


FDISK(8)	    Linux Programmer's Manual		FDISK(8)


NNAAMMEE
       fdisk - Partition table manipulator for Linux

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       ffddiisskk [[ --ll ]] [[ --vv ]] [[ --ss ppaarrttiittiioonn]] [[ device ]]

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       ffddiisskk  is  a  menu  driven program for manipulation of the
       hard disk partition table.  The _d_e_v_i_c_e is usually  one  of
       the following:

	      /dev/hda
	      /dev/hdb
	      /dev/sda
	      /dev/sdb
       The  _p_a_r_t_i_t_i_o_n  is  a  _d_e_v_i_c_e name followed by a partition
       number.	For example, //ddeevv//hhddaa11 is the first partition  on
       the first hard disk in the system.

       If possible, ffddiisskk will obtain the disk geometry automati-
       cally.  This is _n_o_t necessarily the _p_h_y_s_i_c_a_l  disk  geome-
       try,  but  is  the  disk geometry that MS-DOS uses for the
       partition table.	If ffddiisskk warns you that you need to  set
       the  disk geometry, please believe this statement, and set
       the geometry.  This should only be necessary with  certain
       SCSI  host  adapters  (the  drivers  for which are rapidly
       being modified to provide geometry  information	automati-
       cally).

       Whenever	a  partition table is printed out, a consistency
       check is performed on the partition table  entries.   This
       check verifies that the physical and logical start and end
       points are identical, and that the  partition  starts  and
       ends  on	a cylinder boundary (except for the first parti-
       tion).  Since

       Old versions of fdisk (all versions prior to 1.1r [includ-
       ing  0.93])  incorrectly	mapped	the cylinder/head/sector
       specification onto absolute sectors.  This may  result  in
       the  first  partition  on  a drive failing the consistency
       check.  If you use LILO to boot,	this  situation  can  be
       ignored.	However,  there  are reports that the OS/2 boot
       manager will not boot a partition with inconsistent  data.

       In  version  1.1r, a BLKRRPART ioctl() is performed before
       exiting when the partition table is updated.  This is pri-
       marily to ensure that removable SCSI disks have their par-
       tition table information updated.   To  ensure  that  your
       partition table is updated, please reboot your system.


OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       --vv     Prints version number of ffddiisskk program.




Linux 0.99	   Mon May 17 20:05:10 1993			1





FDISK(8)	    Linux Programmer's Manual		FDISK(8)


       --ll     Lists  the partition tables for //ddeevv//hhddaa, //ddeevv//hhddbb,
	      //ddeevv//ssddaa, //ddeevv//ssddbb, //ddeevv//ssddcc,  //ddeevv//ssdddd,	//ddeevv//ssddee,
	      //ddeevv//ssddff, //ddeevv//ssddgg, //ddeevv//ssddhh, and then exits.

       --ss_p_a_r_t_i_t_i_o_n
	      If  the _p_a_r_t_i_t_i_o_n is not a DOS partition (i.e., the
	      partition id is greater than 10), then the _s_i_z_e  of
	      that  partition  is printed on the standard output.
	      This value should be used as  an	argument  to  the
	      mmkkffss(8)  program	to specify the size of the parti-
	      tion which will be formatted.

BBUUGGSS
       Although this man page (written	by  faith@cs.unc.edu)  is
       poor, there is _e_x_c_e_l_l_e_n_t documentation in the README.fdisk
       file (written by LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk) that should always  be
       with the fdisk distribution.  If you cannot find this file
       in the _/_u_s_r_/_s_r_c_/_u_t_i_l_e_-_?	directory  or  with  the  _f_d_i_s_k_._c
       source  file,  then you should write to the distributor of
       your version of ffddiisskk and complain that you  do	not  have
       all of the available documentation.

AAUUTTHHOORR
       A. V. Le Blanc (LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk)
       v1.0r:	SCSI   and  extfs  support  added  by  Rik  Faith
       (faith@cs.unc.edu)
       v1.1r:  Bug  fixes   and	enhancements	by   Rik   Faith
       (faith@cs.unc.edu),   with   special   thanks  to  Michael
       Bischoff (i1041905@ws.rz.tu-bs.de  or  mbi@mo.math.nat.tu-
       bs.de).
       v1.3: Latest enhancements and bug fixes by A. V. Le Blanc,
       including the addition of the --ss option.

























Linux 0.99	   Mon May 17 20:05:10 1993			2


