From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 14 21:34:52 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 01DF6106566C for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:34:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from derek@computinginnovations.com) Received: from betty.computinginnovations.com (mail.computinginnovations.com [64.81.227.250]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 973E98FC18 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:34:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from derek@computinginnovations.com) Received: from p28.computinginnovations.com (dhcp-10-20-30-100.computinginnovations.com [10.20.30.100]) (authenticated bits=0) by betty.computinginnovations.com (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id m3ELYgZA079314; Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:34:44 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from derek@computinginnovations.com) Message-Id: <6.0.0.22.2.20080414163403.02478050@mail.computinginnovations.com> X-Sender: derek@mail.computinginnovations.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.0.0.22 Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:36:30 -0500 To: "Dharma Wolford" , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Derek Ragona In-Reply-To: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 080414-1, 04/14/2008), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.92.1/6771/Mon Apr 14 15:20:02 2008 on betty.computinginnovations.com X-Virus-Status: Clean X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-MailScanner-ID: m3ELYgZA079314 X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner-From: derek@computinginnovations.com X-Spam-Status: No Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Subject: Re: HDD partitioning question... 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: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:34:52 -0000 At 03:27 PM 4/14/2008, Dharma Wolford wrote: >Hi folks, > >(I'm a relative newcomer to all this... thanks for your patience & help.) > >I've installed FreeBSD 6.2 on a system that will be primarily used as an FTP >server. It has 2 drives - one for the OS and the other for the FTP >storage. My question is about the storage drive in this case. > >You can see how I have things partitioned right now: >################################# >[root@mybox /var/log]# mount >/dev/da0s1a on / (ufs, local) >devfs on /dev (devfs, local) >/dev/da0s1d on /tmp (ufs, local, soft-updates) >/dev/da0s1f on /usr (ufs, local, soft-updates) >/dev/da0s1e on /var (ufs, local, soft-updates) >/dev/da1 on /usr/home (ufs, local, soft-updates) >[root@mybox /var/log]# >################################# > >I started by trying to use fdisk to partition the storage drive (/dev/da1) >but was getting errors which I don't exactly recall - something about a >problem with the 'block device'. >Anyway, then I wound up using the command "newfs -O 2 /dev/da1" which >seemed to work and I was then able to mount and use the drive. > >My question is: is there anything wrong with having "/dev/da1" mounted an >in-use? Should I have created a partition like "/dev/da1s1a" or something? >I seem to remember somebody once chiding me for having formatted or mounted >the 'block device' itself instead of a partition... is this making any sense >to anyone? Clearly I need to know more about *NIX file systems (slices, >partitions, block devices) and best practices or some such - I am working on >it but obviously have a ways to go! > >Thanks very much! > >dharma Sounds like the drive geometry was off or you may have a drive with issues. You should have been able to create a partition with a single slice on it. I would check the drive with diagnostics from the manufacturer. Those utilities will also allow you to know the correct geometry. -Derek -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.