Patent ID: 7117304

Claim:
A method for determining a file system layout for installation of a file system on a disk comprising: a) providing a default file system layout comprising a root partition, a swap partition and a plurality of unassigned partitions; b) assigning a size for each of said partitions; c) sorting said partitions by said size assigned in said b) from largest to smallest; d) identifying available free spaces on said disk for said unassigned partitions; e) assigning locations on said disk for said partitions from said largest to said smallest wherein said partitions are filled in said available free spaces identified in said d) from end to beginning of said available free spaces; and f) identifying a preserved partition, wherein said preserved partition retains a location and a size, and wherein the assigned size for each of said partitions is capable of being modified in either one of byte size or cylinder size, and enabling converting between byte size and cylinder size by implementing appropriate rounding adjustments before proceeding to the installation of the file system on the disk.