Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2001 00:27:26 -0400 From: The Babbler <bts@babbleon.org> To: Rasputin <rara.rasputin@virgin.net> Cc: stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Disklabel 101? Message-ID: <3ACE972D.A13CF44C@babbleon.org> References: <20010405111707.A35325@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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Rasputin wrote: > > Is there a decent walkthrough anywhere on the Net for using > disklabel, fdisk , etc - along with an explanation of what a,c etc all > mean? > > man disklabel etc all assume you know what those letters mean. > I know c is the whole partition, but that's it. c = entire disk a = root b = swap d = ??? I don't know; it's never used e+ = other partitions. BTW, does anybody know *why* BSD uses such a bizarre scheme? > > I need to know because: > > <PHYSICAL><-----EXTENDED-----><------PHYSICAL------------> > > ad0s1 ad0s5 ad0s6 ad0s3 > <-winXX--><-msdos-><Slackware><-------BSD----------------> > | 2Gb | 1.5Gb | 2Gb | / | swap | /usr | /var | > ^ > | > I have an old Slackware partition > that has FUBARed itself so throuoghly that it can't even be mounted. This isn't really disklabel at all; it's the low-level format, which is why I can help. > > (Actually there were about 3 partitions in there, but they're lost now) > It's in the second logical partition in an extended DOS partition on > my second physical partition (dev/ad0s6 in FreeBSD) > There's a Gb of data in ad0s5 (which is fine). FreeBSD doesn't know from extended partitions from what I can see. Does your FreeBSD actually see od0s5/ad0s6? 'Cause mine never seemed to found; I used PartitionMagic to convert my DOS partition from logical to primary largely to deal with this. Was I missing a big clue? Try typing "fdisk /dev/ad0" to get an idea of how FreeBSD really sees your disk. Anyway, as far as *I* am aware what you've really got is: ad0s1 - first partition = winXx ad0s2 - second partiion = extended ad0s3 = third partition = BSD The disklabel program is concerned only with dividing up ad0s3. You can make a file system on ad0s2 and it certianly ought not overlap anything, but run "fdisk" to be sure things are really confused. If you can access ad0s5/ad0s6, please let me know. It would be news to me! (And what release are you running, BTW?) > BSD dumps ad0s6 altogether when it boots; and fdisk from a > boot CD says something along the lines of: > "Second slice extended past end of disk" or similar > (box is offline today, so I can't check right now) > This concerns me; if I try to fdisk/newfs ad0s2 (assuming I > could see it), I risk losing ad0s3, which is the only bit of the disk > I really want to keep. > > I assume/hope that if I blow away the extended partition > entirely, I can just recreate it. > But I don't really know what it's called? > Is it ad0s2? > And won't I need to let BSD know where / has moved to? > > What I'd really like is some advice from anyone who knows this stuff. > But I'm surprised the Handbook doesn't go into a lot of detail on this, > since dual-boot systems are fairly common amongst cheapskates like me. > > If I can free up that 2Gb, maybe I'll have space for the docproj port... :) > -- > Rasputin > Jack of All Trades :: Master of Nuns > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message -- "Brian, the man from babble-on" bts@babbleon.org Brian T. Schellenberger http://www.babbleon.org Support http://www.eff.org. Support decss defendents. Support http://www.programming-freedom.org. Boycott amazon.com. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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