loss of harddrive space using linux

[Computer Hobbyist]

Hi everybody

I have a question. I have installed RedHat on a WD13 gig hard drive. The drive, I originally partitioned using the WD utility (Ezdrive or something like that) is working perfectly. My current system is an old Pentium 90 (to be replaced in the next week with an 800 Duron system–I quickly realized that while linux runs happily on 24 meg of ram, x-windows does not, and was able to persuade my wife to part with a few hundred dollars for a new experimental system). When I originally installed linux, I ran the DOS version of fdisk to create a couple of 2 gigabit partitions for Windows 95 and used the linux install utility to create a few partitions for linux totaling about 4.2 gigabits. I ran cfdisk last evening and was surprised to discover that my third linux partition had not been created and that cfdisk says that 6 gigabits of my drive are unusable. (Effectively telling me that I only have a 7 gig drive.) I remember something from long, long ago to the effect that manufacturer’s utilities are generally preferred over fdisk because the utilities are able to take full advantage of the drive’s space. Is that true, or do I need to look at something else?