<FILENAME filename="index.html"><html><head><title>The KDE Partition Manager Handbook</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="description" content="Manage your disks, partitions and file systems."><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="next" href="introduction.html" title="Chapter 1. Introduction"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> The <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> Handbook</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="introduction.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div lang="en" class="book"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="partitionmanager"></a>The <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> Handbook</h1></div><div><div class="authorgroup"><p class="author"><span class="firstname">Volker</span> <span class="surname">Lanz</span> </p></div></div><div>Revision <span class="releaseinfo"><span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> 3.0.0 (<span class="date">2016-12-01</span>)</span></div><div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010 Volker Lanz</p></div><div><p><a href="help:/kdoctools5-common/fdl-notice.html">Legal Notice</a></p></div><div><div><div class="abstract"><p>Manage your disks, partitions and file systems.</p></div></div></div></div><hr></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="introduction.html">1. Introduction</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="usermanual.html">2. Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="usermanual.html#mainwindow">The Main Window</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="howto-resizepartition.html">How-To: Resizing a Partition</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="howto-copypartition.html">How-To: Copying a Partition</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="howto-installos.html">How-To: Installing a New Operating System</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="reference.html">3. Command Reference</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="reference.html#reference-overview">Overview</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-file">The File Menu</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-edit">The Edit Menu</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-device">The Device Menu</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-tools">The Tools Menu</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-partition">The Partition Menu</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="reference.html#menu-settings-help">The Settings and Help Menu</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="faq.html">4. Questions and Answers</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="credits.html">5. Credits and License</a></span></dt><dt><span class="glossary"><a href="glossary.html">Glossary</a></span></dt></dl></div><FILENAME filename="introduction.html"><html><head><title>Chapter 1. Introduction</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="next" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Introduction</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="usermanual.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="introduction"></a>Chapter 1. Introduction</h1></div></div></div><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> is a utility program to help you manage the <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">disk devices</a></em></a>, <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partitions</a></em></a> and <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystem"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystem" title="File System">file systems</a></em></a> on your computer.
</p><p>
It allows you to easily <a class="link" href="howto-installos.html" title="How-To: Installing a New Operating System">create new partitions</a>, create file systems on new or existing partitions, <a class="link" href="howto-copypartition.html" title="How-To: Copying a Partition">copy</a>, move or delete partitions and also to <a class="link" href="howto-resizepartition.html" title="How-To: Resizing a Partition">modify a partition's size</a> without losing the data on it.
</p><p>
To get its job done efficiently <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> makes use of external tools to support a long list of file systems. You will probably have the required tools for the file systems on your computer installed already.
</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Always back up your data!</h3><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> has been designed and written with high diligence and an emphasis on data integrity. There is however always some danger involved when modifying a device's partition table or its partitions: There might still be a bug in <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>, an unexpected power failure or a problem with the computer's hardware.
</p><p>
For those reasons you should <span class="emphasis"><em>always have a back up of your important data</em></span> before making any modifications with a tool like <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>.
</p><p>
The program's authors take no responsibility whatsoever if you lose any data while using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>.
</p></div><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> uses <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-operation"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-operation" title="Operation">operations</a></em></a>, <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-job"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-job" title="Job">jobs</a></em></a> and <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-command"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-command" title="Command">commands</a></em></a> to logically divide up the work it does. See the <a class="link" href="glossary.html" title="Glossary">glossary</a> for details on this.
</p></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="usermanual.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">The <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> Handbook </td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"> Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="usermanual.html"><html><head><title>Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="introduction.html" title="Chapter 1. Introduction"><link rel="next" href="howto-resizepartition.html" title="How-To: Resizing a Partition"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="introduction.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-resizepartition.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="usermanual"></a>Chapter 2. Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></h1></div></div></div><div class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="mainwindow"></a>The Main Window</h2></div></div></div><p>
Besides the main view showing the currently selected device in a graphical and a tree view, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> uses <span class="trademark">Qt</span>™'s <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">dock widgets</span>”</span> or panels to display some information and allow selections. See the following screen shot for an overview of <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s main window.
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="mainwindow.png" alt="Main Window"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>Menubar: The menu bar presents some custom and some non-standard menus to choose actions to perform. All commands are described in detail in <a class="xref" href="reference.html" title="Chapter 3. Command Reference">Chapter 3, <i>Command Reference</i></a>.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Toolbar: <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s tool bar is a standard tool bar. It can be fully customized; for details see <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-settings-help" title="The Settings and Help Menu">the section called “The Settings and Help Menu”</a>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Devices Panel: This panel lists all <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">devices</a></em></a> found on your computer that <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> can handle. Select a device in this panel to view or modify it in the graphical device view or in the tree device view.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Graphical Device View: In this view <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> shows a graphical representation of the currently selected device. Each of the device's <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partitions</a></em></a> has its own box with device node name (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sda1</span>”</span> for the first partition in the screenshot above) and usage information (the dark violet area in the screenshot).
</p><p>
<a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition" title="Extended Partition">Extended partitions</a></em></a> are visually distinct by their extra border (light green in the screenshot above) around them.
</p><p>
You can select a partition by clicking on it in the graphical device view. A double click opens <a class="link" href="reference.html#menu-partition-properties">the partition's properties dialog</a>. A right click shows the partition context menu.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Tree Device View: The tree device view shows extended information about each partition on the selected device. The currently selected partition is highlighted. Double-clicking a partition opens <a class="link" href="reference.html#menu-partition-properties">the partition's properties dialog</a>. A right click shows the partition context menu.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Information Panel: The information panel shows some details about the currently selected device or partition. It is not enabled by default.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Pending Operations Panel: This panel lists all operations that will be executed once you choose <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-apply">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Apply</span></span>
</a>.
