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Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 11:43:47 +1100
From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
Message-Id: <199702110043.LAA26838@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
To: cvs-all@freefall.freebsd.org, CVS-committers@freefall.freebsd.org,
        cvs-etc@freefall.freebsd.org, julian@freefall.freebsd.org
Subject: Re: cvs commit:  src/etc/etc.i386 disktab
Sender: owner-cvs-etc@FreeBSD.ORG
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Precedence: bulk

>  Modified:    etc/etc.i386  disktab
>  Log:
>  add a disktab entry for those people who need abit of help
>  with ZIP drives..
>  
>  use with:
>  disklabel -r -w -B sdx zip100

disktab shouldn't be used for anything except floppies and certain
other drives that don't report their size.  For dedicated zip disks,
use:

   disklabel -r -w -B sdx auto

or

   disklabel /dev/rsdx >tempfile
   disklabel -r -R -B sdx tempfile

For the usual case of DOSpartitioned zip disks, the zip100 and auto
methods won't work (unless the disktab entry exactly matches the
partitioning).  Use:

   disklabel /dev/rsdx >tempfile
   $EDITOR tempfile
   disklabel -r -R -B sdx tempfile

The zip100 and auto methods give labels with the following differences:

(1) The `disk' field is filled in as "zip100" only for the zip100 method.
    This is a deficiency in the driver.  It should fill in the field
    with something like the manufacturers id <IOMEGA ZIP 100 C.18>.  The
    field is usually too short for the full id.
(2) The `flags' field is filled in as "removeable only for the zip100
    method.  This is another deficiency in the driver.
(3) The `partitions' field is initialized to 3 by the zip100 method and
    as 8 by the auto method (at least with my version of subr_diskslice.c).
    This is a deficiency in the zip100 disktab entry.  We decided to
    default to 8 because this doesn't cost anything and people often
    forget to increase it when required.
(4) The zip100 method give an `a' partition covering the whole disk.  The
    auto method doesn't do this because you usually want it to be smaller
    for large disks.
(5) The zip100 method gives a `b' partition covering the whole disk.  This
    is a bug in the zip100 disktab entry.

Bother methods neglect to initialize the `type' field.  The type field
is actually used by the bootstrap to decide if the boot disk is SCSI.
Non-SCSI disks are assumed to be ESDI/IDE.

Bruce