Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1 Installation Manual page 197

Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts
y
This letter indicates which device the partition is on. For example, /dev/hda (the first IDE
hard disk) or /dev/sdb (the second SCSI disk).
N
The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are num-
bered 1 through 4. Logical partitions start at 5. So, for example, /dev/hda3 is the third
primary or extended partition on the first IDE hard disk, and /dev/sdb6 is the second logical
partition on the second SCSI hard disk.
There is no part of this naming convention that is based on partition type; un-
like DOS/Windows, all partitions can be identified under Red Hat Enterprise
Linux AS. Of course, this does not mean that Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS
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 will make things easier to understand when you are setting up the
partitions Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS requires.
F.1.6 Disk Partitions and Other Operating Systems
If your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS partitions will be sharing a hard disk with partitions used by other
operating systems, most of the time you will have no problems. However, there are certain combina-
tions of Linux and other operating systems that require extra care. Information on creating disk parti-
tions compatible with other operating systems is available in several HOWTOs and Mini-HOWTOs,
available on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Documentation CD in the HOWTO and HOWTO/mini
directories. In particular, the Mini-HOWTOs whose names start with Linux+ are quite helpful.
F.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
Note
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