</p><p>
In the screenshot above, one operation is pending: If the user applies the operations now, the <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystem"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystem" title="File System">file system</a></em></a> on /dev/sdb3 will be checked for errors and, if required, repaired.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Statusbar: The status bar shows how many operations are currently pending.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Log Output Panel: This panel shows log information. It is only of secondary importance for non-advanced users and is not enabled by default.</p></li></ul></div><p>
</p></div><FILENAME filename="howto-resizepartition.html"><html><head><title>How-To: Resizing a Partition</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager"><link rel="prev" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager"><link rel="next" href="howto-copypartition.html" title="How-To: Copying a Partition"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> How-To: Resizing a Partition</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="usermanual.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-copypartition.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="howto-resizepartition"></a>How-To: Resizing a Partition</h2></div></div></div><p>
This how-to explains the resizing of a <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a></em></a> that is becoming too full. See the following screenshot for the initial situation before resizing:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_1.png" alt="Main window before resizing partitions"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
On <a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device"><em class="glossterm"><a class="glossterm" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a></em></a> <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">/dev/sdb</span>”</span>, partition <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb2</span>”</span> has only little free space left while the other partition, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb1</span>”</span>, is far from being full. For that reason it seems advisable to make the first partition a little smaller and grow <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb2</span>”</span> so it has more free space available.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Note: You cannot modify mounted partitions.</h3><p>In the screenshot above both partitions are not currently mounted. If one or both of them were mounted you would have to unmount them first using <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-mount">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Mount/Unmount</span></span>
</a>.</p></div><p>
The first step is to make more room for the partition to grow, so start by shrinking <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb1</span>”</span>. Click on the partition and choose <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-resize">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Resize/Move</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>R</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>. The following dialog comes up:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_2.png" alt="Resize dialog before resizing /dev/sdb1"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
The dialog allows you to resize the partition in multiple ways. You can either drag the right handle to the left until the partition has the desired size or simply enter the size in the <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guilabel">Size</span></span> text field. Another possibility would be to adjust the size by clicking on the little arrows next to the text field, but that is a little tedious for larger changes.
</p><p>
Whichever way you prefer for setting the new size, the dialog should now look like this:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_3.png" alt="Resize dialog after resizing /dev/sdb1"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
After you click on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span>, a new operation is added to the pending operations list and the graphical view and tree view of the device are updated to reflect the new situation:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_4.png" alt="Main window after resizing /dev/sdb1"></div></div><p>
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Note: Operations are previewed first before applying them.</h3><p>Although the main window reflects the device's state how it will be after applying the new operation, the operation has in fact not been applied yet: While operations are pending you can still undo them (one by one using <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-undo">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Undo</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Z</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a> or <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-clear">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Clear</span></span>
</a> to undo all of them) or quit <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>, and nothing will have been modified at all.</p></div><p>
Now that there is some free space between the two partitions you can move and grow partition <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb2</span>”</span>. First, click on <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb2</span>”</span> and choose <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-resize">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Resize/Move</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>R</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a> again. The resize dialog comes up once more, this time for the second partition. Drag its left handle to the leftmost end so that the dialog looks like this:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_5.png" alt="Resize dialog after resizing /dev/sdb2"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
Be careful to make sure that the <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guilabel">Free space before</span></span> text field really does show <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">0 MiB</span>”</span> because otherwise there will be a little free space left between the partitions that will then be wasted.
</p><p>
Now click <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span> again. In the main window things now look like this:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_6.png" alt="Main window after resizing /dev/sdb2"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
This already looks like what you wanted, so choose <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-apply">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Apply</span></span>
</a>. A dialog box will come up and ask you if you are sure to apply the pending operations. Confirm this dialog box and <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will begin executing operations:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_7.png" alt="KDE Partition Manager is applying operations"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
While operations are being executed you can click on the plus-sign next to each operation in the list to find out the jobs it is made up of and see which job is currently being run.
</p><p>
Resizing a partition in the way you resized <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">/dev/sdb2</span>”</span> above always means it has to be moved to the left first before it can be grown because partitions can never be grown to the left directly. Unfortunately, moving such a large partition will take quite some time. It is not unusual for an operation like this to take several minutes or even more.
</p><p>
Finally, all operations will have been successfully completed:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_8.png" alt="Progress dialog after successfully applying operations"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
By clicking on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span> you can now close the progress dialog and return to the main window. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will rescan your devices at this point so that might take a few seconds.
</p><p>
If you are interested in some more details about the operations that were just run click on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">Details</span></span>. You will see the detailed report that is always generated (and updated on the fly) while <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> executes operations:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="resize_howto_9.png" alt="Progress dialog details"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
This report is particularly of interest if an error occurs while executing operations. A report shows each operation, each job and each external command that is being run and is thus very helpful when trying to track down problems.
</p><p>
You can save the report as <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> or view it in an external web browser.
</p><div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
Always save the detailed report as <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> when executing the operations fails with errors or warnings for later reference. You might also want to include it in a bug report you submit to the <span class="orgname">KDE</span> bug tracking system at <a class="ulink" href="https://bugs.kde.org" target="_top">bugs.kde.org</a>.
</p></div><p>
To hide the details again click on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">Details</span></span> and to finally close the progress dialog click on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span>.
