From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 10 23:34:33 2009 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 B97B2106566C for ; Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:34:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 79ED28FC0A for ; Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:34:33 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-97-236.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.97.236]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9CD4A1E435; Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:34:31 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id nAANYUBv003567; Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:34:30 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:34:30 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Peter Steele Message-Id: <20091111003430.a95d79c8.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3394F75F@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> References: <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3394F75F@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: Renaming USB device X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:34:33 -0000 On Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:19:39 -0600, Peter Steele wrote: > When a system has a USB drive present, the system typically > names it /dev/da0. However, if the system has SATA drives > hooked to an LSI controller, or if the system has SCSI drives, > the same drive prefix is used as is for the USB drive. All direct-access media (DASD) is represented as a da device, even digital cameras may be. > For our purposes, we'd like to separate the USB drive from > the main hard drives as far as the drive prefix is concerned, > for example something like /dev/usb0 would be ideal. This prefix is already in use, see "man 4 usb". > I realize this is something that likely has to be done in the > form of a kernel patch, but the question is can it be easily > done? A kernel patch isn't needed and would surely break many working subsystems. An option is to use aliases through the means of /etc/devfs.conf, e. g. link da3 usbdisk0 or, if you want to enter the field of partition names in /etc/fstab, refer to the disks by their labels, so you don't need to know which da device a certain disk or USB stick actually is - it gives you independance from the order of detection by the system (first detected, first device name). If you could elaborate more on the goal you are seeking, other useful information could come from this list. At the moment, it's just my wild guessing. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...