no inactive partition after restore image, can we recreate one?

[Megabyte]

I was thinking if it was possible to create the /dev/hdax that would be your inactive partition if you didnt re-image and copy your active partition to it. I have a series 1 tivo with ver 3.0. Do you think there will be another software update for these units. If so what impact would it have on that parition if you created it. I seems like a good idea because you can make a back of your active partition on it and restore it if your rc.sysinit wipes things out.

[captain_video]

There's always a chance that another software update will be coming later on. I can't remember if anything gets copied to the inactive partitions or not when you restore an image to your drive but I do believe the partitions are created regardless. It would be a simple matter of doing a DD to copy the active partitions to your hard drive and then back to the inactive partitions so you'd have a backup copy of all of your files on the Tivo. The bootpage command determines which partitions are the active ones so it shouldn't mess anything up by doing this AFAIK. I'm no Linux expert so you should probably get this confirmed by someone that has a better working knowledge of Linux than I do.

[Megabyte]

I heard from numerious places that after a image restore you will not have an inactive partition to mount to. So how is one created? Currently my active partition is /dev/hda7, I cannot even mount to /dev/hda4, theres nothing to mount to.

[alldeadhomiez]

I heard from numerious places that after a image restore you will not have an inactive partition to mount to. So how is one created? Currently my active partition is /dev/hda7, I cannot even mount to /dev/hda4, theres nothing to mount to.

mke2fs /dev/hdaX

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING ahead of time. This utility has no "undo" button and makes it very easy to lose data.

[Megabyte]

So, knowing for sure that I have no /dev/hda4 should be a safe assumption that if I create a partition on /dev/hda4 I wont hurt anything right??

Lets say I left it alone and tivo sends me a software update in the future, will my system barf if the inactive partition is not there?

[Sleeper]

So, knowing for sure that I have no /dev/hda4 should be a safe assumption that if I create a partition on /dev/hda4 I wont hurt anything right??

Lets say I left it alone and tivo sends me a software update in the future, will my system barf if the inactive partition is not there?

I would leave partitions 4 & 7 alone. You are better off using partitions 2 or 5 or creating you own, that way they remain persistent during an upgrade. Take a look at ADH's repartition tool.