</p></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="usermanual.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-copypartition.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> </td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"> How-To: Copying a Partition</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="howto-copypartition.html"><html><head><title>How-To: Copying a Partition</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager"><link rel="prev" href="howto-resizepartition.html" title="How-To: Resizing a Partition"><link rel="next" href="howto-installos.html" title="How-To: Installing a New Operating System"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> How-To: Copying a Partition</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-resizepartition.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-installos.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="howto-copypartition"></a>How-To: Copying a Partition</h2></div></div></div><p>
This how-to describes copying a partition. We will assume the intention is to copy a partition from one device to another and overwriting an existing target partition, but the general procedure would not be much different when copying to the same device or to some unallocated area.
</p><p>
The following screenshot shows how the source device looks like:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="copy_howto_1.png" alt="Main window with source device"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
The source partition in our example will be <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb1</span>”</span> which is currently mounted, indicated by the lock-icon next to the mount point name in the screen shot. A mounted partition can not be copied, thus you first need to unmount it: Click on it then select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-mount">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Mount/Unmount</span></span>
</a>.
</p><p>
After unmounting the partition the lock icon has gone and it is now possible to select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-copy">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Copy</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>. This puts <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb1</span>”</span> in <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s clipboard; in other words: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb1</span>”</span> is now the partition that will be inserted when you select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-paste">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Paste</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>V</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>.
</p><p>
The destination device for copying in this how-to is <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">/dev/sdc</span>”</span>. Click on it in the Devices panel. This is how the device looks like before copying:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="copy_howto_2.png" alt="Main window with destination device before copying"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
The partition to overwrite is <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdc5</span>”</span>. To paste the copied partition into it, click on it and select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-paste">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Paste</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>V</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>. You will see the operation to copy the partition has been added to the list of pending operations. Note that there is no dialog box required to insert the partition as would be the case if you pasted into an unallocated area: Beginning and end of the pasted partition are determined by the overwritten partition.
</p><p>
Now select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-apply">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Apply</span></span>
</a> and the partition will be copied. See the <a class="link" href="howto-resizepartition.html" title="How-To: Resizing a Partition">how-to on resizing partitions</a> for details about applying operations.
</p></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-resizepartition.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-installos.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">How-To: Resizing a Partition </td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"> How-To: Installing a New Operating System</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="howto-installos.html"><html><head><title>How-To: Installing a New Operating System</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager"><link rel="prev" href="howto-copypartition.html" title="How-To: Copying a Partition"><link rel="next" href="reference.html" title="Chapter 3. Command Reference"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> How-To: Installing a New Operating System</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-copypartition.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="reference.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="howto-installos"></a>How-To: Installing a New Operating System</h2></div></div></div><p>
This how-to describes the preparation of a new hard disk device for an OS installation: Suppose you bought a new hard disk and now intend to use it as a replacement for the old one that currently holds your OS and data partitions. You would also like to take this opportunity to install a new operation system. Several steps will have to be taken to make the transition from the old to the new system and drive.
</p><p>
In the following, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">/dev/sdb</span>”</span> is the old hard disk and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">/dev/sdc</span>”</span> is the new one. This screenshot shows the situation on the source device:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_1.png" alt="Main window with source device"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
The new device will look like this. Note that it doesn't yet have valid partition table, thus the first step to take is to create one by selecting <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-device-createpartitiontable">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">New Partition Table</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Shift</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>N</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_2.png" alt="Main window with destination device"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
After confirming the warning dialog you can begin creating partitions on the new device by clicking the extended partition and selecting <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-new">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">New</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>N</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>. Begin with an extended partition at the end of the device to later hold the home and swap partitions:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_3.png" alt="Creating an extended partition"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
Click <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span> and the operation to create this extended partition is added to the list.
</p><p>
Now create a primary partition on the rest of the device where the new OS will be installed. Make it as large as the unallocated area in front of the extended partition:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_4.png" alt="Creating a primary partition"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
Click <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span> in the dialog to accept your choice. The operation to create the new primary partition is then added to the operation list.
</p><p>
Now it is time to copy the home partition from the old device to the extended partition on the new device. Select the old device in the Device List panel, click on partition <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb5</span>”</span> and pick <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-copy">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Copy</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>.
</p><p>
Then go back to the new device and click the extended partition. Select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-partition-paste">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Paste</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>V</strong></span></strong></span>)
</a>. The following dialog will come up:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_5.png" alt="Pasting the home partition"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
This already looks mostly okay but you already know that you will not need that much free space after the home partition because you will later create a swap partition there.
</p><p>
So grab the right resize handle in the dialog's resizer widget and move it to the right until the free space after the pasted partition has a size more suitable for a swap partition:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_6.png" alt="Resizing a pasted partition"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
This looks fine. Click <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">OK</span></span> to accept and close the dialog. A new operation to paste the copied partition to the extended partition on <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdc</span>”</span> is added to the operation list. Note that this operation will also set the new size.
</p><p>
Finally you will want to create a new swap partition at the end of the extended partition on <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdc</span>”</span>. There is no need to copy the existing swap partition from <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdb</span>”</span> because swap does not hold any permanent information worth keeping. Simply create a new partition with type linuxswap that fills the whole of the unallocated area after the new home partition.
</p><p>
The main window with all operations and the preview of how <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sdc</span>”</span> will look like once they are applied now looks like this:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="installos_howto_7.png" alt="Main window after setting up all operations"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
This looks great so select <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-edit-apply">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Apply</span></span>
</a>, confirm the warning dialog and wait until the operations have all been executed. For details on executing operations see <a class="link" href="howto-resizepartition.html" title="How-To: Resizing a Partition">the how-to on resizing partitions</a>.
