Hello forums, I have Opensuse 11.2 installed on my computer. During the install, I didn’t want to be risky so I let it do its thing. I have Windows XP on here, in a single partition (which I like). Then I have Opensuse with 3 or 4 other partitions, one is labeled Swap, the other something, etc.
Anyways, I was wondering if I can combine all of these into one partition? I really don’t like having multiple partitions just because it annoys me. If I can combine them, how do I go about doing so?
I clicked around in the Partioner preinstalled with Opensuse but I wasn’t getting anywhere myself.
I don’t know if you wanted me to post my results in that link but I wanted to ask a quick question before I get there, as I have been running into this roadblock as well.
Absolute path to ‘fdisk’ is ‘/sbin/fdisk’, so running it may require superuser privileges (eg. root).
I’m the only user, so I suspected that I’d have all the root/rights given but I guess not. Could you direct me in enabling “all” privileges, all the time? If that’s possible?
I apologize for my lack of knowledge, this distro appeals to me most & I’m more than willing to learn.
Thank You for the hasty reply, greatly appreciated sir.
This is perfectly normal and correct. Stop worrying about it.
Having your personal data on a separate partition is one of the benefits of Linux installs.
/dev/sda1 1 7694 61794022 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 7694 19457 94493306+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 7694 7956 2103491+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 7956 10566 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 10567 19457 71416926 83 Linux
sda2 is an extended partition, it does not hold any data itself, it is a container for sda5,6,7
All of which are logical partitions
sda1 and sda2 are both Primary partitions, but you can only get 4 Primary on a HD, hence making sda2 extended. You can have loads of logical partitions in there if you want.
Multiple partitions in any OS is a good idea. In openSuse /home retains all your setup data and a upgrade can be done without harming it. I have never understood why windows users insist on one big partition and then complain when it crashes that they have lost ‘everything’. I always have a smaller C and bigger D, all the saving is done onto the D drive so if C crashes the OS can be reinstalled without loss.
In Linux (and indeed in any OS) it is important to have different permissions for different operations.
One should require elevated permissions to install new sofware and to configure system devices on the PC. This is as much true for MacIntosh, Windows, as it is for Linux. However Windows, for example, has only recently started implementing this requirement, and it was a MAJOR defficiency in MS-Windows up until now.
Typically users who are new to Linux are incredibly frustrated by the fact that they are required at times to do things with root permissions, that do not work with regular user permissions. They typically can not tell when one needs to switch to root permissions.
But don’t worry about this, … given time it will be come second nature. … And I can’t over emphasize the importance of separating the functions that should be done with admin permissions to those that are done as a regular user.
So having enabled “all” privileges, all the time is not a good idea (saying it politely).
Everything you’ve asked for is possible with a custom install (even defeating the permissions system) for an expert.
The way windows is done, just means you end up with big hidden files in C: eg) pagefil.sys and hiberfil.sys which often end up fragmented in the NTFS filesystem. Partitioning disks has many advantages, with the only drawback that you don’t make as much freespace available, as putting all your eggs in 1 basket.
In the long run, you’ll find doing things the recommended way will make sense. Even on Windows using normal user account without Admin rights has become best practice.
