From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 5 04:34:25 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 5AB3A106568C for ; Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:34:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rock_on_the_web@comcen.com.au) Received: from mail.unitedinsong.com.au (202-172-126-254.cpe.qld-1.comcen.com.au [202.172.126.254]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06EE18FC1D for ; Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:34:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rock_on_the_web@comcen.com.au) Received: from [192.168.0.172] (unknown [192.168.0.172]) by mail.unitedinsong.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 797DD40A0 for ; Fri, 5 Dec 2008 13:59:05 +1000 (EST) From: Da Rock To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <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> <20081204154923.GB1366@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:58:23 +1000 Message-Id: <1228413503.79750.8.camel@laptop2.herveybayaustralia.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.22.3.1 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 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: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:34:25 -0000 On Thu, 2008-12-04 at 10:49 -0500, Jerry McAllister wrote: > 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. Yes, I would say I'm getting my terms mixed up- fortunately the actual reality is clear in my head (hard as that is to believe..). I have only one more question then: Why would you use "dangerously dedicated mode" at all? I can only see where it might be useful for files, no advantage to being a boot sector. It was some time ago that I read up on all this, but what I remembered was that BSD could use a dedicated disk- but only BSD could read and write from it and this is dangerous. Maybe what I was reading was regarding bootable and that was considered dangerous... At any rate I'm very clear now. Thanks for all the information guys- cheers