</p><p>
Your new hard disk device is now ready for the installation of your new operation system.
</p></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-copypartition.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="reference.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">How-To: Copying a Partition </td><td class="upCell">Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></td><td class="nextCell"> Command Reference</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="introduction.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="howto-resizepartition.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">Introduction </td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"> How-To: Resizing a Partition</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="reference.html"><html><head><title>Chapter 3. Command Reference</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="howto-installos.html" title="How-To: Installing a New Operating System"><link rel="next" href="faq.html" title="Chapter 4. Questions and Answers"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Command Reference</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-installos.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="faq.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="reference"></a>Chapter 3. Command Reference</h1></div></div></div><div class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="reference-overview"></a>Overview</h2></div></div></div><p>This chapter gives detailed explanations of all commands available in <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>. It is intended as a reference to accompany the information given in <a class="xref" href="usermanual.html" title="Chapter 2. Using KDE Partition Manager">Chapter 2, <i>Using <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></i></a>.</p><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-file"></a>The File Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a name="menu-file-quit"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">File</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Quit</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Q</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Quits <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span></span> without applying any pending operations. The application will however ask you to confirm your choice to quit if there are pending operations.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-edit"></a>The Edit Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a name="menu-edit-undo"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Undo</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Z</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Undoes the last operation</span> that has been added to the operation stack.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-edit-clear"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Clear</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Clears the list of operations</span> without applying any of them.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-edit-apply"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Edit</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Apply</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Applies the list of operations</span>. This command will apply all operations in the list so that all changes are permanently written to your disks. After the operations have been applied, the list is cleared and there will be no way to undo any operation.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-device"></a>The Device Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a name="menu-device-selectcurrentdevice"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Select Current Device</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>Allows you to select a device from a submenu with all available devices of the system.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-device-createpartitiontable"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">New Partition Table</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Shift</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>N</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Creates a new partition table</span>: This command creates a new and empty GPT or MSDOS partition table on the currently selected device. This will delete all partitions on the device and all data on them, so you will want to be careful with this command.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a device is selected and no partition on this device
is currently mounted.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-device-exportpartitiontable"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Export Partition Table</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>Allows you to export a list of all partitions on the selected device into a file.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-device-importpartitiontable"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Import Partition Table</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>Allows you to import partition table from a previously exported file.</p><p>This will delete all partitions on the device and all data on them,
so you will want to be careful with this command.</p><p>This command is only enabled if a device is selected and no partition on this device is
currently mounted. Importing into logical devices such as LVM Volume Groups is currently not supported.</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-device-smartstatus"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">SMART Status</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>Shows a SMART report. SMART is a monitoring system included in hard disk and solid-state drives
that detects and reports on various indicators of drive reliability, with the intent of enabling the
anticipation of hardware failures.</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-device-properties"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Device</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Properties</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>Shows information about currently selected devices. In this dialog you can find capacity, sector sizes,
partition table type as well as used and maximum number of primary partitions.</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-tools"></a>The Tools Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a name="menu-tools-volumegroup"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Tools</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">New Volume Group</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Shift</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>L</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>Create a new logical device such as <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-lvm" title="LVM">LVM</a> Volume Group.</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-tools-filesystemsupport"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Tools</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">File System Support</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Shows the file system support dialog.</span> This dialog shows in detail which operations can be performed for which of the supported file systems.
</p><p>
Here is an example how the dialog might look like with most external tools installed:
</p><p>
</p><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><img src="filesystemsupport.png" alt="File system support dialog with most external tools installed"></div></div><p>
</p><p>
The blue check marks mean <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">supported</span>”</span>, the red crosses mean <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">not supported</span>”</span>. Some combinations are never supported, for example checking a linuxswap file system, because they are inherently impossible. Others cannot be supported because the external tools lack the functionality.
</p><p>
If you have installed new tools while <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> is running click on <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guibutton">Rescan Support</span></span> to force a recheck of installed file system support tools.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-tools-refresh"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Tools</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Refresh Devices</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>F5</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Refreshes the devices</span>: This command forces <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> to scan and read the devices on your computer again. This may for example be useful if you plugged in an external USB hard disk after you started <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-partition"></a>The Partition Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a name="menu-partition-new"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">New</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>N</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Creates a new partition</span>: Opens the dialog to create a new partition where you will be able to set type, size, position and file system of the partition to create.
</p><p>
Please note that the partition table on a device may impose restrictions on how many partitions can be created. MS-DOS partition tables, for example, allow only four primary partitions.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if an unallocated area on a device is selected.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-resize"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Resize/Move</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>R</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Resizes or moves a partition</span>: Opens the dialog to resize or move an existing partition. Depending on the partition's file system and the external tools installed on your computer, not all three possible resize-related actions -- that is, moving the partition, making it smaller (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">shrinking</span>”</span> it) or making it larger (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">growing</span>”</span> it) -- may be available in this dialog. See <a class="xref" href="reference.html#menu-tools-filesystemsupport">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Tools</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">File System Support</span></span>
</a>.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted and whose file system can be shrunk, grown or moved. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if none of the logicals in the extended partition are mounted.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-delete"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Delete</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Del</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Deletes a partition</span>: This command deletes the currently selected partition.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if it does not contain any logical partitions.
</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Possible loss of data</h3><p>Deleting a partition means that all data on the partition is destroyed.</p></div></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-shred"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Shred</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>Del</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Shreds a partition</span>: This command shreds the currently selected partition.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if it does not contain any logical partitions.
