Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 - FOR X86-ITANIUMTM-AMD64 AND INTEL EXTENDED MEMORY 64 TECHNOLO, Installation Manual

Page: 100 / 120

88 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions
DOS DOS DOS DOS
Figure D-11. Disk Drive Being Compressed
In Figure D-11, 1 represents before and 2 represents after.
This step is crucial. Without it, the location of your data could prevent the partition from being resized
to the extent desired. Note also that, for one reason or another, some data cannot be moved. If this is
the case (and it severely restricts the size of your new partition(s)), you may be forced to destructively
repartition your disk.
D.1.4.3.2. Resize the existing partition
Figure D-12, shows the actual resizing process. While the actual result of the resizing operation varies
depending on the software used, in most cases the newly freed space is used to create an unformatted
partition of the same type as the original partition.
DOS DOS DOS DOS
DOS
Figure D-12. Disk Drive with Partition Resized
In Figure D-12, 1 represents before and 2 represents after.
It is important to understand what the resizing software you use does with the newly freed space, so
that you can take the appropriate steps. In the case we have illustrated, it would be best to delete the
new DOS partition and create the appropriate Linux partition(s).
D.1.4.3.3. Create new partition(s)
As the previous step implied, it may or may not be necessary to create new partitions. However, unless
your resizing software is Linux-aware, it is likely that you must delete the partition that was created
during the resizing process. Figure D-13, shows this being done.
DOS
Linux native
DOS DOS DOS
DOS
Figure D-13. Disk Drive with Final Partition Configuration
In Figure D-13, 1 represents before and 2 represents after.