From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 10 01:16:04 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DAC1516A403 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:16:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lloy0076@adam.com.au) Received: from levanto.mail.adnap.net.au (levanto.mail.adnap.net.au [203.6.132.83]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7CC1543D45 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:16:04 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from lloy0076@adam.com.au) Received: from [192.168.1.247] (219-90-251-46.ip.adam.com.au [219.90.251.46]) by levanto.mail.adnap.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 189B05954 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:46:03 +0930 (CST) Message-ID: <45036753.7060705@adam.com.au> Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:46:03 +0930 From: David Lloyd User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 (X11/20060812) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: FreeBSD Slices on a PC Compatible Logical Device X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:16:04 -0000 Hi There, I partitioned my PC Compatible machine like this: /dev/hda1 - Normal partition /dev/hda2 - Normal partition /dev/hda3 - ~100 gigabyte logical partition There's no sectors left to make another normal partition. From what I can gather in the documentation, a FreeBSD slice (in this case one made for/by FreeBSD 6.1) needs to be in a normal partition. I've read the relevant parts of: the handbook, The Complete FreeBSD and I have also seen what the FreeBSD 6.1 installer would attempt to do. All of my reading seems to state that FreeBSD requires a "normal" partition to make its slice(s) in. That said, I seem to have a few options: 1. Somehow rearrange my partitions so that I can get a normal partition - GNU Parted would work except it doesn't seem to like XFS partitions 2. Reinstall my primary operating system (which happens to be Debian SID) and partition the disk such that I -can- put FreeBSD in an appropriate partition 3. Run FreeBSD under something like VMWare My other alternative would be to take a great leap and use FreeBSD exclusively and work out how to migrate my "home" data to FreeBSD. Therefore, my questions would be: 1. Is there a way (other than using VMWare) to get FreeBSD onto a partition inside the large logical partition I have? 2. If not, does anyone know of any free (as in beer) tools that would be able to move Linux partitions about with XFS filesystems? - I don't think GNU Parted likes XFS filesystems 3. Would VMWare be a solution to my dilemma? 4. Is there an option that I haven't considered [apart from panickin!]? DSL