odd output from fdisk

[Eradicator]

I run the following and this is what I see

root@Linux:~# fdisk /dev/hdb

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hdb: 3228 MB, 3228696576 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 782 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 121 487840+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb2 122 782 2665152 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 * 122 782 2665120+ 83 Linux

I do not know why hdb2 is there. If it is mounted on my desktop it does not allow me to open it. If I try to delete #2 it deletes hdb2 and hdb5.


Here is my fstab

# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hdb5 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hdb1 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
/dev/dvd /dvd iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdaudio /cdaudio iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 reiserfs noauto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/hdb2 /mnt/hdb2 ext2 noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
/etc/fstab (END)

Also I am trying to get Open Office to install but I have no room left. From the above is there any way to tell what space I have left? Is there anything like Windows explorer that would show each drive with the space available. My drive icons on my desktop do not seem to help.

If I check each desktop icon hda1 hdb1 or hdd5 they all say the same thing 95% used, 144mb/2.5gb...yet they are all different sized drives as per the below...so why do I see them all as 2.5GB via their ICONS on the desktop??

Disk /dev/hdd: 1281 MB, 1281181696 bytes
64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 620 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 620 1249888+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hda: 2564 MB, 2564352000 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 621 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 621 2503840+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hdb: 3228 MB, 3228696576 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 782 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 121 487840+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb2 122 782 2665152 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 * 122 782 2665120+ 83 Linux

Thanks!

[Eradicator]

I did alot of forum and web searching and I can not figure it out. Perhaps I will just bite the bullet and get a new HD instead of trying to live with 3 very old drives.

I just do not get why CFDISK does not allow me to modify this disk

Disk /dev/hdb: 3228 MB, 3228696576 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 782 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 121 487840+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb2 122 782 2665152 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 * 122 782 2665120+ 83 Linux

[Stephen]

I did alot of forum and web searching and I can not figure it out. Perhaps I will just bite the bullet and get a new HD instead of trying to live with 3 very old drives.

I just do not get why CFDISK does not allow me to modify this disk

Disk /dev/hdb: 3228 MB, 3228696576 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 782 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 121 487840+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb2 122 782 2665152 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 * 122 782 2665120+ 83 Linux

The problem you are having is that you do not understand the concept of partitioning very well. You have 1 primary partition on the drive (/dev/hdb1) and an extended partition (/dev/hdb2) which is a container for other logical partitions in this case /dev/hdb5 you could have several more in there if you wanted eg hdb6, hdb7 etc.. . When you try to delete the hdb2 you are deleting the whole container (partition) which includes hdb5 which is the only thing that can happen. You should maybe do a little searching and reading on partitioning.

As to why the icons all show 2.5gb not really sure what is happening there unless the same drive partition is being displayed by all the icons the easiest way to find out how much space is in use is to df -h in a console window which will give you all the space used and free for all mounted partitions.

To free up space for other programs you can apt-get install localepurge which will purge the excess locales and man pages in other languages if you tell it to. You can also get rid of kde-i18n-?? internationalization packages of KDE and there are a bunch of xserver-??? packages that are not needed and just taking up space this should free up at least a couple of hundered MB.