Inconsistent FAT size

[Mike Ester]

I came across an unusual error message using parted, but I have a theory as to why it occurred. First, the information:

Parted Version: Boot Disk Version 2 (Based on BYLD and Red Hat 6.1)

 

Results of print command:

Disk Geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000 - 19073.486 megabytes

Minor    Start    End            Type        Filesystem    Flags

1           0.031  19069.343    Primary    FAT             boot, lba

 

When I attempt to resize the partition with the following command:

resize 1 .031 15000

 

I receive the following error message:

Error: the FATs aren't big enough to describe all clusters! Each FAT is 9530 sectors. There are 1219839 clusters, which would require each FAT to be 9531 sectors. This is REALLY weird. You might want to write us an email: address@hidden.

 

This is my theory as to why it occurred: This particular hard drive had been replaced long before I had started using parted. Since it was a warranty replacement, the OEM had provided a diskette with a hard drive utility that performs a "quick" partition/format via a menu. I used this diskette to prepare the drive.

 

A like system next to this one permitted the resize without any errors. I do know that I had previously wiped the partition structure and reinitialized it with Microsoft's FDISK on their Windows 98 startup disk.

 

Is it possible that the OEM's hard disk utility does some fancy chicanery, to perform its "quick formattin" magic, therefore accounting for the the inconsistent FAT size? I'm not looking for a resolution to this. I just wanted to pass this information along, in case others have run across this.

 

On a side note, many thanks to with gnu.org for providing valuable software for the masses. I've only been using parted for a short time and it has been very useful.

 

Mike Ester, A+
Computer Support Technician III
Austin Community College
1020 Grove Blvd.
Bldg. D, Room 5004
Austin, TX 78741
Voice: 512-223-6137
Fax: 512-223-6750
Pager: 512-896-6684
Email: address@hidden