On 07/18/2010 08:35 PM, Marko Vojinovic wrote: > On Sunday, July 18, 2010 23:35:34 Parshwa Murdia wrote: >>> the result of "fdisk -l /dev/sda" is as follows: >>> >>> Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes >>> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders >>> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes >>> Disk identifier: 0xfedcfedc >>> >>> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System >>> >>> /dev/sda1 1 5737 46082421 7 HPFS/NTFS >>> /dev/sda2 5738 30400 198105547+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) >>> /dev/sda5 5738 9561 30716248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS >>> /dev/sda6 9562 13385 30716248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS >>> /dev/sda7 13386 15935 20482843+ 7 HPFS/NTFS >>> /dev/sda8 * 15936 15961 204799+ 83 Linux >>> /dev/sda9 15961 28596 101487615+ 8e Linux LVM >>> >>> I don't know why there is no entry for sda3 and sda4. I guess the linux >>> root partition to be sda8? or it should be sda9? > Ok, as an aftermath, for educational purposes :-) : > > * The partition /dev/sda1 is what corresponds to the C: partition on Windows. > It is the so-called "primary" partition, and only 4 of those can exist on the > disk. They are named /dev/sda1 through /dev/sda4 in Linux. > * You don't have any more primary partitions, and /dev/sda2 is instead a so- > called "extended" partition, which is actually only a "container label" for > all other partitions that follow, which are not primary. > * The first partition contained inside the extended one is /dev/sda5 (if the > number were less than 5 it would correspond to a primary partition, and could > not be inside the extended one). This one is probably the Windows D: > partition. > * As above, /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 are also members of the extended > partition, and correspond to your Windows drives E: and F:. Now, somewhere in > between those letters Windows might stick the CD/DVD drives and assign its > letters differently. The CD/DVD drives are *not* listed by the above fdisk > command, and I can only guess how Windows will order its drive letters. > * The /dev/sda8 partition is also a member of the extended one, and most > probably the Fedora /boot partition, where the kernel and grub files reside. > Windows does not show a letter for that one, since it doesn't recognize Linux > partitions in general. > * Finally, the /dev/sda9 partition is again not a real partition, but again a > container like /dev/sda2 (although of quite different type). It is contained > inside /dev/sda2, and it contains yet more partitions. This container is of > LVM type, and contains all other Linux partitions (probably root and swap) > inside. These partitions are not listed by fstab. > > I know it sounds complicated. And believe me, it is. That is what you get when > you mix very old standards (only four partitions allowed on the disk) with > patched technologies and new hyped ideas --- you get one primary partition, > and several of them inside LVM which is inside the extended partition which is > a bogus primary one. > > Don't ask me how did disk partitioning evolve into such a stupid state. When > IDE disks were being standardized (long time ago), nobody dreamed that one day > you might wish to have more than 4 partitions on the disk, dual boot system > and wish to be able to resize partitions on a live disk. So they invented a > stupid and shortsighted standard which had to be patched after it became > *obviously* shortsighted... > >>> mounting this (for both sda8 and sda9), it shows me the error: >>> * >>> mount: unknown filesystem type 'lvm2pv'* (in the terminal) >>> >>> and once: >>> * >>> mount: you must specify the filesystem type* (in the terminal) >>> >>> so again it is not getting either mounted. > Of course, as you already found out yourself, mounting partitions inside the > LVM container is not the same as trying to mount the LVM container itself (the > latter is bound to fail, since it is just a container, not an actual > partition...). Hence the errors. > > Although I am confused about sda8, it is type 83 (ext2/3/4), that one *should* > have worked. But nevermind now... ;-) > > And of course, I missed to remember that you probably have a LVM container by > default, so my original instructions didn't work as I thought they should. My > bad. But you found out what is the proper procedure for that case via google. > :-) > >> [root@localhost oldfedora]# cat /etc/fstab > [snip] >> I don't understand why it is wrong? > Well, the fstab file is a file that contains rows and columns. Specifically, each > row must contain 6 columns. Column entries are separated with a space. So for > example, the line > > tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0 > > has "tmpfs" in the first column, "/tmp" in the second, "tmpfs" in the third, > "defaults" in the fourth, and "0" in fifth and sixth. And that is ok. > > Now, if you look at one of the lines you modified initially, for example: > > /dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root / ext4 defaults, noatime, nodiratime 1 1 > > I am counting 7 spaces total, which means that line has 8 columns, which the > computer does not tolerate. The "defaults,", "noatime," and "nodiratime" are > distributed into three columns, when they should all be in only one (4-th > column). When you introduced extra spaces, you introduced extra columns, which > is wrong. The right line should be > > /dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root / ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime 1 1 > > Now there are no extra columns, you have 5 spaces delimiting 6 columns total, > and the data in the 4-th column is "defaults,noatime,nodiratime", as it should > be. The computer knows how to interpret and understand this. > > If you want to read more about the structure and syntax of the fstab file, type > "man fstab" in the terminal, and read on. > > The "man" command stands for "manual", and gives you usage instructions for > whatever command you wish to know about. Try "man mount", "man ls", "man cd", > "man vgscan", and so on. Try even "man man", there is a manual about using the > manual. :-) > > If you want to be able to use Linux with greater power, you need to be > skillful in using the terminal. Reading manual pages is the first place to > start learning. If you are very determined to learn, read "man bash". > > If you are a masochist, read "man bash" twice. ;-) > >> But after much pondering over, I just deleted the gap between the >> nodiratime,noatime and defaults, and really speaking after that only i was >> able to boot from the original fedora. > Precisely. After the explanation above, it should be clear what was wrong and > why it is now correct. > > Best, :-) > Marko > > I wonder why the fedora installer did not create a gpt partitioned disk, instead of old dos partitioning scheme. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
