x86: Guidelines for Creating an fdisk Partition

Follow these guidelines when you set up the fdisk partition.

• The disk can be divided into a maximum of four fdisk partitions. One of partitions must be a Solaris partition.

• The Solaris partition must be made the active partition on the disk. The active partition is partition whose operating system will be booted by default at system startup.

• Solaris fdisk partitions must begin on cylinder boundaries.

• Solaris fdisk partitions must begin at cylinder 1, not cylinder 0, on the first disk because additional boot information, including the master boot record, is written in sector 0.

• The Solaris fdisk partition can be the entire disk or you might want to make it smaller to allow room for a DOS partition. You can also make a new fdisk partition on a disk without disturbing existing partitions (if there is enough room to create a new one).

x86 only - Solaris slices are sometimes called partitions. This book uses the term slice, but some Solaris documentation and programs might refer to a slice as a partition.

To avoid confusion, Solaris documentation tries to distinguish between fdisk partitions (which are supported only on Solaris (x86 Platform Edition)) and the divisions within the Solaris fdisk partition, which might be called slices or partitions.

x86: How to Create a Solaris fdisk Partition

1. Read x86: Guidelines for Creating an fdisk Partition.

2. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

3. Invoke the format utility.

   # format

   
   

   For more information, see format(1M).

4. Type the number of the disk on which to create a Solaris fdisk partition from the list displayed on your screen.

   Specify disk (enter its number): disk-number

   
   

   disk-number is the number of the disk on which you want to create a Solaris fdisk partition.

5. Select the fdisk menu.

   format> fdisk

   
   

   The fdisk menu that is displayed depends upon whether the disk has existing fdisk partitions. Determine the next step using the following table.

   Task	Go To	For More Information
   Create a Solaris fdisk partition to span the entire disk.	Step 6	x86: Example--Creating a Solaris fdisk Partition That Spans the Entire Drive
   Create a Solaris fdisk partition and preserve one or more existing non-Solaris fdisk partition.	Step 7	x86: Example--Creating a Solaris fdisk Partition While Preserving an Existing fdisk Partition
   Create a Solaris fdisk partition and one or more additional non-Solaris fdisk partition.	Step 7	x86: Example--Creating a Solaris fdisk Partition and an Additional fdisk Partition

6. Create and activate a Solaris fdisk partition that spans the entire disk by specifying y at the prompt. Then, go to step 14.

   The recommended default partitioning for your disk is: a 100% "SOLARIS System" partition. To select this, please type "y". To partition your disk differently, type "n" and the "fdisk" program will let you select other partitions. y

   
   

7. Specify n at the prompt if you do not want the Solaris fdisk partition to span the entire disk.

   To select this, please type "y". To partition your disk differently, type "n" and the "fdisk" program will let you select other partitions. n Total disk size is 2694 cylinders Cylinder size is 765 (512 byte) blocks Cylinders Partition Status Type Start End Length % ========= ====== ======== ===== === ====== === THERE ARE NO PARTITIONS CURRENTLY DEFINED SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1. Create a partition 2. Change Active (Boot from) partition 3. Delete a partition 4. Exit (Update disk configuration and exit) 5. Cancel (Exit without updating disk configuration) Enter Selection:

   
   

8. Select option 1, Create a partition, to create an fdisk partition.

   Total disk size is 2694 cylinders Cylinder size is 765 (512 byte) blocks Cylinders Partition Status Type Start End Length % ========= ====== ======== ===== === ====== === THERE ARE NO PARTITIONS CURRENTLY DEFINED SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1. Create a partition 2. Change Active (Boot from) partition 3. Delete a partition 4. Exit (Update disk configuration and exit) 5. Cancel (Exit without updating disk configuration) Enter Selection: 1

   
   

9. Create a Solaris fdisk partition by selecting 1(=Solaris).

   Indicate the type of partition you want to create (1=SOLARIS, 2=UNIX, 3=PCIXOS, 4=Other, 8=DOSBIG) (5=DOS12, 6=DOS16, 7=DOSEXT, 0=Exit) ? 1

   
   

10. Identify the percentage of the disk to be reserved for the Solaris fdisk partition. Keep in mind the size of any existing fdisk partitions when you calculate this percentage.

    Indicate the percentage of the disk you want this partition to use (or enter "c" to specify in cylinders). nn

    
    

11. Activate the Solaris fdisk partition by typing y at the prompt.

    Do you want this to become the Active partition? If so, it will be activated each time you reset your computer or when you turn it on again. Please type "y" or "n". y

    
    

    The Enter Selection: prompt is displayed after the fdisk partition is activated.

12. Select option 1, Create a partition, to create another fdisk partition.

    See steps 9-11 for instructions on creating an fdisk partition.

13. Update the disk configuration and exit the fdisk menu from the selection menu.

    Selection: 4

    
    

14. Relabel the disk by using the label command.

    WARNING: Solaris fdisk partition changed - Please relabel the disk format> label Ready to label disk, continue? yes format>

    
    

15. Quit the format menu.

    format> quit