This is a data partition, so I should create it as an extended partition?
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Browse All TopicsOn a VMWare Virtual Server a hd was added for extra space. When I take a look at the attached disks I see that the disk doesn't contain a valid partition table.
Can I mount such a disk? What should I do to add a valid partition table?
SRC-DEV-VAS123:/home/user # /sbin/fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 6442 MB, 6442450944 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 783 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 73 586341 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2 * 74 783 5703075 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 21.4 GB, 21474836480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2610 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
SRC-DEV-VAS123:/home/user #
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It doesn't really matter. I usually use extended partitions because then I'm not limited to 4 partitions, but I can make as many (almost) logical partitions inside that extended partition as I want. Another reason I use extended partitions, but that isn't an issue anymore, is that old m$ OS's like DOS assigned the lowest drive letters to the primary partitions first, and with extended you were more free, as those you could assign yourself.
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by: rindiPosted on 2007-12-11 at 00:20:37ID: 20447938
You first have to partition and format the disk before you can mount it. With fdisk /dev/sdb you load it into the partitioning software, then with the command m you get a list of the commands, with n you create a new partition. When finished use w to write the info to the disk and exit, Then you have to format your partitions with whatever filesystem you need, and after that you will be able to mount it. The format command will be different for each filesystem, so below is a part of the excellent gentoo manual which explains things better:
en/handboo k/handbook -x86.xml? p art=1&chap =4
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/