HDD partitioning question...

[Mario Lobo]

On Monday 14 April 2008 18:36:30 Derek Ragona wrote:
> At 03:27 PM 4/14/2008, Dharma Wolford wrote:
> >Hi folks,
> >
> >(I'm a relative newcomer to all this... thanks for your patience & help.)
> >
> >I've installed FreeBSD 6.2 on a system that will be primarily used as an
> > FTP server.  It has 2 drives - one for the OS and the other for the FTP
> > storage.  My question is about the storage drive in this case.
> >
> >You can see how I have things partitioned right now:
> >#################################
> >[root at mybox /var/log]# mount
> >/dev/da0s1a on / (ufs, local)
> >devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
> >/dev/da0s1d on /tmp (ufs, local, soft-updates)
> >/dev/da0s1f on /usr (ufs, local, soft-updates)
> >/dev/da0s1e on /var (ufs, local, soft-updates)
> >/dev/da1 on /usr/home (ufs, local, soft-updates)
> >[root at mybox /var/log]#
> >#################################
> >
> >I started by trying to use fdisk to partition the storage drive (/dev/da1)
> >but was getting errors which I don't exactly recall - something about a
> >problem with the 'block device'.
> >Anyway, then I wound up using the command "newfs -O 2 /dev/da1"  which
> >seemed to work and I was then able to mount and use the drive.
> >
> >My question is:  is there anything wrong with having "/dev/da1"  mounted
> > an in-use?  Should I have created a partition like "/dev/da1s1a" or
> > something? I seem to remember somebody once chiding me for having
> > formatted or mounted the 'block device' itself instead of a partition...
> > is this making any sense to anyone?  Clearly I need to know more about
> > *NIX file systems (slices, partitions, block devices) and best practices
> > or some such - I am working on it but obviously have a ways to go!
> >
> >Thanks very much!
> >
> >dharma
>
> Sounds like the drive geometry was off or you may have a drive with
> issues.  You should have been able to create a partition with a single
> slice on it.  I would check the drive with diagnostics from the
> manufacturer.  Those utilities will also allow you to know the correct
> geometry.
>
>          -Derek

If you issue the command:

fdisk -I /dev/da1

     -I      Initialize sector 0 slice table for one FreeBSD slice covering
             the entire disk.

and then:  ls /dev/da1*

you'll get:

/dev/da1
/dev/da1s1

which I believe is what you want.

then you can:   newfs -O 2  (-U) /dev/da1s1

then you can:     mount /dev/da1s1  /whatever

-- 
Mario Lobo
http://www.mallavoodoo.com.br
FreeBSD since version 2.2.8 [not Pro-Audio.... YET!!] (99,7% winedows FREE)