fdisk man page on Solaris

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fdisk(1M)		System Administration Commands		     fdisk(1M)

NAME
       fdisk - create or modify fixed disk partition table

SYNOPSIS
       fdisk [-o offset] [-s size] [-P fill_patt] [-S geom_file]
	    [-w | -r | -d | -n | -I | -B | -t | -T | -g | -G | -R | -E]
	    [--F fdisk_file] [ [-v] -W {fdisk_file | −}]
	    [-h] [-b masterboot]
	    [-A id : act : bhead : bsect : bcyl : ehead : esect :
		ecyl : rsect : numsect]
	    [-D id : act : bhead: bsect : bcyl : ehead: esect :
		ecyl : rsect : numsect] rdevice

DESCRIPTION
       This command is used to do the following:

	   o	  Create and modify an fdisk partition table on x86 systems

	   o	  Create  and  modify  an  fdisk  partition table on removable
		  media on SPARC or x86 systems

	   o	  Install the master boot record that is put in the first sec‐
		  tor of the fixed disk on x86 systems only

       This  table is used by the first-stage bootstrap (or firmware) to iden‐
       tify parts of the disk reserved for different operating systems, and to
       identify	 the  partition	 containing  the  second-stage	bootstrap (the
       active Solaris partition). The rdevice argument must be used to specify
       the   raw   device   associated	with  the  fixed  disk,	 for  example,
       /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0p0.

       The program can operate in three different modes. The first is interac‐
       tive  mode. In interactive mode, the program displays the partition ta‐
       ble as it exists on the disk, and then presents	a  menu	 allowing  the
       user to modify the table. The menu, questions, warnings, and error mes‐
       sages are intended to be self-explanatory.

       In interactive mode, if there is no partition table on  the  disk,  the
       user  is given the options of creating a default partitioning or speci‐
       fying the initial table values. The default partitioning allocates  the
       entire  disk for the Solaris system and makes the Solaris system parti‐
       tion active. In either case, when the initial table is  created,	 fdisk
       also  writes  out  the first-stage bootstrap (x86 only) code along with
       the partition table. In this mode (x86 only), when  creating  an	 entry
       for a non-EFI partition on a disk that is larger than 2 TB (terabytes),
       fdisk warns that the maximum size of the partition is 2 TB. Under these
       conditions percentages displayed by  fdisk are based on 2 TB.

       The  second  mode  of  operation	 is used for automated entry addition,
       entry deletion, or replacement of the entire fdisk table. This mode can
       add  or delete an entry described on the command line. In this mode the
       entire fdisk table can be read in from a file  replacing	 the  original
       table.  fdisk  can also be used to create this file. There is a command
       line option that will cause fdisk to replace any fdisk table  with  the
       default of the whole disk for the Solaris system.

       The third mode of operation is used for disk diagnostics. In this mode,
       a section of the disk can be filled with a user specified pattern,  and
       mode sections of the disk can also be read or written.

       When  fdisk  creates  a	partition, the space is allocated in the fdisk
       partition table, but the	 allocated  disk  space	 is  not  initialized.
       newfs(1M)  is  required to create and write file system metadata to the
       new partition, and format(1M) is required to write the VTOC or  EFI/GPT
       metadata.

   Menu Options
       The menu options for interactive mode given by the fdisk program are:

       Create a partition

	   This	 option allows the user to create a new partition. The maximum
	   number of partitions is 4. The program will ask for the type of the
	   partition  (SOLARIS,	 MS-DOS, UNIX, or other). It will then ask for
	   the size of the partition as a percentage of the disk. The user may
	   also	 enter	the  letter c at this point, in which case the program
	   will ask for the starting cylinder number and size of the partition
	   in cylinders. If a c is not entered, the program will determine the
	   starting cylinder number where the partition will  fit.  In	either
	   case,  if the partition would overlap an existing partition or will
	   not fit, a message is displayed and	the  program  returns  to  the
	   original menu.

       Change Active (Boot from) partition

	   This	 option	 allows	 the  user  to specify the partition where the
	   first-stage bootstrap will look  for	 the  second-stage  bootstrap,
	   otherwise known as the active partition.