</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Loss of data</h3><p>Shreding a partition means that all data on the partition is destroyed.</p></div></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-copy"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Copy</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Copies a partition</span>: This command copies the currently selected partition to <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s clipboard.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted and whose file system can be copied. Extended partitions can not be copied.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-paste"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Paste</span></span> (<span class="shortcut"><strong><span class="keycap"><strong>Ctrl</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>V</strong></span></strong></span>)
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Paste a partition</span>: This command pastes the partition from <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s clipboard to the currently selected partition or unallocated area.
</p><p>
When pasting to an unallocated area, a dialog will open allowing you to move or grow the inserted copy. When overwriting an existing partition this dialog will not be shown.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is currently in the clipboard and a valid target (either a partition or an unallocated area) is selected. The target must also be large enough to hold the source and can not be mounted. You can not copy a partition onto itself.
</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Possible loss of data</h3><p>Pasting a partition on an existing one means that all data on the existing partition is destroyed and replaced with the data from the pasted partition.</p></div></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-mount"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Mount/Unmount</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Mounts or umounts a partition</span>: This command mounts or unmounts the selected partition, depending on its current state.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that can be mounted or unmounted. If the operating system does not know a mount point for the partition you can not mount it from <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-edit-mount"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Edit Mount Point</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Opens a dialog</span> to edit the mount point and the mount options.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition unmounted.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-check"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Check</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Checks a partition</span>: This command checks the selected partition and its file system for errors and tries to correct any problems it finds. During this process the file system on the partition will also be resized to fill the partition completely.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that can be checked and is not currently mounted.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-backup"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Backup</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Backs up a partition</span>: This command backs up the file system on the selected partition to a file. You will be asked where to store the image file after activating this command.
</p><p>
The created image file is a sector-for-sector copy of the file system on the partition. It is not compressed and does not have any additional meta information or header added to it, thus it can be directly mounted using a loop device outside of <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> if the operation system supports that.
</p><p>
This command is only enabled if a partition is selected and the file system on it can be backed up. The partition must also not be mounted.
</p></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-restore"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Restore</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Restores a partition</span>: This command restores a file system from an image file to a partition. You will be asked for the name of the image file to restore after activating this command. The target to restore to must be large enough for the image file.
</p><p>
The command is only enabled if either an unallocated area is selected or a partition that is not currently mounted.
</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Possible loss of data</h3><p>Restoring a partition on an existing one means that all data on the existing partition is destroyed and replaced with the data from the restored image file.</p></div></dd><dt><a name="menu-partition-properties"></a><span class="term">
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenu">Partition</span></span> → <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Properties</span></span>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="action">Shows a partition's properties</span>: This command shows a dialog with information about the currently selected partition or unallocated space.
</p><p>
What is displayed and what can be modified in this dialog depends on the type of partition, the type of the file system on the partition and on the partition being currently mounted or not.
</p><p>
Not all file systems, for example, support setting a label. It is also generally not possible to modify any properties if the partition is mounted.
</p><p>
This is a list of all partition and file system properties that can in general be modified in this dialog:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>Set or modify a file system's label</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Change the partition's file system.</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Possible loss of data</h3><p>Changing the file system for a partition always means that all data on the partition is destroyed.</p></div></li><li class="listitem"><p>Recreate the file system on the partition</p><div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Warning: Possible loss of data</h3><p>Recreating a file system on a partition always means that all data on the partition is destroyed. Recreating a file system should only be used as a last resort if the file system on a partition cannot be repaired anymore.</p></div></li><li class="listitem"><p>Change a partition's flags</p><p>Depending on the type of partition table used, there will be several flags available for each partition on the partition table. In most cases, modifying the flags is not necessary and should be considered an advanced feature.</p></li></ul></div><p>
</p><p>
The command is only enabled if either an unallocated area or a partition is selected.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="sect2"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="menu-settings-help"></a>The Settings and Help Menu</h3></div></div></div><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> has the common <span class="orgname">KDE</span> <a class="ulink" href="help:/fundamentals/menus.html#menus-settings" target="_top">Settings</a> and
<a class="ulink" href="help:/fundamentals/menus.html#menus-help" target="_top">Help</a> menu described in
the <span class="orgname">KDE</span> Fundamentals with an additional submenu <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guisubmenu">Panels Shown</span></span>,
where you can toggle the display of the <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Devices</span></span>,
<span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Pending Operations</span></span>, <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Information</span></span>
and panels <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="guiitem"><span class="guimenuitem">Log Output</span></span> on and off.
