Win98, Win95 (OSR 2.0, 2.5), and Win2000 (aka NT 5); don't have this
limitation. I've also got NT 4.0 with the latest service pack running on
some drives who's C: drives' go beyond the 1024th cylander without any
problems. I know that at least eariler versions of the install didn't allow
a C: greater than 4GBs but this is resolvable with a script that extends the
C: drive after the install to encompass the entire drive or with the use of
mirroring software which does the same thing. Newer NT 4.0 install CD's
that include the latest service pack may also automatically do this.
> Also, why is you / so big? You'll get better performance, fsck times, and
> fragmentation control (from reducing lifetime mixture)..
>
I can think of at least two reasons:
1 - simplicity. Especially for an everyday user who only has vague notions
of what partitions are or for those who just don't want to deal with
handling multiple partitions. With multiple partitions there is more to
consider when deciding where to install programs, assigning drive space,
etc.
2 - annoyance avoidance. I've seen the problem many times of that one
partition which just happens to have been created just a bit too small while
others are inundated in available space. Furthermore a partition is
basically a virtual drive and that the more drives you have the more likely
it is that in time one will run out of space. With the all the free space
concentrated in one partition you would have to fill up more of your drive
not just fill up this or that directory tree.
By the way how do you get better fsck times from multiple partition on a
drive vs. one partition on that drive? You can't really run them in
parallel to speed up checks as both are accessing the same slow device and
would just slow each other down as they compete in telling the drive where
to move its heads next. Plus the added startup, exit, and initialization
time for fsck for each additional partition. Is there something which I
have overlooked?
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/