From: Robert Heller on
At Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:41:59 -0800 (PST) Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel(a)gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On Feb 26, 5:50=A0am, david <n...(a)nospam.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:50:04 -0800, Ant rearranged some electrons to say:
> >
> >
> >
> > > Hello.
> >
> > > My very old Debian/Linux workstation/desktop box (first installed it on
> > > 9/24/2004 and kept it updated daily and only had one reinstall
> > > (accidently ran fsck without unmounting a few years ago) -- still
> > > amazing that it runs today) is unable to install the latest Kernel
> > > (v2.6.32) Debian package due to free limited disk space in / (actually
> > > /boot) partition:
> >
> > > $ df
> > > Filesystem =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 1K-blocks =A0 =A0 =A0Used Available Use%=
> Mounted on
> > > /dev/hda1 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 280003 =A0 =A0173227 =A0 =A0 9232=
> 0 =A066% / tmpfs =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0
> > > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 1297724 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 0 =A0 1297724 =A0 0% /lib/init/=
> rw udev =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0
> > > =A0 =A0 =A0 10240 =A0 =A0 =A0 264 =A0 =A0 =A09976 =A0 3% /dev tmpfs =A0=
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A01297724
> > > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 0 =A0 1297724 =A0 0% /dev/shm /dev/hda5 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=
> =A0 =A0 14421344 =A0
> > > 2759732 =A010929052 =A021% /home /dev/hda6 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A04=
> 807056 =A0 3620424 =A0
> > > 942448 =A080% /usr /dev/hda7 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 964500 =A0 =A0=
> 721228 =A0 =A0194276 =A079%
> > > /var /dev/hda8 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 964500 =A0 =A0 17676 =A0 =A0=
> 897828 =A0 2% /tmp
> > > /dev/hda9 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A04807056 =A0 =A0206076 =A0 4356796 =
> =A0 5% /usr/local
> > > /dev/hda11 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A047383396 =A019522168 =A025454292 =A04=
> 4% /extra
> > > /dev/hda12 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0918322 =A0 =A0 16452 =A0 =A085287=
> 4 =A0 2% /others
> >
> > > (parted) p
> > > Model: ST380011A (ide)
> > > Disk /dev/hda: 80.0GB
> > > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos
> >
> > > Number =A0Start =A0 End =A0 =A0 Size =A0 =A0Type =A0 =A0 =A0File system=
> =A0 =A0 Flags
> > > =A0 1 =A0 =A0 =A032.3kB =A0296MB =A0 296MB =A0 primary =A0 ext3 2 =A0 =
> =A0 =A0296MB =A0 80.0GB
> > > =A0 79.7GB =A0extended 5 =A0 =A0 =A0296MB =A0 15.3GB =A015.0GB =A0logic=
> al =A0 ext3 6 =A0 =A0
> > > =A0 15.3GB =A020.3GB =A05001MB =A0logical =A0 ext3 7 =A0 =A0 =A020.3GB =
> =A021.3GB =A01003MB
> > > =A0 logical =A0 ext3 8 =A0 =A0 =A021.3GB =A022.3GB =A01003MB =A0logical=
> =A0 ext3 9 =A0 =A0
> > > =A0 22.3GB =A027.3GB =A05001MB =A0logical =A0 ext3
> > > 12 =A0 =A0 =A027.3GB =A028.3GB =A01003MB =A0logical =A0 ext3 10 =A0 =A0=
> =A028.3GB =A030.7GB
> > > 2418MB =A0logical =A0 linux-swap(v1) 11 =A0 =A0 =A030.7GB =A080.0GB =A0=
> 49.3GB =A0logical
> > > =A0 ext3
> >
> > >http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6544/screenshot1qs.pngfor a screen
> > > capture of GParted.
> >
> > > How can I resize my /'s /boot to get more free disk space without
> > > getting another bigger HDD to copy over or reinstalling from scratch?
> > > Can I use KNOPPIX v6.2.1 to do it or is it not possible? I used to use
> > > PowerQuest's PartitionMagic for DOS and Windows to resize, but I wasn't
> > > sure if this method works in Linux too.
> >
> > > Thank you in advnace. :)
> >
> > You don't have a separate /boot partition. =A0You created it in root, it
> > looks like. =A0(You shouldn't have done that).
> >
> > You could create a separate partition for other stuff you have in root, /
> > lib for example) and move stuff out of root.
>
> It's not uncommon. The old "/boot" partition requirement for the the
> boot loader to be in the first partition, and that first partition to
> be no more than 1024 cylinders (or 8 Gig on a modern drive), and the
> segmentation of old, small drives assembled in a stack led to this
> common practice to be considered mandatory by many.. But with modern
> boot loaders, it's not really necessary.

Separate /boot file systems are making a 'comeback': with software RAID
and LVM, along with insanely ginormous disks, it is sometimes necessary
so that bootloaders can function smoothly.

>
> Segmenting off potentially large and overflowing directories, like /
> var/spool/, or /var/www, can protect your basic OS partitions from
> being overloaded. But the need for separate /usr, /var, /home, /opt, /
> usr/local/, etc. has evaporated with modern hard drives and drive
> merging technologies such as RAID and LVM.

A separate /home is usefull, in that it allows for a fresh reinstall of
the O/S without losing user home directories.

>

--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows
heller(a)deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/