Partitioning Tools

This is not an expose of all tools available but quick recipe for the newbies.

I have been using partition tools from the time of Windows 95.

I accidentally found a tool called Partition Magic which I had to install on Win-98 and resize FAT partition and install Redhat 8 dual booting with Windows.

I could never lay my hands on Redhat 7 series but managed to find 6, or 7 CDs of Debian 6.

There was no return to Windows and I was an avid advocate of Linux full-time.

Partition Magic was bought by an agency and it has changed it's name to Qparted and I never used it again or bought a paid copy.

I was hooked to Gparted and suffice to say, I did not find any problem with it, in 32 bit days.

It has a PAE and a 64 bit version of which I have multiple copies mounted on USBs, using MultiSystem CD.

Lately I have been using Disk utility of Debian which is very handy to mount 32 bit USBs and format them to FAT and reuse them as bootable Linux such as Ubuntu.

Then there is FDISK utility on command line which I used sparingly on early Caldera Linux book days, that came with 3 CDs.

There are no books on Linux nowadays but thanks to those pioneers who wrote books, if not for them, I would have never entered the Linux World.

It ended up, me writing few books on Linux as a precursor for the LINUX Freedom in a Capitalistic World.

I have Linux Bible and UNIX, the master book of Linux commands.

I have never used LateX but have a copy of it in one of my Linux versions.
It is the best Word Processor and can be used in command form.

Linux World is a never ending Stream.

There is also GNU partition tool.

So do not try to be a pundit in YouTube boasting about 10 Linux commands but try to learn Python 3.

You never finish Python in your entire life.

It is 70 years old and still ruling the Linux World.

But my favorite is ViM.

Ubuntu is the King of ESP Protocol

Let me be forthright.
Coronavirus has affected all the Linux Developers, including Debian Base.

Only Ubuntu 2110, has been able to keep it's head above water.

It has pruned its application base, but has enough applications left for the workspace.

It looks like Ubuntu has gone commercial and paucity of applications on base install is the end result.
Downloading additional applications is a pain.
In that sense I prefer Endless OS which has an endless source of applications.
I was never an Ubuntu fan and no hard feelings.
It's GRIP with ESP partition is commendable.

It's new Desktop does not have a Debian name and an equivalent desktop to compare with but has kept its uniqueness, quite evident.

I love it's hippos face-lift.

For Debian has kept all its desktops afloat with 2700 applications to boast about but it takes at least two hours to install.

The problem is installation, I will come to that in a moment.

If you need a fully functional OP, go for Emmabantus but it also fails to have a ESP partition at the end of installation.

Remember I DO NOT give any room for a Microsoft partition to lay resident in my PC with all it's assortment of Viruses.

Only boot partition is 528 ESP and that's it.

The crunch point is NO more boot partition of the old.
One has to master the ESP boot partition which is the replacement for Windows UEFI.

My old computer PC which is 64 bits has NO UEFI front but only the Legacy BIOS to boot on.

After installing the base Debian and Emmabantus struggle to write the Grub boot loader.

My PC's main boot partition of 120 SSD has no ESP or Master Boot Record.
It has been upgraded to Debian 11 but boots by default to its Debian fully fledged desktops.

I cannot boot an operating system installed on the IDE disk.

I do not have lot of Data and Films to be saved in my PC's Free Space.

Each OP takes about 100GB and if I have three OPs installed I have 700GB or more FREE Space in a one terabyte internal or external Hard Disks left idling.

Solved it by removing the one terabyte SATA disk from my laptop and installed Endless OS on a 120 SATA disk.

Endless.OS takes only 4GB.

Formated it for future use.

Then I found another one terabyte Seagate hard disk.

Both are in Original Sealed casing and cannot be removed.

Then I removed two other ancient SATA disks  that I paid a handsome amount of money in 1980s when tiny (IDE hard disks are heavy and I wanted portable disks for music and film files which included GOD Father) disks were coming to the market by air travel agents or the correct name the smugglers of banned electronic items of Ceylon.

I was stupid to buy three external cases for, one new SATA hard disk and two ancient (30 years old) hard disks (of no use at all).

The last two could not be formatted for current use and the other had working Endless OS mounted on an external case.

I have two spare external cases but no spare hard disks.

All of them in proper use.

My AXIOM of more than 10 years Old and they are electronic junk of no use anyone.

Do not give it to your old aunt Aubry.

Hard disk was a banned item then.

Me going to Singapore at a cost of less than Rs. 7,500/= and paying three times the air fare of Rs. 25,000/= to buy a hard disk was shamefully stupid.

The laptops were bulky and they had only Windows installed, which I HATED.

I was not stupid to buy a laptop when I had over 14 PCs in my home network all second hand IBM machines booting an assortment of Linux starting from PC Linux, Redhat,  Peppermint, Ubuntu and Suse Linux and many more which I forget the names.

I bought one laptop for Rs. 35,000/= and it worked for a decade and suddenly went dysfunctional.

Now I know Windows guys write a secret code so that it won't boot at all, so that the next generation of OEMs with jacked up price are available on the market to fool the innocent young guys.

It is Branded  Money Swindling by Microsoft and Apple Guys.

Finally I bought a Windows laptop in 2009 and after three years of use erased Windows using TrueOS and installed Debian 9 or 10.

All these preamble is not to bore you but even with that background, I found it difficult to figure out how ESP works.

The bottom line is old hardware one has to discard including SATA.

How I figured it?

Only Ubuntu at partition time could use ESP.
Debian and Emmabantus Debian based could not.

The ploy is simple.

1. I install first  Ubuntu on the external SATA.

2. Then use Gparted to delete all the Ubuntu partitions except ESP.

3. Install Debian and Emmabantus.

4. Do not touch ESP.

5. Install Ubuntu last of all.

6. Presto Ubuntu figures out what is best  for you and install the GRUB bootloader on the ESP partition of any internal or external drive.

7. Press F2 or Del and chose which partition to boot.

Thank you Ubuntu and it took 10 days of my time  of trial and error to figure it out.

I scheme out my options and partition the hard disk according to my need and that was what I was doing for over 30 years.

It is second nature for me to understand my mistakes and I read  all the Warnings on display and follow the instructions to the last letter.

NO shortcuts.

Books on Linux are not on the market and I do not intend to write one for a foreseeable time.

Enjoy Linux!