Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 22:08:01 -0700 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: robert@chalmers.com.au Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Robert Chalmers <robert@nanguo.chalmers.com.au>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Is using fdisk a must? Message-ID: <199806220508.WAA03768@antipodes.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 22 Jun 1998 15:48:47 %2B1000." <358DF03F.BFA47ED9@chalmers.com.au>
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> Mike Smith wrote: > > b) proceed as follows, for the disk 'foo'. > > > > # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/foo count=16 > > # disklabel -rwB foo auto > > # disklabel -e foo > > [set the disk type to SCSI or ESDI (for IDE disks), > > add partitions to suit] > > This of course builds a _bootable_ disk, right? The -B loads a boot image. -B puts the bootblocks on the disk, yes. > Least wise it did on mine, and I had the devil of a job disabling it, and > rebooting off the correct, primary, drive. If the disk is first in the boot sequence, then not putting bootblocks on it will just make more of a mess. You should not be adding a disk earlier in the sequence unless you intend to boot from it. > I have the drive up and running, it just gives the 'no magic' warning at boot > time... as mentioned in the first post. > I can include the disktab/disklabel output if you like, but nowhere does > disklabel/disktab allow the input of 'magic numbers'. The magic numbers are generated automatically. > Which led to the question, is fdisk a must? I mean, sysinstall starts with > fdisk itself! You can operate in two basic modes; sliced and unsliced. If you start with fdisk, then you are slicing. If you start with a blank disk and go straight to disklabelling, then you're unsliced. > I am beginning to believe that FreeBSD simply has no facility for > building new drives from disktab entires entirely? Disktab entries are, as a general rule, redundant. Use 'auto' instead as I outlined above. (Yes, disktab entries work like they always have. But being forced to create a new entry for every new disk or slice is stupid. Don't use them.) -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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