</p></div></div></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="howto-installos.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="faq.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">How-To: Installing a New Operating System </td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"> Questions and Answers</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="faq.html"><html><head><title>Chapter 4. Questions and Answers</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="reference.html" title="Chapter 3. Command Reference"><link rel="next" href="credits.html" title="Chapter 5. Credits and License"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Questions and Answers</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="reference.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="credits.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="faq"></a>Chapter 4. Questions and Answers</h1></div></div></div><div class="qandaset"><a name="faqlist"></a><dl><dt>4.1. <a href="faq.html#idm711">How dangerous is KDE Partition Manager for my data?</a></dt><dt>4.2. <a href="faq.html#idm721">I have installed all recommended external file system support packages and still do not get support for all operations on all file systems.</a></dt><dt>4.3. <a href="faq.html#idm729">Why can't I see any meaningful progress information when resizing a partition?</a></dt><dt>4.4. <a href="faq.html#idm737">Why can't I resize the root partition? How can I resize the partition /home is on?</a></dt><dt>4.5. <a href="faq.html#idm744">I'm getting a warning message in the log output about something that a partition cannot be created with the size I requested and that it will instead be smaller. What happened?</a></dt><dt>4.6. <a href="faq.html#idm754">How many operations can I add to the list of pending operations?</a></dt><dt>4.7. <a href="faq.html#idm761">Resizing an ext2 or ext3 file system failed with something in the report about “no space left on device”. What happened? Is my data corrupted now?</a></dt><dt>4.8. <a href="faq.html#idm772">Why can't I format my floppy disk with KDE Partition Manager? Why is there no support for CD writing or DVD burning?</a></dt><dt>4.9. <a href="faq.html#idm779">Why can't I modify partitions on a device with an amiga or bsd partition table?</a></dt><dt>4.10. <a href="faq.html#idm787">On startup, KDE Partition Manager hangs for a couple of minutes while it apparently tries to scan the floppy drive on my computer.</a></dt><dt>4.11. <a href="faq.html#idm793">During startup, KDE Partition Manager prints some message about probing devices and that it might even crash or at least take a long time.</a></dt></dl><table border="0" style="width: 100%;"><colgroup><col align="left" width="1%"><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm711"></a><a name="idm712"></a><p><b>4.1.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How dangerous is <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> for my data?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
First of all, you should never perform any destructive operations (delete, move, resize) without first making a complete backup of everything affected.
</p><p>
Having said that, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> is safe to use. It performs extensive checks before and after every operation. It calls external tools written and supported by the file system authors. And it has been tested extensively.
</p><p>
There is always the risk of data loss due to an unknown bug. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>'s authors try to minimize this risk, but there are of course no guarantees.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm721"></a><a name="idm722"></a><p><b>4.2.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>I have installed all recommended external file system support packages and still do not get support for all operations on all file systems.</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
Not everything <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> can do in principle can be done with all file systems.
</p><p>
One example is performing a file system check on linuxswap: It is just not possible. There are other limitations like that inherent in some file systems. You cannot shrink JFS or XFS file systems because neither of the two supports shrinking at all, with or without <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm729"></a><a name="idm730"></a><p><b>4.3.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Why can't I see any meaningful progress information when resizing a partition?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> can only show progress information when it knows how long the jobs in an operation will take. Unfortunately this is usually not the case when resizing partitions because the by far longest job when doing so is resizing the file system on the partition. Resizing file systems is in most cases something an external tool will do on behalf of <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> and these external tools do not provide useful progress information to <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>, so there's nothing to report while they are running.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm737"></a><a name="idm738"></a><p><b>4.4.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Why can't I resize the root partition? How can I resize the partition /home is on?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
To modify a partition it must not be mounted. You can however not unmount the root partition. Neither will you be able to unmount the home partition if the home directory of the currently logged in user is on it.
</p><p>
The solution for this problem is to boot from a Linux Live CD that comes with <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> and modify these partitions from there.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm744"></a><a name="idm745"></a><p><b>4.5.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>I'm getting a warning message in the log output about something that a partition cannot be created with the size I requested and that it will instead be smaller. What happened?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
On MS-DOS partition tables, partitions have to begin and end on cylinder boundaries. This is mainly for historical reasons. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will deal with this internally and try not to bother the user with that limitation.
</p><p>
Under rare circumstances, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will however not be able to set up an operation in the way the user requested it due to this limitation. For example, if one cylinder on a device is 8 MiB large and you try to resize a partition by 6 MiB, this will not work.
</p><p>
You might also encounter this message if you have a device and partition table where the partitions are, for whatever reason, not correctly snapped to cylinder boundaries and you try to move or copy these partitions for the first time.
</p><p>
The message itself is harmless and only exists to inform the user that something can not be done quite exactly the way the user expects. Your partitions and data will not be negatively affected in any way if you see this message.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm754"></a><a name="idm755"></a><p><b>4.6.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How many operations can I add to the list of pending operations?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
There is no limit.
</p><p>
It is however not recommended to add too many operations to the list. There is always a small chance an operation might fail with an error, in which case <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will stop executing operations. In that case it is a lot easier to find out what happened (and to re-add all the operations that could not be executed) if the list of pending operations was not exceedingly long.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm761"></a><a name="idm762"></a><p><b>4.7.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Resizing an ext2 or ext3 file system failed with something in the report about <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">no space left on device</span>”</span>. What happened? Is my data corrupted now?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
This is a problem of the <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="command"><span class="command"><strong>e2resize</strong></span></span> command and the underlying ext2/3/4 file system. If a file system is nearly full, <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="command"><span class="command"><strong>e2resize</strong></span></span> cannot make it any smaller even though that should be possible from the number of free sectors left. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> can unfortunately not know beforehand if <span xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="command"><span class="command"><strong>e2resize</strong></span></span> will abort with this error for a given file system or not. If it happens nothing will be done at all and your data will not be negatively affected.
</p><p>
There is no real workaround for this problem right now.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm772"></a><a name="idm773"></a><p><b>4.8.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Why can't I format my floppy disk with <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>? Why is there no support for CD writing or DVD burning?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
None of this is what <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> has been designed to do: It is an application that deals with partitions and the file systems on these partitions. Floppy disks, CDs or DVDs do not need or use partitions.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm779"></a><a name="idm780"></a><p><b>4.9.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Why can't I modify partitions on a device with an amiga or bsd partition table?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> currently only allows read-only access to any other partition table type than MS-DOS. This is for safety reasons: Support in <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> for this partition table types is not really there and what is there (or just incidentally works) has not been tested enough to use it with confidence.
