian kernel load the BTRFS driver
for boot at install? Or would I boot to the CD, mkfs.btrfs the
drive, then install Debian? Anyone tried this?
As far as I know, GRUB2 doesn't yet support btrfs (although there
was some work done on it, I don't know what the status of that work
is). This means that you need a filesystem of some other type to boot
off -- even if it only holds the contents of /boot. There are
certainly people around who've done this, although I'm not one of
them.
Hugo.
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