Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 15:18:30 -0600 From: Duke Normandin <01031149@3web.net> To: Freebsd Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Slice/Partition thread -- follow-up Message-ID: <20010916151830.A132273@mandy.rockingd.calgary.ab.ca>
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I've read and re-read the recent thread concerning fdisk/disklabel --
slices/partitions. Life and Unix are not always straight forward ;) I've
attempted to recap and summarise the meat of the said thread as follows.
Would you guys please review it, amending where necessary.
##################################################################
BSD views a HDD as a combination of "slices" and "partittions".
BSD is able to carve up a HDD into a maximum of 4 slices using the BSD
version of 'fdisk'.
BSD carves up slices into a maximum of 8 sub-divisions called
"partitions" (a to h) using 'disklabel'.
BSD will recognize an existing DOS primary partition, and use it as one
of its slices.
A BSD slice is roughly equivalent to a DOS primary partition , as well as
a DOS extended partition.
The BSD slice/partition system of organizing a HDD, can be looked at as
being similar to a directory/sub-directory tree. As such, the BSD
terminology 'ad0s1a', can be "inflated" and "decoded" as follows:
a (or s) d0 s1 a-h
a=ATA HDD HDD #1 slice #1
s=SCSI HDD |__________ partition a
|__________ partition b
| .
| .
|__________ partition h
The remaining 3 allowed HDD slices would be called:
a (or s) d0 s2 a-h
a (or s) d0 s3 a-h
a (or s) d0 s4 a-h
The first slice of HDD #2 would be called:
ad1s1a
BSD has predetermined the usage of some of its partitions as follows:
Partition Usage
--------- -----
a boot
b swap
c entire disk
d-h user defined
####################################################################
Well that's it! What have I screwed up? Can it be better said? After your
reviews and amendments, I'm going to print out the resultant FAQ and take
it to out local High School and *see* if the FAQ flies. ;) TIA....
--
-duke
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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