</p><p>
Of course you can still create a new MS-DOS partition table on the device in question, but that is probably not what you want.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm787"></a><a name="idm788"></a><p><b>4.10.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>On startup, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> hangs for a couple of minutes while it apparently tries to scan the floppy drive on my computer.</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
This happens if you have a floppy drive configured in your computer's BIOS settings but have not actually connected one. If you do not have a floppy drive check your BIOS settings and disable any floppy drives configured there to see if this makes the problem go away.
</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm793"></a><a name="idm794"></a><p><b>4.11.</b></p></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>During startup, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> prints some message about probing devices and that it might even crash or at least take a long time.</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
LibParted, a backend library <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> uses, has problems with systems where the Linux Device Mapper is used in a way it doesn't understand. Unfortunately it reacts to some of these situations with segmentation faults, i.e. crashes. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> therefore tries to avoid these situations by using an alternative way to scan your computer for disks. If it cannot do that, however, and therefore has to rely on LibParted, it will print a message like the one mentioned. If the scanning for disks works, you can safely disregard the message.
</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="reference.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="credits.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">Command Reference </td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"> Credits and License</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="credits.html"><html><head><title>Chapter 5. Credits and License</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="faq.html" title="Chapter 4. Questions and Answers"><link rel="next" href="glossary.html" title="Glossary"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Credits and License</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="faq.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="glossary.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="credits"></a>Chapter 5. Credits and License</h1></div></div></div><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span>
</p><p>
Program copyright 2008, 2009, 2010 Volker Lanz
<code class="email">(vl AT fidra.de)</code>
</p><p>
Documentation Copyright (c) 2008, 2009, 2010 Volker Lanz.
<code class="email">(vl AT fidra.de)</code>
</p><p><a name="gnu-fdl"></a>This documentation is licensed under the terms of the <a class="ulink" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/fdl-license.html" target="_top">GNU Free Documentation
License</a>.</p><p>This program is licensed under the terms of the <a class="ulink" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/gpl-license.html" target="_top">GNU General Public License</a>.</p></div></div><div id="footer"><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="faq.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Contents</a></td><td class="nextCell"><a accesskey="n" href="glossary.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td class="prevCell">Questions and Answers </td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"> Glossary</td></tr></table></div><div id="footer_text">Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-doc-english@kde.org" class="footer_email">KDE Docs Team</a></div></div></div></body></html></FILENAME><FILENAME filename="glossary.html"><html><head><title>Glossary</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-default.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-docs.css"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="help:/kdoctools5-common/kde-localised.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, sysadmin, partition, manager, disk, device, filesystem"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDE Partition Manager Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="credits.html" title="Chapter 5. Credits and License"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.14 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div id="content"><div id="header"><div id="header_content"><div id="header_left"><div id="header_right"><img src="help:/kdoctools5-common/top-kde.jpg" width="36" height="34"> Glossary</div></div></div></div><div class="navCenter"><table class="navigation"><tr><td class="prevCell"><a accesskey="p" href="credits.html">Prev</a></td><td class="upCell"> </td><td class="nextCell"></td></tr></table></div><div id="contentBody"><div class="glossary"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="glossary"></a>Glossary</h1></div></div></div><dl><dt><a name="glossary-command"></a><span class="glossterm">Command</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
In <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> commands are what <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-job" title="Job">jobs</a> are made up of. These are very low level steps being taken, often executed by an external tool, and only visible in the detailed progress report.
</p><p>
The user normally does not have to bother with commands at all.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-operation">Operation</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-job">Job</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-cylinder"></a><span class="glossterm">Cylinder</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A unit used to divide up a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>. Some operating systems and many disk tools require <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partitions</a> to begin and end on a cylinder. <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> therefore automatically snaps partitions to cylinder boundaries when changing their start or end.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-head">Head</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-sector">Sector</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-cylindersize"></a><span class="glossterm">Cylinder Size</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
The number of <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-sector" title="Sector">sectors</a> per <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-cylinder" title="Cylinder">cylinder</a> on a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>. Calculated as the number of <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-head" title="Head">heads</a> multiplied by the number of <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-sector" title="Sector">sectors</a> per track.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-device"></a><span class="glossterm">Device</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A physical disk device. Physical disk devices are divided into logical sections called <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partitions</a> with the use of <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">partition tables</a>.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-disklabel"></a><span class="glossterm">Disk Label</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
Another name for a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">partition table</a> stemming from the SUN/BSD world.
</p><p>
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
They are easy to mix up, but a disk label has nothing to do with a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystemlabel" title="File System Label">file system label</a>.
</p><p>
See <a class="ulink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_disklabel" target="_top">this Wikipedia entry</a> for details on the name.
</p></div><p>
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable">Partition Table</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-extendedpartition"></a><span class="glossterm">Extended Partition</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a> that contains other partitions. Extended partitions can only be <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-primarypartition" title="Primary Partition">primary partitions</a> themselves. Whether extended partitions are available or not depends on the <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">partition table</a> type used. MS-DOS partition tables allow one extended partition per <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-primarypartition">Primary Partition</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-logicalpartition">Logical Partition</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-filesystem"></a><span class="glossterm">File System</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A file system defines how the storage of data (files with their metadata, folders and their metadata, free space) is organized within a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a>. There are various different types of file systems, some coming originally from the Unix/Linux world, some not. Examples for commonly used file systems on Unix/Linux are Btrfs, ext4 and XFS.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-filesystemlabel"></a><span class="glossterm">File System Label</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A title of a file system. Some file systems (among them Btrfs, ext2/3/4, FAT16/32 and NTFS) support setting a label for the file system so it can be identified in tools like <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> or other applications.
