Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 17:01:40 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: Daniel Underwood <djuatdelta@gmail.com> Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Reformatting external harddrive Message-ID: <4A099D64.9050709@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <b6c05a470905111818ja0ddd76yd5742e4fbfa54bf2@mail.gmail.com> References: <b6c05a470905111818ja0ddd76yd5742e4fbfa54bf2@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156)
--------------enig5A3D8B3BB51123E2D769C81D
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Daniel Underwood wrote:
> After unsuccessfully trying to reformat my external harddrive on my
> linux machine, I'm trying to reformat the disk in FreeBSD. Frankly, I
> just don't know how to do that. Please help me get the disk back to
> working order; I don't need to keep any data that is currently on the
> disk.
>=20
> The command
>=20
> $ /dev/da0
ITYM: fdisk /dev/da0
> gives the following output:
>=20
> ******* Working on device /dev/da0 *******
> parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
> cylinders=3D38913 heads=3D255 sectors/track=3D63 (16065 blks/cyl)
>=20
> Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
> parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
> cylinders=3D38913 heads=3D255 sectors/track=3D63 (16065 blks/cyl)
>=20
> Media sector size is 512
> Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
> Information from DOS bootblock is:
> The data for partition 1 is:
> sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
> start 63, size 625137282 (305242 Meg), flag 80 (active)
> beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
> end: cyl 0/ head 254/ sector 63
> The data for partition 2 is:
> <UNUSED>
> The data for partition 3 is:
> <UNUSED>
> The data for partition 4 is:
> <UNUSED>
This says that you have written a partition table onto the drive that
indicates the whole disk is being used for FreeBSD. That's a good
start if your intention is to use the disk dedicated for FreeBSD.
The way the partition naming scheme works you should now have a /dev/da0s=
1
device file (indicating 'slice 1' or disk 'da0')
In order to make the disk usable with FreeBSD, you need to follow somethi=
ng
like these steps:
* Use bsdlabel(8) to create BSD partitions on slice1. To write a=20
default label:
# bsdlabel -w /dev/da0s1
Then to edit the default label and define the partitions you want,
# bsdlabel -e da0s1
Edit mode will pop up an editor with the existing BSD partition
table -- that's vi(1) by default but you can override it by setting =
the
EDITOR environment variable.
If your aim is to use this disk as one big filesystem for storing da=
ta
then creating a 'd' partition covering all the available space would=
be
appropriate. After saving the edited partition table you should now=
have
a device file:
/dev/da0s1d
* Use newfs(8) to create a filesystem on the drive. I'd just leave it=
with
the default settings unless you know you're going to be using the di=
sk=20
for unusually large files or unusually many very small files.
newfs /dev/da0s1d
* Mount the new filesystem to make it available to FreeBSD. Add a lin=
e like
the following to /etc/fstab:
/dev/da0s1d /data ufs rw 2 2
Then create the mount point:
# mkdir -p /data
and mount the drive:
# mount /data
The drive will be remounted automatically on system reboots and is =
expected
to be permanently present. If you want to have the disk be removab=
le, then
read all about amd(8) and feel free to ask again here.
Cheers,
Matthew
--=20
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard
Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate
Kent, CT11 9PW
--------------enig5A3D8B3BB51123E2D769C81D
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"
Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc"
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.11 (FreeBSD)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iEYEAREIAAYFAkoJnW0ACgkQ8Mjk52CukIwEAgCgi7M2A4CYkwLQKRekiB8QAt6S
OgwAn2wpnd6ZZzJVWlaSl64pwBUHjsop
=Onkf
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--------------enig5A3D8B3BB51123E2D769C81D--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?4A099D64.9050709>