Disk Partitions And Other Operating Systems; Disk Partitions And Mount Points - Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 - INSTALLATION GUIDE FOR IBM ESERVER ISERIES AND IBM ESERVER PSERIES Installation Manual

Appendix C. An Introduction to Disk Partitions
/dev/
This is the name of the directory in which all device files reside. Since partitions reside on hard
disks, and hard disks are devices, the files representing all possible partitions reside in
xx
The first two letters of the partition name indicate the type of device on which the partition
resides, usually either
y
This letter indicates which device the partition is on. For example,
disk) or
/dev/sdb
N
The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are num-
bered through
1
or extended partition on the first IDE hard disk, and
on the second SCSI hard disk.
Note
There is no part of this naming convention that is based on partition type; unlike DOS/Windows, all
partitions can be identified under Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Of course, this does not mean that Red
Hat Enterprise Linux can access data on every type of partition, but in many cases it is possible to
access data on a partition dedicated to another operating system.
Keep this information in mind; it makes things easier to understand when you are setting up the
partitions Red Hat Enterprise Linux requires.
C.1.6. Disk Partitions and Other Operating Systems
If your Red Hat Enterprise Linux partitions are sharing a hard disk with partitions used by other oper-
ating systems, most of the time you will have no problems. However, there are certain combinations
of Linux and other operating systems that require extra care.
C.1.7. Disk Partitions and Mount Points
One area that many people new to Linux find confusing is the matter of how partitions are used and
accessed by the Linux operating system. In DOS/Windows, it is relatively simple: Each partition gets
a "drive letter." You then use the correct drive letter to refer to files and directories on its corresponding
partition.
This is entirely different from how Linux deals with partitions and, for that matter, with disk storage
in general. The main difference is that each partition is used to form part of the storage necessary to
support a single set of files and directories. This is done by associating a partition with a directory
through a process known as mounting. Mounting a partition makes its storage available starting at the
specified directory (known as a mount point).
For example, if partition
all files and directories under
/usr/share/doc/FAQ/txt/Linux-FAQ
/etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/Gnome
(for IDE disks) or
hd
(the second SCSI disk).
. Logical partitions start at
4
/dev/hda5
/usr/
would not.
(for SCSI disks).
sd
. So, for example,
5
/dev/sdb6
is mounted on
/usr/
physically reside on
would be stored on
(the first IDE hard
/dev/hda
is the third primary
/dev/hda3
is the second logical partition
, that would mean that
. So the file
/dev/hda5
, while the file
/dev/hda5
59
.
/dev/