</p><p>
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>They are easy to mix up, but a file system label has nothing to do with a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-disklabel" title="Disk Label">disk label</a>.</p></div><p>
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-flag"></a><span class="glossterm">Flag</span></dt><dd><p>See <a class="glosssee" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitionflag">Partition Flag</a>.</p></dd><dt><span class="glossterm">GPT</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>A modern partition table format supported by most modern computers and operating systems. It supports more than 4 <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-primarypartition" title="Primary Partition">primary partitions</a> unlike older MS-DOS partition table.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-head"></a><span class="glossterm">Head</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A unit used to divide up a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-cylinder">Cylinder</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-sector">Sector</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-job"></a><span class="glossterm">Job</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
In <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> a number of jobs is what <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-operation" title="Operation">operations</a> are made up of. You normally do not have to bother with jobs at all; it only becomes apparent when applying the list of pending operations: <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> will then show a progress dialog that is made up of all operations and their jobs and show which operation and which job is currently being executed.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-operation">Operation</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-command">Command</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-label"></a><span class="glossterm">Label</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
Either a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-disklabel" title="Disk Label">disk label</a> or a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystemlabel" title="File System Label">file system label</a>.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-disklabel">Disk Label</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystemlabel">File System Label</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-logicalpartition"></a><span class="glossterm">Logical Partition</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a> inside an <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition" title="Extended Partition">extended partition</a>.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-primarypartition">Primary Partition</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition">Extended Partition</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-luks"></a><span class="glossterm">LUKS</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>Linux Unified Key Setup is the standard encryption format for Linux.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-lvm"></a><span class="glossterm">LVM</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>LVM is a system for managing logical partitions that is more flexible than normal partitions. It consists of three main components:</p><table border="0" summary="Simple list" class="simplelist"><tr><td>LVM physical volumes are partitions on the disk whose space is managed by LVM.</td></tr><tr><td>LVM volume group is a collection of LVM physical volumes that can be partitioned into logical partitions. It might be used to create file systems spanning over multiple devices or to split encrypted <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-luks" title="LUKS">LUKS</a> volume into smaller partitions.</td></tr><tr><td>LVM logical volumes are similar to normal partitions except that they reside on LVM volume group. Also, the location of LVM logical partitions does not matter and they do not have to be physically contiguous. Therefore, <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> does not allow to move LVM logical volumes and displays the remaining free space at the end of the device.</td></tr></table></dd><dt><a name="glossary-operation"></a><span class="glossterm">Operation</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
<span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> divides the work it does up in operations, <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-job" title="Job">jobs</a> and <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-command" title="Command">commands</a>.
</p><p>
Operations are the most visible of the three. If you pick an action in the graphical user interface, this will likely result in a new operation being added to the list of pending operations. The idea behind that is: You will most probably want to set up quite a number of steps to transform the current state of your disk devices to the state you have in mind. Some of these steps may take quite a long time to execute (like copying a large file system or resizing a file system that is nearly full). To save you from having to sit in front of your computer for a long time waiting for one step to finish and then starting the next one, operations allow you to exactly specify how the computer's devices should look like once everything is finished, then let <span class="application">KDE Partition Manager</span> apply the operations and come back when it has executed all of them.
</p><p>
Operations are kept in a list of pending operations. As long as an operation has not been applied it can still be <a class="link" href="reference.html#menu-edit-undo">taken back easily</a> and nothing will have been modified.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-job">Job</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-command">Command</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-partition"></a><span class="glossterm">Partition</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A section of a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">hard disk device</a> that can hold a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-filesystem" title="File System">file system</a> or other partitions. Without at least one valid partition, a disk can not be used.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-device">Device</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable">Partition Table</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-primarypartition">Primary Partition</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition">Extended Partition</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-logicalpartition">Logical Partition</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-partitionflag"></a><span class="glossterm">Partition Flag</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A marker for a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a>. The availability of these flags depends on the type of <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">partition table</a> used.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-partitiontable"></a><span class="glossterm">Partition Table</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A small section at the beginning of a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a> used to store information about the layout of the device's <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partitions</a>. There are different types of partition tables, each with their own limitations.
</p><p>
Sometimes also referred to as <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">disk label</span>”</span>.
</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-primarypartition"></a><span class="glossterm">Primary Partition</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">partition</a> directly inside a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">partition table</a>, as opposed to <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-logicalpartition" title="Logical Partition">logical partitions</a>, which are in <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition" title="Extended Partition">extended partitions</a>.
</p><p>
<a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partitiontable" title="Partition Table">Partition tables</a> usually impose restrictions on the maximum number of primary partitions that can be created on a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>. For MS-DOS type partition tables, for example, this maximum number is four.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-extendedpartition">Extended Partition</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-logicalpartition">Logical Partition</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-sector"></a><span class="glossterm">Sector</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
A unit used to divide up a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>. <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-partition" title="Partition">Partitions</a> must always begin and end on a sector.
</p><p>See Also <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-head">Head</a>, <a class="glossseealso" href="glossary.html#glossary-cylinder">Cylinder</a>.</p></dd><dt><a name="glossary-sectorsize"></a><span class="glossterm">Sector Size</span></dt><dd class="glossdef"><p>
The number of bytes per <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-sector" title="Sector">sector</a> on a <a class="link" href="glossary.html#glossary-device" title="Device">device</a>. The sector size of most devices in use today is 512 bytes.
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