Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 - FOR X86-ITANIUMTM-AMD64 AND INTEL EXTENDED MEMORY 64 TECHNOLO, Руководство по установке

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86 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions
DOS
Linux native
DOS
Figure D-8. Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space
In Figure D-8, 1 represents an undefined partition with unallocated space and 2 represents a defined
partition with allocated space.
If you think about it, an unused hard disk also falls into this category. The only difference is that
all
the space is not part of any defined partition.
In any case, you can create the necessary partitions from the unused space. Unfortunately, this sce-
nario, although very simple, is not very likely (unless you have just purchased a new disk just for Red
Hat Enterprise Linux). Most pre-installed operating systems are configured to take up all available
space on a disk drive (refer to Section D.1.4.3 Using Free Space from an Active Partition ).
Next, we will discuss a slightly more common situation.
D.1.4.2. Using Space from an Unused Partition
In this case, maybe you have one or more partitions that you do not use any longer. Perhaps you have
dabbled with another operating system in the past, and the partition(s) you dedicated to it never seem
to be used anymore. Figure D-9, illustrates such a situation.
Linux native
DOS DOS DOS
CP/M
DOS
Figure D-9. Disk Drive With an Unused Partition
In Figure D-9, 1 represents an unused partition and 2 represents reallocating an unused partition for
Linux.
If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the space allocated to the unused partition. You first
must delete the partition and then create the appropriate Linux partition(s) in its place. You can create
partitions manually during the installation process and delete the partition before creating a new one.
D.1.4.3. Using Free Space from an Active Partition
This is the most common situation. It is also, unfortunately, the hardest to handle. The main problem
is that, even if you have enough free space, it is presently allocated to a partition that is already in use.
If you purchased a computer with pre-installed software, the hard disk most likely has one massive
partition holding the operating system and data.
Aside from adding a new hard drive to your system, you have two choices:
Destructive Repartitioning
Basically, you delete the single large partition and create several smaller ones. As you might
imagine, any data you had in the original partition is destroyed. This means that making a com-