USB Partitions sda1 vs sda2 and free space

Forum: USB booting
Topic: USB Partitions sda1 vs sda2 and free space
started by: dsquared

Posted by dsquared on Dec. 06 2005,03:26

I am running DSL 2.0 off of my 256 Mg USB thumb drive - all works great!
1)I thought I read somewhere that DSL partitions USB'S into 2 - I have looked, searched the forums and googled - but I cannot find it. Did i dream it ? I would appreciate it if someone knows where this is - if they would post a link and explain the purpose of the 2 partitions is. In my case I have sda1 and sda2.
2) Is there a command or through Emelfm to see the unused space left on each partition?

Posted by roberts on Dec. 06 2005,20:24

USB ZIP boot method uses two partitions as there is a limitiation from the zip emulation standard.
Usually your backup will use the second partition. Both are formatted for fat.
Windows can see the second partition, except Windows XP. Windows 95,98,and Me can see it.
Only XP cannot thanks to MS.
If your computer can boot via USB HDD then a single, but all Linux, partition can be used.

Posted by Carey on Dec. 12 2005,13:19

Ok... Good answer. Now... I need some space on that USB drive to be addressable by XP, so...

Can I make the other partition the visible one under XP?
Can I make the install script install to a single partition?
Can I repartition under DSL into one big partition?
Any other ideas?

Posted by roberts on Dec. 12 2005,17:28

I am no Windows XP guy. The limitations I discussed are caused by Microsoft XP.

I think many users with XP and large powerful machines use the dsl-embedded where the entire usb pendrive is visible to XP.
Since you are now running XP + Qemu + DSL, things run much slower than native DSL. If you choose this option there are Qemu specific things that you will be faced with.

Another option is the vmplayer. The vmplayer must be installed into the XP system, but once it is so, your pendrive can be used for DSL.

Maybe other users with more experience with XP than me can comment. I only setup the base DSL to work in these window environments. I personally do not spend much time with any windows product.

Posted by Carey on Dec. 12 2005,19:02

My question was related to DSL, I think. Can I set up the partition table under DSL, so the other, bigger partition is the one XP can see? Or, can I change what the script does, so it's just one big vfat partition. This seems to make sense. There's no real reason to have two partitions unless you want to hide the DSL installation from XP, which might actually be a good idea. The existing situation is just a bit pointless. Why do I need two partitions under DSL, anyway. I'm happy to use one. Unless this has to do with the write limit for DOC's.

I'm pretty familiar with XP, and Linux, and OS/2, and a couple of other OS's, but the USB partitioning thing is a bit new to all of us, I think. DSL's USB install script partitions the pen drive into two partitions, then installs DSL on the smaller one. This is great up to that point. Now I want to be able to put data on the pen drive using the OS of my choice. With the partitioning scheme DSL's script used, I can't see the big, data partition with XP, which is, of course, the common Windows version du jour.

Posted by roberts on Dec. 12 2005,19:52

If your computer will boot USB-HDD then try the USB-HDD install opton. It has a single partition. It is the USB-ZIP that has the limitation that requires two partitions on large drives. Otherwise try a poorman's. It is not a DSL issue, with any other version of Windows it can see multiple partitions on a pendrive.

Posted by Carey on Dec. 13 2005,12:39

Why does the USBZIP require two partitions? I've done a manual install to a pen drive with one partition.

Posted by roberts on Dec. 13 2005,13:29

Because it does not work reliably on most larger drives.
You can read all about geometry and USB-ZIP in the wiki.
It is much too long to report here.

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 13 2005,18:05

Shart answer:

Because the ZIP drive standard format is 250MB or less.

Long answer, read the wiki or google.com search

Posted by Sharkscott on Dec. 14 2005,06:43

Hi,
I may be wrong but I think you have to have the USB booter use the zip method.

Because it creates two partitions, one for the OS and one for the configuration files(tar.gz backups).

XP should be able to see both partitions, sda1,sda2. Just don't mess with the OS partition. In the other partition you should see your tar.gz file.

You can save files to the second partition and use it for all your regular stuff.

You will have to manage the size of your configuration file though, if you download a lot of extra stuff for your DSL your .tar.gz file will get big fast. Without trying hard mine was over 100mgs.

I hope I helped.

Posted by Carey on Dec. 14 2005,11:25

Here's the solution: Using a single, USB-ZIP bootable partition, install using the USB-ZIP method, but insall as an upgrade, so the script doesn't repartition.

Here's the solution on DSL: Install to the pen drive using the USB-HDD script. This gives a single, large partition, but uses a different boot method/sector... apparently :-/ Now do the USB-ZIP install as an upgrade, and you have a single, large vfat partition that boots using a BIOS USB-ZIP configuration.

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? And I'm the DSL noob :-P