[TriLUG] creating ext3 partitions on the command line

[Paul D. Boyle]

The Alchemist wrote:
> On Thu, 2002-02-21 at 16:31, sgblanch wrote:
> > I am trying to create some ext3 partitions by hand on a redhat 7.2 box,=20
> > but can not find the command to format the partitions. parted complains=20
> > that it does not have an implementation for ext3, and there is no=20
> > mkfs.ext3, or mke3fs. I am somewhat befuddled at this...
> 
> Actually, etx3 is really ext2 with journaling enabled, so you use mke2fs
> like so :
> 
> mke2fs -j /dev/[partition]
>        ^^
> 
> The -j tells mke2fs to make a journaled file system. if you mount it as
> ext2, you don't get the journal, but if you mount it as ext3, you do.
> 
> ext3 is, in that way, backwards compatible. Nifty, eh?

So, what happens if you have an existing (legacy) ext2 file system
and you want to move the disk to a box which has a more current Linux
distribution supporting ext3?  Can one turn that legacy partition into
an ext3 partition without wiping it and reformatting and restoring
from back-up?  If so, how do you do that?

Paul

-- 
Paul D. Boyle			    |	boyle at laue.chem.ncsu.edu
Director, X-ray Structural Facility |	phone: (919) 515-7362
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North Carolina State University     | 
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