Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 19:37:31 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug White <dwhite@riley-net170-164.uoregon.edu> To: "gary.corcoran" <gtc@aloft.att.com> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Disk questions Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960411193400.11014A-100000@riley-net170-164.uoregon.edu> In-Reply-To: <9604102316.AA14420@stargazer>
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On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, gary.corcoran wrote:
> I just added a second SCSI disk to my new FreeBSD setup to get some room to
> grow beyond the basics. As I'm still a new user of FreeBSD, I have some
> questions...
>
> 1. Is there any difference between what MS-DOS calls a 'partition'
> and what FreeBSD calls a 'slice' ?
They are one in the same (to keep from confusing with a BSD "partition",
which is a, c, etc...)
> 2. The man page isn't clear on this: are the 'offsets' in the disktab
> describing the partitions relative to the _slice_ and NOT the start of the
> entire disk?
I _REALLY_ wish someone would write docs on how to add disks. It's
stupid that there isn't any. PERFECT handbook item. ** HINT HINT HINT
to you handbook writers **
To answer the question: I don't know.
> 3. Does FreeBSD automagically find the FreeBSD partition (i.e. slice) based
> on the entries in the MS-DOS partition table, thus enabling the FreeBSD
> partitions to be described and accessed with only sizes and offsets relative
> to the slice? For example, even though I have my FreeBSD partition/slice
> as number 4, is it correct to simply access the FreeBSD filesystem on my
> second disk as /dev/sd1a ?
Yes. "Slice notation" as I call it is for clarity, and in some cases is
required; otherwise it's a synonym and shouldn't make a difference, AFAIK.
> 4. Under /dev, I noticed entries of the form sd?s[1-4]. Do these refer
> to the various slices of sd0 and sd1 ?
Yes.
> 5. My primary swap is referenced as sd0s1b. How do I reference my swap
> ('b' partition) on my second disk? I would guess that it might be
> referenced as sd1s4b - but there is no such device in /dev. Can MAKEDEV
> make this? If so, what option(s) should I give to MAKEDEV?
./MAKEDEV sd1 would be my guess.
Again, either/or should work. Note that it may not necessarily be slice
4 on your second disk -- you would be better just calling it sd1b.
> 6. Is sd1s4b the "proper" way to refer to my secondary swap partition, or
> is sd1b okay/sufficient/the same ? I haven't tried to enable my secondary
> swap yet - I don't want to accidently scribble on a wrong portion of my
> disk! At least not until I learn how to make FreeBSD backups using my
> new SCSI DAT drive which I also just installed... ;-}
I would think sd1b would be more accurate. You don't know what slice
FreeBSD is on the second disk -- it may be 1, 2, 3, or 4. You'd have to
look with FDISK.
Hope this helps.
Doug White | University of Oregon
Internet: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu | Residence Networking Assistant
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | Computer Science Major
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