🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <CKGD6n.70@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu> m2@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu (Mason marc allen (301)688-5344) writes:
>I have a PC with a 230 MB hard drive.  It is partitioned in about half for
>MS-Windows and SCO Unix.  I'm running out of room in my DOS partition and
>would like to re-partition the disk to give more to DOS since I rarely use
>SCO.  I'd still like to keep my SCO partition because I do use it
>occasionally.  The DOS partition is the first.  The system boots to SCO
>unless I type dos at the : prompt.
>
>Is there a way to re-partition a disk without having to re-load all the
>software?  Assuming I have enough free space on the SCO partition, I would
>think you could do this.
...

There is no practical way to expand your existing DOS file system
significantly, even if there were free space immediately following it on
ths disk (which is very unlikely anyway).  The File Allocation Table in
the file system was allocated just enough disk space to handle the the
amount of data space you have now.  (There might be room for a few more
clusters in the final sector of the FAT.)

If you don't want to back up and restore your current DOS partition, your
only choice is to allocate a smaller SCO partition and use the resulting
free space for a DOS extended partition.  I don't know whether SCO
provides any way to shrink an existing partition, but you indicated that
reinstalling SCO would not be too painful.

I have no idea what the effect would be on your Windows permanent swap
file (as you asked in your followup article).  I've never seen that
particular complaint from Windows, regardless of what oddball
partitioning scheme I was using.  (I currently have a primary DOS
partition, a primary Linux partition, and an extended DOS partition.  My
permanent swap file is on the extended DOS partition.)

--
Bob Nichols
AT&T Bell Laboratories
rnichols@ihlpm.ih.att.com