117 lines
4.7 KiB
Groff
117 lines
4.7 KiB
Groff
.TH PART 8
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.SH NAME
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part \- partition table editor
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B part
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.RI [ device "] ..."
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.B Part
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is a screen oriented partition table editor.
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.PP
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While editing you will see six lines of numbers, the first line shows the
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device name and its geometry (number of cylinders, heads and sectors), the
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second shows the start and end of the drive or partition you are working on,
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the last four lines show the different partitions or subpartitions. All
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numbers except those on the second line can be edited. Question marks are
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showed instead of numbers if the partition table is not loaded yet. You
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have to select a device and type 'r'.
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.PP
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Editing is a simple matter of moving around with the arrow keys and changing
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the values with + and \- (or PgUp and PgDn), or by typing the desired value.
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The '?' key will give a small list of commands, the '!' key gives advice on
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how to make a new entry.
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.PP
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The spacebar toggles between showing the size of the partition and the last
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sector on the partition. Useful to check if a partition is adjacent to the
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next.
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.PP
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The 'm' key is "magical", it lets you cycle through a set of interesting
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values for the base or size of a partition. These values are: Aligned to a
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cylinder, taped to other partitions (inside or outside), or filling out holes.
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.BR "Use this key" !
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.PP
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Minix subpartition tables or extended partitions may be edited after hitting
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the '>' key. The number of this partition will be shown after the device
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name on the second row, e.g.
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.BR /dev/hd0:2 .
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Minix subpartition tables are shown as is, but extended partition bases are
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translated to absolute offsets on the screen to hide the gory details of their
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implementation from the innocent user. (Hit 'p' if you dare.) The '<' key
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will bring you back to the enclosing partition table.
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.PP
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With arguments,
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.B part
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will use the given devices or files. Without arguments,
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.B part
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will use all interesting block devices in
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.B /dev
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sorted by device number and starting with
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.BR /dev/hd0 .
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.PP
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Values that are out of range, overlapping, or otherwise strange are shown in
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reverse video. Values that may possibly be a problem for operating systems
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other then Minix are shown in bold characters.
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.PP
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The name of the device is highlighted when it has not been read yet.
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.PP
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Head or sector numbers are highlighted if the partition does not start or
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end at a cylinder boundary.
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.PP
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The base and/or size field is highlighted if they fall outside the device,
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if they are inside some other partition, if the base equals the device's base
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(no room for the boot sector), or if the size is zero.
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.PP
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.B Part
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complies with the good old \s-2UNIX\s+2 tradition of trusting the user.
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It will write any table, no matter how bad. You have been warned.
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.PP
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By the way, as far as Minix is concerned there is absolutely no reason to
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make partitions start precisely on a cylinder or track nor does it have to
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be an exact number of cylinders long. Minix only looks at the base and size
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of a partition, the geometry of the drive doesn't have to be correct. Other
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Operating systems can be very picky about partitions that are not aligned.
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Some partition editors may refuse to edit a table, others may even make a
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mess of the table. The only exception is the first partition, it
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traditionally starts on the first track, not the first cylinder. All
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editors must understand this. (Subpartition tables are Minix specific, so
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there is no reason at all for any alignment.)
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.SS "Extended Partitions"
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Extended partitions are a mess that is only made slightly better by
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.B part
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by translating the base offsets to absolute numbers. It is better to use DOS
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.B fdisk
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to create them, but if you insist on using
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.B part
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then this is what they should look like:
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.RS
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.sp
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The extended partition entry in the primary partition table must cover the
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whole logical partition space within it.
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.sp
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The area thus created is split in segments, each segment contains a partition
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table in sector 0 and one (just one) logical partition.
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.sp
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The first entry of a segment's partition table describes this logical
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partition: it's partition ID, base and size.
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.sp
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The second entry is an extended partition that describes base and size of
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the next segment (partition table and logical partition). The last segment's
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partition table is empty, or contains one logical partition.
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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.BR mkfs (1),
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.BR fd (4),
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.BR hd (4).
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.SH BUGS
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You can have a table read, messed up, and written in no time, be careful.
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.PP
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You can't type head or sector numbers directly.
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.PP
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Sectors are counted from 0 for consistency, but the partition table counts
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from 1 like DOS addresses them. Most confusing.
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.PP
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You can't write a backup copy to a file, that's what
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.BR dd (1)
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with count=1 is for.
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.SH AUTHOR
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Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
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