From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 4 15:54:26 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CA20C106564A for ; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:54:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (gizmo.acns.msu.edu [35.8.1.43]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 899888FC1B for ; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:54:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id mB4FnN5g001426; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:49:23 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id mB4FnNjJ001425; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:49:23 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jerrymc) Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:49:23 -0500 From: Jerry McAllister To: Da Rock Message-ID: <20081204154923.GB1366@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <20081202111740.96805018.freebsd@edvax.de> <20081202163920.GE90039@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> <1228355243.23645.10.camel@laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au> <18743.14461.951431.581673@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <1228359465.23645.27.camel@laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1228359465.23645.27.camel@laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: UFS partitioning X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:54:26 -0000 On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 12:57:45PM +1000, Da Rock wrote: > > On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 20:55 -0500, Robert Huff wrote: > > Da Rock writes: > > > > > Excuse my nose in here- I just have a couple of questions. > > > > > > 1) It IS possible to boot from a dedicated disk? > > > > Yes. Can't remember the last time I used anything else. > > So you've never booted from a disk that has been partitioned as a file > system? You are getting your terms scrambled here. Partitioning has nothing directly to do with creating a file system. You can build a filesystem (with newfs) on just about any piece of disk whether it is the whole disk, a slice of the disk or a partition of a slice. Making one of those divisions bootable is also pretty much an independant operation too, though as far as I know, only whole disks and slices can be made bootable but not partitions - the fact that the partition contains the system files is not what makes it bootable. Being bootable is dependant on the boot sector which gets the control from either the BIOS or an MBR and then finds the system partition (/), mounts it (Read Only) and finds system files and starts those things running. ////jerry > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"