updated

LDP/howto/docbook/Partition.sgml

@@ -370,8 +370,8 @@ $ ls -l /dev/hda
            <entry></entry>
            <entry>owner</entry>
            <entry>group</entry>
-           <entry>minor device number</entry>
            <entry>major device number</entry>
+           <entry>minor device number</entry>
            <entry>date</entry>
            <entry>device name</entry>
     </row>
@@ -1259,15 +1259,8 @@ Another sample partition table listing:
 <sect1 id="recovering">
 <title>Recovering a Deleted Partition Table</title>
 <!--Tony, 1 Sept 00--> 
+
 <para>
-Take a deep breath and relax. This is not bad luck. This is God's
-retribution for your failure to back up your data. You are a bad
-person and you deserve this.
-</para>
-<para>
-Fortunately, there is a way for you to spite the will of God and
-recover your data anyway, but it will require nerves of steel. Here is
-what you do:
      
 <orderedlist>
 
@@ -1402,9 +1395,6 @@ Remount your partitions. Amazingly, all of your data will be there.
 <para>
 Credit goes to:
 <itemizedlist>
-  <listitem><para>Arena Inc for selling me a raid that spontaneously dropped its
-  partition table and for ignoring all my tech support calls.</para></listitem>
-
   <listitem><para>Mike Vevea, jedi sys admin and MGH's finest, for giving me these tips.</para></listitem>
 </itemizedlist>
 </para>
@@ -1424,9 +1414,9 @@ this is:
 </programlisting>
 
 I need to do this for each of my partitions, but not for /dev/sda4 (my
-extended partition). If I want non-ext2 partitions, this is the time
-to make that decision. The kinds of file systems your kernel supports
-is in <filename>/usr/src/linux/include/linux/fs.h</filename>
+extended partition). 
+
+Linux supports types of file systems other than ext2. You can find out what kinds your kernel supports by looking in:  <filename>/usr/src/linux/include/linux/fs.h</filename>
 </para>
 <para>
 The most common file systems can be made with programs in
@@ -1549,50 +1539,38 @@ though. That's why ext2 tries to preallocate space in units of
 released when the file is closed, so no space is wasted.
 </para>
 <para>
-Noncontiguous placement of blocks in a file is bad for
-performance, since files are often accessed in a sequential
-manner. It forces the operating system to split a disk access
-and the disk to move the head. This is called "external
-fragmentation" or simply "fragmentation" and is a common
-problem with DOS file systems. 
+Noncontiguous placement of blocks in a file is bad for performance,
+since files are often accessed in a sequential manner. It forces the
+operating system to split a disk access and the disk to move the
+head. This is called "external fragmentation" or simply
+"fragmentation" and is a common problem with MS-DOS file systems. In
+conjunction with the abysmal buffer cache used by MS-DOS, the effects
+of file fragmentation on performance are very noticeable. DOS users
+are accustomed to defragging their disks every few weeks and some have
+even developed some ritualistic beliefs regarding defragmentation.
 </para>
 <para>
-ext2 has several strategies to avoid external fragmentation.
-Normally fragmentation is not a large problem in ext2, not even
-on heavily used partitions such as a USENET news spool. While
-there is a tool for defragmentation of ext2 file systems, nobody
-ever uses it and it is not up to date with the current release
-of ext2. Use it, but do so on your own risk.
+None of these habits should be carried over to Linux and ext2. Linux
+native file systems do not need defragmentation under normal use and
+this includes any condition with at least 5% of free space on a
+disk. There is a defragmentation tool for ext2 called defrag, but
+users are cautioned against casual use. A power outage during such an
+operation can trash your file system. Since you need to back up your
+data anyway, simply writing back from your copy will do the job.
 </para>
 <para>
-The MS-DOS file system is well known for its pathological
-managment of disk space. In conjunction with the abysmal buffer
-cache used by MS-DOS the effects of file fragmentation on
-performance are very noticeable. DOS users are accustomed to
-defragging their disks every few weeks and some have even
-developed some ritualistic beliefs regarding defragmentation.
-None of these habits should be carried over to Linux and ext2.
-Linux native file systems do not need defragmentation under
-normal use and this includes any condition with at least 5% of
-free space on a disk.
-</para>
-<para>
-The MS-DOS file system is also known to lose large amounts of
-disk space due to internal fragmentation. For partitions larger
-than 256 MB, DOS block sizes grow so large that they are no
-longer useful (This has been corrected to some extent with
-FAT32).
-</para>
-<para>
-ext2 does not force you to choose large blocks for large file
-systems, except for very large file systems in the 0.5 TB range
-(that's terabytes with 1 TB equaling 1024 GB) and above, where 
-small block sizes become inefficient. So
-unlike DOS there is no need to split up large disks into
-multiple partitions to keep block size down. Use the 1 KB
-default block size if possible. You may want to experiment with
-a block size of 2 KB for some partitions, but expect to meet
-some seldom exercised bugs: Most people use the default.
+The MS-DOS file system is also known to lose large amounts of disk
+space due to internal fragmentation. For partitions larger than 256
+MB, DOS block sizes grow so large that they are no longer useful (This
+has been corrected to some extent with FAT32). Ext2 does not force you
+to choose large blocks for large file systems, except for very large
+file systems in the 0.5 TB range (that's terabytes with 1 TB equaling
+1024 GB) and above, where small block sizes become inefficient. So
+unlike DOS there is no need to split up large disks into multiple
+partitions to keep block size down. Use the 1 KB default block size if
+possible.  You may want to experiment with a block size of 2 KB for
+some partitions, but expect to meet some seldom exercised bugs: Most
+people use the default.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 </sect1>