Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 16:41:47 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: "Thomas Mueller" <mueller6724@bellsouth.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: define more partitions in freebsd Message-ID: <20130601164147.98270430.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <164411.98747.bm@smtp105.sbc.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> References: <20130601092111.8c1ad1c0.freebsd@edvax.de> <CAA_1SgHpcfWmS-CgE1WfQj4GLop9Wgeg__v2tzVbCj8pyt=qiA@mail.gmail.com> <164411.98747.bm@smtp105.sbc.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
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On Sat, 1 Jun 2013 05:36:13 -0700 (PDT), Thomas Mueller wrote: > > On Sat, 1 Jun 2013 11:10:32 +0430, s m wrote: > > hello all > > > > > i want to install freebsd8.2 on my system. for some reasons, i need > > > partitions more than 6. my freebsd just allow me to define partitions > > > from a to h, not any more. > > > That's correct and expected for the MBR partitioning approach > > (which is considered "mostly outdated" today). > > > > > > i checked FreeBSD handbook, but it doesn't say anything about defining > > > more partitions. > > > Because you _cannot_ define more partitions than up to 'h'. > > This is a hard-defined limit of MBR-style partitions (as > > they are initialized with bsdlabel). > > > > > > my question is: how can i define more partitions on my freebsd? (for > > > example, ad3s1a, ..., ad3s1h, ad3s1i, ad3s1j, ...). > > > You cannot. You need to use the GPT partitioning approach > > and repartition your disk. With gpart, you can create more > > than 'h' partitions, but the partitions will have different > > names, such as ad3s1p1, ad3s1p2, ..., ad3s1p10, ad3s1p11, ... > > and so on. > > > > Polytropon > > Magdeburg, Germany > > Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 > > Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... > > > Are you sure of this? Can you GPT-partition an MBR slice as > opposed to the whole disk? Probably not. GPT "obsoletes" both slices and partitions. > You should get ad3p1, ad3p2, ...,ad3p10, ad3p11, ... That is what I should have written. :-) > Then you would have to migrate an MBR partition table to GPT, > if you have non-FreeBSD slices. I don't know if gpart can do > that, but Rod Smith's gdisk (included in FreeBSD ports) or > gpt (still used in NetBSD but not FreeBSD) can. The "simplest" approach would probably be to backup the data from the existing partitions, re-inialize the whole disk with a GPT scheme, format the (GPT) partitions and then restore the dump previously taken. I'm not sure if such kind of "harsh re-partitioning" can be done _safely_ on the fly... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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