Is there something wrong with my disk partition?

-1

# fdisk -l
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      499711      248832   83  Linux
/dev/sda2          501758    41940991    20719617    5  Extended
/dev/sda5          501760    41940991    20719616   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/mapper/a--vm--vg-swap_1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Is there a overlap between sda2 and sda5 in terms of start/end?

# df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/a--vm--vg-root 18180876 3424464 13809828 20% /

My initial disk is 20G, then I expended a LVM partition but it didn't seem to work?

Command (m for help): v
Remaining 41949182 unallocated 512-byte sectors

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 42.9 GB, 42949672960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5221 cylinders, total 83886080 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00094bdb

user3201982

Posted 2014-10-03T12:43:27.947

Reputation: 1

Answers

0

The structure of Master Boot Record only allows to have four primary partitions. There are cases when one needs more than four partitions and for those extended partitions are used. Extended partitions allow having logical volumes within them.

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Your sda2 is an extended partition and sda5 is located within sda2. This is perfectly normal. I don't think the word "overlapp" applies here. In your case sda5 occupies all of sda2 space, and is the only logical volume, so it might be questionable if such layout is rational. But it is definitely valid.

To expand sda5, you would need to expand sda2 first, provided you have enough unpartitioned disk space around it.

If you are not very confident with what you are doing I would totally recommend to backup all data first and start using partitioning tool with graphical interface - it will make things easier and more visual. Try using gparted or similar software.

Art Gertner

Posted 2014-10-03T12:43:27.947

Reputation: 6 417

It is a VMware vm, I clicked the 'expand' button on the UI, and typed in a volume number. I thought everything should be automated. If not, why we even use LVM instead of mounting disks step by step? – user3201982 – 2014-10-03T13:04:29.297

How does that relate to original question and what exactly are you trying to achieve? – Art Gertner – 2014-10-03T13:08:19.180

I want to expand my disk using LVM. Sorry, I'm newbie. – user3201982 – 2014-10-03T13:10:10.377

Its perfectly OK to be newbie, but you have to be careful with your partitions - otherwise you can lose data. Please read the post carefully. I recommend you to use partitioning tool with graphical interface and try to resize your extended partition first. If in doubt- feel free to post screenshots and questions here. – Art Gertner – 2014-10-03T13:14:02.090

Can I create a new extended partition and then a LVM logic partition inside it? – user3201982 – 2014-10-03T13:16:38.683

And I'm operating on a server, can't see UI. – user3201982 – 2014-10-03T13:17:25.247

Yes, but you would lose all data currently stored on existing partition. – Art Gertner – 2014-10-03T13:18:13.600

Could you tell me how to enlarge sda2(extended partition) by fdisk, without data loss? – user3201982 – 2014-10-03T13:21:32.160

This is a separate question, that is significantly different from the original one you have asked. You can post a new question. – Art Gertner – 2014-10-03T13:42:09.743

Asked: 2014-10-03T12:43:27.947

Viewed: 1 540 times

Active: 2014-10-03T13:11:29.907