[NTLUG:Discuss] repartitioning 2nd hard drive and formatting w/Reiser - HOW?

[Mark Bickel]

> From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Fri Mar  8 08:58 CST 2002
> From: "Richard Geoffrion" <ntlug at rain.lewisville.tx.us>
> To: <discuss at ntlug.org>
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] repartitioning 2nd hard drive and formatting w/Reiser - HOW?
> List-Archive: <http://www.ntlug.org/pipermail/discuss/>
> Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 08:57:05 -0600


> I've finally copied everything off of /dev/hdc (which used to
> be my old server hard drive) I want to repartition it and format it for use
> with the ReiserFS.
> 
> The only problem is that I now realize that I've never formatted a partition
> in Linux outside of the installation routines!  Partitioning I can
> handle....but I doubt format /dev/hdc /u /v:extraspace  is gonna help me
> any.
> 
> ok..one of my searches paid off.  would this command do the job?  Do I need
> to create a swap space on that drive too or is just one swap space on
> /dev/hda sufficient?
> 
> mkfs -t reiserfs  /dev/hdc1
> 
> Then is there a command to mount it and add it to /etc/fstab or do I have to
> edit the fstab manually?
 
man fdisk
man mkfs
man fsck
man mount
man sync
man mkswap
man swapon
man fstab

You didn't say what distro/version you're running. While there are various GUI
front ends that will help you do this, I think you're better off knowing how to
do this from the CLI, 'cause you may find yourself in a situation where X won't 
start and if you're dependent on an X-based GUI then you're stuck!

WRT swap, no you don't have to make a swap part for each disk. One swap part for
the whole system is usually enough, although if you feel that existing swap space
is insufficient and resizing the existing swap part is problematic, you always
have the option of adding additional swap parts. You can test them out, then add
them to fstab for permanent use. The size and location of your swap will have an
impact on system performance, so if you're into tweaking you should read up on it.

HTH/Mark Bickel