Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 08:25:24 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> To: atar <atar.yosef@gmail.com> Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: dangerously dedicated physical disks. Message-ID: <alpine.BSF.2.00.1309220754410.27172@wonkity.com> In-Reply-To: <op.w3tl5faxe4gg2u@localhost> References: <op.w3tl5faxe4gg2u@localhost>
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On Sun, 22 Sep 2013, atar wrote:
> During the reading of the FreeBSD handbook, I've encountered at the term
> 'dangerously dedicated' regarding physical disks and the author of this
> chapter in the FreeBSD handbook didn't think this term need more clarity. so
> for newbies like me in the FreeBSD world I want to ask: what's the
> 'dangerously dedicated' term meaning by?
The term refers to a disk partitioned with only the BSD disklabel
partition table:
disk ada0
partition "a" (ada0a, /)
partition "b" (ada0b, swap)
partition "d" (ada0d, /var)
partition "e" (ada0e, /tmp)
partition "f" (ada0f, /usr)
It's "dangerous" because that partitioning format is rare outside of
BSD-based systems. Disk utilities may not recognize it, and could
damage it.
Most of the rest of the world used MBR partitioning, which allowed up to
four MBR partitions (called "slices" by FreeBSD) per disk.
Since four slices is not enough for the standard FreeBSD disk layout,
with /, swap, /var, /tmp, and /usr, the standard procedure is to use MBR
partitioning, with the MBR partitions ("slices") being sub-partitioned
by a BSD disklabel.
disk ada0
MBR slice 1 (ada0s1)
partition "a" (ada0s1a, /)
partition "b" (ada0s1b, swap)
partition "d" (ada0s1d, /var)
partition "e" (ada0s1e, /tmp)
partition "f" (ada0s1f, /usr)
MBR slice 2 (ada0s2)
...
Yes, one partition format inside another. It only seems complicated
because it is.
GPT is the new partitioning format, which makes things much simpler by
being capable of up to 128 partitions in the standard configuration.
With GPT, there is no reason to use BSD disklabels at all.
disk ada0
GPT partition 1 (ada0p1, bootcode)
GPT partition 2 (ada0p2, /)
GPT partition 3 (ada0p3, swap)
GPT partition 4 (ada0p4, /var)
GPT partition 5 (ada0p5, /tmp)
GPT partition 6 (ada0p6, /usr)
Summary: "Dangerously dedicated" partitioning has no unique advantages.
Use GPT when possible, use MBR/disklabel when necessary.
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