       Delete a partition

	   This	 option	 allows the user to delete a previously created parti‐
	   tion. Note that this will destroy all data in that partition.

       Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs

	   This option allows the user to switch  between  the	current	 fdisk
	   operating  system  partition	 identifier and the previous one. This
	   does not affect any data in the disk partition and is provided  for
	   compatibility with older software.

       Use  the	 following options to include your modifications to the parti‐
       tion table at this time or to cancel the session without modifying  the
       table:

       Exit	 This  option writes the new version of the table created dur‐
		 ing this session with fdisk out to the fixed disk, and	 exits
		 the program.

       Cancel	 This option exits without modifying the partition table.

OPTIONS
       The following options apply to fdisk:

       -A id:act:bhead:bsect:bcyl:ehead:esect:ecyl:rsect:numsect

	   Add	a  partition  as  described by the argument (see the -F option
	   below for the format). Use of this option will zero out the VTOC on
	   the Solaris partition if the fdisk table changes.

       -b master_boot

	   Specify  the	 file  master_boot  as	the  master  boot program. The
	   default master boot program is /usr/lib/fs/ufs/mboot.

       -B

	   Default to one Solaris partition that uses the whole	 disk.	On  an
	   x86	machine,  if  the  disk	 is  larger than 2 TB (terabytes), the
	   default size of the Solaris partition will be limited to 2 TB.

       -d

	   Turn on verbose debug mode. This will  cause	 fdisk	to  print  its
	   state  on  stderr as it is used. The output from this option should
	   not be used with -F.

       -D id:act:bhead:bsect:bcyl:ehead:esect:ecyl:rsect:numsect

	   Delete a partition as described by the argument (see the -F	option
	   below  for  the  format).  Note  that the argument must be an exact
	   match or the entry will not be deleted! Use	of  this  option  will
	   zero	 out  the  VTOC	 on  the  Solaris partition if the fdisk table
	   changes.

       -E

	   Create an EFI partition that uses the entire disk.

       -F fdisk_file

	   Use fdisk file fdisk_file to initialize table. Use of  this	option
	   will	 zero out the VTOC on the Solaris partition if the fdisk table
	   changes.

	   The fdisk_file contains up to four specification lines.  Each  line
	   is  delimited by a new-line character (0fR). If the first character
	   of a line is an asterisk (*), the line is  treated  as  a  comment.
	   Each	 line  is composed of entries that are position-dependent, are
	   separated by ``white space'' or colons, and have the following for‐
	   mat:

	   id act bhead bsect bcyl ehead esect ecyl rsect numsect

	   where the entries have the following values:

	   id	      This  is	the  type of partition and the correct numeric
		      values may be found in fdisk.h.

	   act	      This is the active partition flag; 0  means  not	active
		      and 128 means active.

	   bhead      This  is the head where the partition starts. If this is
		      set to 0, fdisk will correctly fill this in  from	 other
		      information.

	   bsect      This  is	the sector where the partition starts. If this
		      is set to 0, fdisk will  correctly  fill	this  in  from
		      other information.

	   bcyl	      This is the cylinder where the partition starts. If this
		      is set to 0, fdisk will  correctly  fill	this  in  from
		      other information.

	   ehead      This  is	the  head where the partition ends. If this is
		      set to 0, fdisk will correctly fill this in  from	 other
		      information.

	   esect      This  is the sector where the partition ends. If this is
		      set to 0, fdisk will correctly fill this in  from	 other
		      information.

	   ecyl	      This  is	the cylinder where the partition ends. If this
		      is set to 0, fdisk will  correctly  fill	this  in  from
		      other information.

	   rsect      The relative sector from the beginning of the disk where
		      the partition starts. This must be specified and can  be
		      used by fdisk to fill in other fields.

	   numsect    The size in sectors of this disk partition. This must be
		      specified and can be used by  fdisk  to  fill  in	 other
		      fields.

       -g

	   Get	the  label geometry for disk and display on stdout (see the -S
	   option for the format).

