the install basically used the first hdd (as i told it to) and the remaining three hd's still had the original 'dynamic disc NTFS' format on them from Windows 2003 server.
I wanted to format all the other three hd's to Ext3 filesystem (for journalling) and to do so i had to first change the partition info from the SFS filesystem to LINUX
here's the output before i did anything
QUOTE
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 14593 117113850 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/hdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdc: 123.5 GB, 123522416640 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 1 15017 120624021 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdd: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 14593 117113850 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/hdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdc: 123.5 GB, 123522416640 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 1 15017 120624021 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdd: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
so above, as you can see,. /dev/hda1 is already in linux format (actually it's a LVM logical volume manager format which Fedora Core defaults to) and i want to change the other three hd's from SFS (dynamic disks in windows 2003 server) to Ext3 linux.
first off, i need to re-partition the hard disc's one by one, so i started with /dev/hdb
login as root and do this
CODE
fdisk /dev/hdb
you will now be given some info like this
QUOTE
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 14593.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help):
now type the letter 't' as follows:-There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help):
CODE
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes):
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes):
and now tell it what filesystem you want (83=linux)
CODE
Hex code (type L to list codes): 83
Changed system type of partition 1 to 83 (Linux)
Changed system type of partition 1 to 83 (Linux)
finally you need to write those changes so do that with a simple 'w'
CODE
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
The partition table has been altered!
to verify that the changes are made as root do
CODE
fdisk -l
as you see below, /dev/hdb is now type 83=linux
QUOTE
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 14593 117113850 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/hdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 14589 117186111 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdc: 123.5 GB, 123522416640 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 1 15017 120624021 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdd: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 14593 117113850 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/hdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 14589 117186111 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdc: 123.5 GB, 123522416640 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 1 15017 120624021 42 SFS
Disk /dev/hdd: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 14589 117186111 42 SFS
ok, now that's all done, you need to format the hdd to your chosen filesystem, i chose ext3 and this is how i did it
CODE
mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdb1
it won't take long, and once done you'll see something like this scroll by,,
QUOTE
mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
14663680 inodes, 29296527 blocks
1464826 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=29360128
895 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
and that's it, only two more hdd's to go !Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
14663680 inodes, 29296527 blocks
1464826 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=29360128
895 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
thanks to znx and omegaevil for assistance with this, and below please see the 5 line version of this howto ;-)
QUOTE
fdisk /dev/hdb
t
83
w
mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdb1
t
83
w
mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdb1
cheers
anyweb