Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S264886AbTK3LYW (ORCPT ); Sun, 30 Nov 2003 06:24:22 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S264887AbTK3LYV (ORCPT ); Sun, 30 Nov 2003 06:24:21 -0500 Received: from smtp6.wanadoo.fr ([193.252.22.25]:9447 "EHLO mwinf0601.wanadoo.fr") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S264886AbTK3LYU (ORCPT ); Sun, 30 Nov 2003 06:24:20 -0500 Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 12:24:19 +0100 To: John Bradford Cc: Arjan van de Ven , Andrew Clausen , Apurva Mehta , Andries Brouwer , Linux Kernel Mailing List , bug-parted@gnu.org Subject: Re: Disk Geometries reported incorrectly on 2.6.0-testX Message-ID: <20031130112419.GA2920@iliana> References: <20031128045854.GA1353@home.woodlands> <20031128142452.GA4737@win.tue.nl> <20031129022221.GA516@gnu.org> <20031129123451.GA5372@win.tue.nl> <200311291350.hATDo0CY001142@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk> <20031129223103.GB505@gnu.org> <1070182676.5214.2.camel@laptop.fenrus.com> <200311301040.hAUAePk6000149@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200311301040.hAUAePk6000149@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i From: Sven Luther Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Sun, Nov 30, 2003 at 10:40:25AM +0000, John Bradford wrote: > * All partition information stored in one partition table > > Linked lists make re-arranging partitions, and backing up the > partition table more difficult. I don't agree here. You just follow the linked list and make the backup, which is one more reason for having the save/restore mechanism in the per partition table code, which knows how to read/write the partition table anyway. Also, mostly the linked list is found in a chunk of the disk which you can easily backup with dd. The amiga scheme has both information about the number of sectors which can be used in the linked list, as well as the last used sector. Also, with a linked list, you can maintain two or more partition tables on disk, thus making an on-disk backup easy. When you write a new partition table, you write it on other sectors than the first one, and then update the root pointer. You can then later go back to the old partition table by just restoring the root pointer or something such. Also, it allow you flexibility with the amount of partitions you can use, as you could have potentially have any number of partitions you like (upto 2^30 or such). Friendly, Sven Luther - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/