I need to use Unpartitioned Space and LVM is no help
Environment
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Issue
- LVM is not being used.
- From parted: It appears that I have over 200+ GB of space free
- Is there a way to create a sda7 partition of 150 GB named /test and an sda8 partition of 30 GB called /ai ??
-bash-4.1# parted
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: DELL PERC 6/E Adapter (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 731GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 168GB 168GB primary ext4
2 168GB 336GB 168GB primary ext4
3 336GB 368GB 32.5GB primary ext4
4 368GB 583GB 215GB extended
5 368GB 401GB 33.3GB logical ext4
6 401GB 583GB 181GB logical ext4
- So my goal is to add 2 more partitions to my filesystem one of 150 GB and one of 30 GB:
Resolution
1. First create a backup of your partition table which can be used as a restore point if things go wrong:
# sfdisk -d /dev/sda > /tmp/sda.backup
2. Unmount all mountpoints using sda1 through sda6, ie:
# umount /home
# umount /db
# umount /backup
# umount /rd
# umount /progress
# umount /dump
- Since /home will be unmounted, verify no unprivileged users are logged into the system prior as their home environment will be temp. unavailable.
3. Use fdisk to delete partitions #4, #5, & #6:
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-6): 6
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-5): 5
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-5): 4
4. Alter fdisk view to change units to sectors:
Command (m for help): unit
Changing display/entry units to sectors <<==
5. Recreate the extended partition #4 to consume the entire disk. The 'Start' sector must be the exact same as it was previously and using the new 'End' sector, ie:
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
e
Selected partition 4
First sector: 718850048
Last sector: 1427374080 <<= *
* The extended End sector was taken from here:
---
Model: DELL PERC 6/E Adapter (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1427374080s <<== Extended partition 'End' sector
6. Recreate partitions #5, & #6 using the same previous sectors:
Command (m for help): n
First sector: 718850111
Last sector: 783875609
Command (m for help): n
First sector: 783875673
Last sector: 1138285574
7. Print the partition table, you should now have something similiar as follows:
Device Boot Start End
/dev/sda1 2048 327682047
/dev/sda2 327682048 655362047
/dev/sda3 655362048 718850047
/dev/sda4 718850048 1427374080 <<= Extended partition now consumes entire disk.
/dev/sda5 718850111 783875609
/dev/sda6 783875673 1138285574
8. There should now be +/- 289088506 free sectors to create additional partitions, use fdisk to create your additional partitions.
9. Once complete, write the changes to disk:
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
...
...
10. Update the system of the new partition structure:
# partprobe /dev/sda
Root Cause
- Note the ending point of the extended partition. It stops at 583G, hence unable to create a new partition within the extended partition.
Disk /dev/sda: 731GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
...
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 168GB 168GB primary ext4
2 168GB 336GB 168GB primary ext4
3 336GB 368GB 32.5GB primary ext4
4 368GB 583GB 215GB extended <=====
5 368GB 401GB 33.3GB logical ext4
6 401GB 583GB 181GB logical ext4
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