SOLVED - Re: Renumbering partitions on an external drive

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 10/02/2014 01:57 PM, bruce wrote:
> Hi Robert..
>
> So out of curiosity... what were the exact sequence of commands you used!

This is what worked:

fdisk /dev/sdb
x         <- this gets you into expert mode.
fi         <- this fixes the partition table, but only in memory, 
ignoring warnings
r          <- this returns to main menu
w        <- this writes the changed partition table and exits

'fir' MIGHT work on a single line command.  'xfi' does not, I did try that.

You can add a 'p' command after the 'fi' to see the changes before 
writing them out.


>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 1:51 PM, Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com> wrote:
>> After more research, I found I was using the wrong fdisk commands.
>>
>> x
>> fi
>> r
>> w
>>
>> does it.  'w' does not work in expert mode, nor does it give a warning if
>> you do 'fiw' so the changes never got written.  You need the 'r' to first
>> return to the main menu.  'm' for help really helped!
>>
>>
>> On 10/02/2014 01:46 PM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>>>
>>> On 10/02/2014 01:44 PM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>>>> I have been messing around with partitions on a drive and now physically
>>>> they are sdb2,sdb3,sdb1.  I want to get them in order. the fdisk xpert fiw
>>>> does NOT renumber them; it seems to be happy with things as they are.
>>>>
>>>> Is there anyway to fix this short of rebuilding the partition table,
>>>> carefully pointing each new entry to the right block? parted and gparted
>>>> don't have any help either.
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I know this is cosmetic, but hey, it SHOULD LOOK nice and neat...
>>>
>>> Oh here is what fdisk and parted report on the drive:
>>>
>>> # fdisk -l /dev/sdb
>>>
>>> Disk /dev/sdb: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 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
>>> Disklabel type: dos
>>> Disk identifier: 0x0009e2ad
>>>
>>> Device    Boot     Start       End    Blocks  Id System
>>> /dev/sdb1       92274688 625141759 266433536  83 Linux
>>> /dev/sdb2           2048   8388607   4193280  82 Linux swap / Solaris
>>> /dev/sdb3        8388608  92274687  41943040  83 Linux
>>>
>>> Partition table entries are not in disk order.
>>>
>>> # parted /dev/sdb print
>>> Model: Kingston SNA-DC/U (scsi)
>>> Disk /dev/sdb: 320GB
>>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
>>> Partition Table: msdos
>>> Disk Flags:
>>>
>>> Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
>>>   2      1049kB  4295MB  4294MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)
>>>   3      4295MB  47.2GB  42.9GB  primary  ext4
>>>   1      47.2GB  320GB   273GB   primary  ext4
>>>
>>>
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