[plug] Mandrake 6.1 - patition too big

[Len Bird]

Frank Guidara wrote:

> sorry leon I forgot to tell you I was using diskdruid. But yes I will try
> using fdisk instead of diskdruid. Could you please explain why this problem
> has occured
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Leon Brooks [SMTP:leonb at bounce.networx.net.au]
> > Sent: Thursday, 2 December 1999 15:34
> > To:   Perth Linux Users Group
> > Subject:      Re: [plug] Mandrake 6.1 - patition too big
> >
> > Frank Guidara wrote:
> > > I was wondering if someone could help me with this little problem I
> > have.
> > > I've got a system with a 13.2 Gb HD that i can't seem to make any
> > partions
> > > on it. It says that the partion I'm trying to make is to big. It dosen't
> > > matter how small I try to make any of the partions it doesn't accept it.
> > If
> > > I rember right i won't even let me make a /boot 5 megs in size.
> >
> > If there is no precious information on the disk, try an "o" command in
> > fdisk before making any partitions.

This looks like a BIOS problem. Historically BIOS(s) handled very small
capacity (by today's
standards anyhow) capacity H.D.s  If your main board and BIOS is much more than
say 3 years
old it is likely that the BIOS will not be able to cope with the windfall of
capacity!  I notice that
you are relying on the partition programs within Mandrake 6.1  I  suggest that
you try to resolve
the problem in humble old DOS using a suitable BIOS translation program
generally available
from the H.D. manufacturer on-line, or a compatible version of Disk Manager, to
get your system
to recognize and handle the big disk. Usually this means that you get a number
of partitions that
are within the original design parameters of your BIOS, this is not the end of
the world, as it has
benefits of its own.   If you get the box to handle the partitioning in DOS
there will not be a
problem  with Linux ----- or should not be,

Cheers and regards,

Len Bird