On Friday 22 December 2000 15:47, you wrote:
When I installed 7.2 onto my 10gb HD, I selected the option to use the
entire disk and the automatic option at the partition option, the result of
"df" and "fdisk p" are below (note I mounted /dev/hda3 manually to obtain
the result in fdisk), My question is :- it appears that I have the biggest
part of my disk unused while / is nearly full, is there a safe way to
utilise the rest of the disk i.e. can I safely resize/rename partitions
and/or move /usr which is about 1.2gb ?
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 2063504 1631084327600 83% /
/dev/hda3 451902451902 0 100% /mnt/a
Device BootStart EndBlocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 261 2096451 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 262 293257040 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda3 294 1240 7606777+ 83 Linux
BTW, if anyone suggests partition magic as the solution, could they also
tell me how to install/use it in a post-installation situation, thanks.
OK
I will assume you are in Some desktop
Open a terminal
$ su -
password:(give the root password)
# diskdrake
(You will now have a couple warning messages and then a window will open that
allows you to partition the disk.) The unused area will be shown in white.
Click on the white section and Create a partition--preference 'extended' on
ALL these you create say 1.5G for /tobeusr as the mount point and ext2
(linux native) for the type.
If you are running servers make a /tobevar about 400M, otherwise 100M should
do.
Make a /tobehome an appropriate size for the space you have remaining and the
number of mp3s and pictures and word-processing files you want to store
If you have any other space left, and it is more than 200M, do a
/tobe1usr/local... And if not use the rest of the space as /tobetmp
Now hit each partition made in turn and click 'format' then click 'Done'
# joe /etc/fstab #you could use vi or jed or emacs or cooledit or pico too
Now in /etc/fstab you have new lines to type in
/dev/hda5 /tobeusr ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda6 /tobevar ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda7 /tobehome ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda8 /tobe1usr/local ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda9 /tmp ext2 defaults 1 2
Then you need to TRIPLE check your work for the added lines and save
Then the commands go as follows:
# mount /tobeusr
# cp -a /usr /tobeusr
# rm -r /usr -f
# ln -s /tobeusr /usr
# mount /tobevar
# cp -a /var /tobevar
# rm -r /var -f
# ln -s /tobevar /var
# mount /tobehome
# cp -a /home /tobehome
# rm -r /home -f
# ln -s /tobehome /home
# mount /tobe1usr/local
# cp -a /tobeusr/local /tobe1usr/local
# rm -r /usr/local -f
# ln -s /tobe1usr/local /usr/local
# rm -r /tmp -f
# shutdown -r now
This will have the following effects
1. /usr is moved, making room
2. /home is created so your data can be saved across installs (just don't
format the /home partition) Of course you must now print the /etc/fstab file
to keep a record of your mount points.
3. /usr/local is the usual target of programs you download and install from
other sources, so it is a nice thing to have separate (not trashed by
installing version 9.5)
4. /var will have room to grow
5. No one will be able to use any of the exploits that overflow /tmp to put
things into the root directory.
Those instructions must be done as shown. An omitted instruction equals a
broken system.
What you are doing:
First you open the partition for dialogue with the system sing the mount
command.
Second, you copy things from your current partition recursively, preserving
all properties, ownerships, and links (that is the condition given by -a)
Third, you wipe out the old directory
Fourth you create a permanent link from old name to new mount point--you
could avoid this by unmounting, editing the mount point name in /etc/fstab,
then... Well that's a lot more work, and it is time to learn that aliases
and symbolic links are a heckuva lot more useful than shortcuts.
On /tmp, you simply remove the directory and let the reboot mount the new /tmp
Now you are going to have one heckuva big, mostly empty / partition, but you
can always make use of it by, for example.
mkdir /mymp3s #which would store the mp3s in the unused space in /.
Now, an exercise for the assiduous student. Why did I not recommend
splitting out into separate partitions the following:
/etc
/bin
/sbin
/lib
Hint: What does the system do on boot? It mounts / then does a few things,
then remounts it R/W, then begins to mount other partitions. What does the
system need to know to do that? What resources does it use?
Happy holidays BTW,
Civileme