       -G

	   Get the physical geometry for disk and display on stdout  (see  the
	   -S option for the format).

       -h

	   Issue  verbose message; message will list all options and supply an
	   explanation for each.

       -I

	   Forgo device checks. This is used to generate a file image of  what
	   would go on a disk without using the device. Note that you must use
	   -S with this option (see above).

       -n

	   Don't update fdisk table unless  explicitly	specified  by  another
	   option. If no other options are used, -n will only write the master
	   boot record to the disk. In addition, note that fdisk will not come
	   up in interactive mode if the -n option is specified.

       -o offset

	   Block  offset  from	start of disk. This option is used for -P, -r,
	   and -w. Zero is assumed when this option is not used.

       -P fill_patt

	   Fill disk with pattern fill_patt. fill_patt can be decimal  or  hex
	   and	is used as number for constant long word pattern. If fill_patt
	   is #, then pattern is block # for each block.  Pattern  is  put  in
	   each block as long words and fills each block (see -o and -s).

       -r

	   Read	 from  disk  and write to stdout. See -o and -s, which specify
	   the starting point and size of the operation.

       -R

	   Treat disk as read-only. This is for testing purposes.

       -s size

	   Number of blocks to perform operation on (see -o).

       -S geom_file

	   Set the label  geometry  to	the  content  of  the  geom_file.  The
	   geom_file  contains	one specification line. Each line is delimited
	   by a new-line character (0fR). If the first character of a line  is
	   an  asterisk	 (*),  the  line is treated as a comment. Each line is
	   composed of entries that are position-dependent, are	 separated  by
	   white space, and have the following format:

	     pcyl ncyl acyl bcyl nheads nsectors sectsiz

	   where the entries have the following values:

	   pcyl	       This is the number of physical cylinders for the drive.

	   ncyl	       This is the number of usable cylinders for the drive.

	   acyl	       This is the number of alt cylinders for the drive.

	   bcyl	       This  is	 the  number of offset cylinders for the drive
		       (should be zero).

	   nheads      The number of heads for this drive.

	   nsectors    The number of sectors per track.

	   sectsiz     The size in bytes of a sector.

       -t

	   Adjust incorrect slice table entries so that they  will  not	 cross
	   partition table boundaries.

       -T

	   Remove  incorrect  slice  table  entries  that span partition table
	   boundaries.

       -v

	   Output the HBA (virtual) geometry dimensions. This option  must  be
	   used	 in  conjunction  with	the -W flag. This option will work for
	   platforms which support virtual geometry. (x86 only)

       -w

	   Write to disk and read from stdin. See -o and -s, which specify the
	   starting point and size of the operation.

       -W −

	   Output the disk table to stdout.

       -W fdisk_file

	   Create  an  fdisk file fdisk_file from disk table. This can be used
	   with the -F option below.

FILES
       /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0p0	Raw device associated with the fixed disk.

       /usr/lib/fs/ufs/mboot	Default master boot program.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     │	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │Architecture		     │x86 and SPARC		   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │Availability		     │SUNWcsu			   │
       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

SEE ALSO
       uname(1),    fmthard(1M),    format(1M),	   newfs(1M),	  prtvtoc(1M),
       attributes(5)

DIAGNOSTICS
       Most  messages will be self-explanatory. The following may appear imme‐
       diately after starting the program:

       Fdisk: cannot open <device>

	   This indicates that the device name argument is not valid.

       Fdisk: unable to get device parameters for device <device>

	   This indicates a problem with the configuration of the fixed	 disk,
	   or an error in the fixed disk driver.

       Fdisk: error reading partition table

	   This	 indicates  that  some error occurred when trying initially to
	   read the fixed disk. This could be a problem with  the  fixed  disk
	   controller or driver, or with the configuration of the fixed disk.

       Fdisk: error writing boot record

	   This	 indicates  that  some error occurred when trying to write the
	   new partition table out to the fixed disk. This could be a  problem
	   with the fixed disk controller, the disk itself, the driver, or the
	   configuration of the fixed disk.

SunOS 5.10			  8 Jun 2009			     fdisk(1M)
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