Red Hat LINUX ADVANCED SERVER 2.1 Manual page 70

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Figure C-8. Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space
If you think about it, an unused hard disk also falls into this category. The only difference is that all
the space is not part of any defined partition.
In any case, you can simply create the necessary partitions from the unused space. Unfortunately, this
scenario, although very simple, is not very likely (unless you have just purchased a new disk just for
Red Hat Linux Advanced Server). Most pre-installed operating systems are configured to take up all
available space on a disk drive (see Section C.1.4.3).
Next, we will discuss a slightly more common situation.
C.1.4.2. Using Space from an Unused Partition
In this case, maybe you have one or more partitions that you do not use any longer. Perhaps you have
dabbled with another operating system in the past, and the partition(s) you dedicated to it never seem
to be used anymore. Figure C-9, illustrates such a situation.
Figure C-9. Disk Drive With an Unused Partition
If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the space allocated to the unused partition. You will
first need to delete the partition, and then create the appropriate Linux partition(s) in its place. You
can either delete the partition using the DOS
to do so during a custom installation.
C.1.4.3. Using Free Space from an Active Partition
This is the most common situation. It is also, unfortunately, the hardest to handle. The main problem
is that, even if you have enough free space, it is presently allocated to a partition that is already in use.
If you purchased a computer with pre-installed software, the hard disk most likely has one massive
partition holding the operating system and data.
Aside from adding a new hard drive to your system, you have two choices:
Destructive Repartitioning
Basically, you delete the single large partition and create several smaller ones. As you might
imagine, any data you had in the original partition is destroyed. This means that making a com-
Appendix C. An Introduction to Disk Partitions
command, or you will be given the opportunity
fdisk