Disk Partitions And Other Operating Systems; Disk Partitions And Mount Points - Red Hat LINUX ADVANCED SERVER 2.1 Manual

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/dev/
This string 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
.
/dev/
xx
The first two letters of the partition name indicate the type of device on which the partition
resides. You will normally see 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 Linux Advanced Server. Of course, this does not mean
that Red Hat 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 will make things easier to understand when you are setting up the
partitions Red Hat Linux Advanced Server requires.
C.1.6. Disk Partitions and Other Operating Systems
If your Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 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
combinations of Linux and other operating systems that require extra care. Information on creating
disk partitions compatible with other operating systems is available in several HOWTOs and Mini-
HOWTOs, available on the Red Hat Linux Advanced Server Documentation CD in the
directories. In particular, the Mini-HOWTOs whose names start with
HOWTO/mini
helpful.
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).
(the second SCSI disk).
. Logical partitions start at
4
Appendix C. An Introduction to Disk Partitions
(for IDE disks) or
hd
. So, for example,
5
/dev/sdb6
(for SCSI disks).
sd
(the first IDE hard
/dev/hda
is the third primary
/dev/hda3
is the second logical partition
Linux+
and
HOWTO
are quite