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PART(8)                     System Manager's Manual                    PART(8)

NAME
       part - partition table editor

SYNOPSIS
       part [device] ...

DESCRIPTION
       Part is a screen oriented partition table editor.

       While  editing  you will see six lines of numbers, the first line shows
       the device name and  its  geometry  (number  of  cylinders,  heads  and
       sectors),  the second shows the start and end of the drive or partition
       you are working on, the last four lines show the  different  partitions
       or  subpartitions.   All numbers except those on the second line can be
       edited.  Question marks are showed instead of numbers if the  partition
       table is not loaded yet.  You have to select a device and type 'r'.

       Editing  is  a  simple  matter of moving around with the arrow keys and
       changing the values with + and - (or PgUp and PgDn), or by  typing  the
       desired value.  The '?' key will give a small list of commands, the '!'
       key gives advice on how to make a new entry.

       The spacebar toggles between showing the size of the partition and  the
       last  sector  on  the  partition.   Useful  to  check if a partition is
       adjacent to the next.

       The 'm'  key  is  "magical",  it  lets  you  cycle  through  a  set  of
       interesting  values  for the base or size of a partition.  These values
       are: Aligned to a  cylinder,  taped  to  other  partitions  (inside  or
       outside), or filling out holes.  Use this key!

       MINIX  3 subpartition tables or extended partitions may be edited after
       hitting the '>' key.  The number of this partition will be shown  after
       the  device  name  on  the  second  row,  e.g.   /dev/hd0:2.   MINIX  3
       subpartition tables are shown as is, but extended partition  bases  are
       translated  to  absolute offsets on the screen to hide the gory details
       of their implementation from the innocent user.  (Hit 'p' if you dare.)
       The '<' key will bring you back to the enclosing partition table.

       With  arguments,  part  will  use  the given devices or files.  Without
       arguments, part will use all interesting block devices in  /dev  sorted
       by device number and starting with /dev/hd0.

       Values  that  are  out  of range, overlapping, or otherwise strange are
       shown in reverse video.  Values that may  possibly  be  a  problem  for
       operating systems other then MINIX 3 are shown in bold characters.

       The name of the device is highlighted when it has not been read yet.

       Head  or sector numbers are highlighted if the partition does not start
       or end at a cylinder boundary.

       The base and/or size field is highlighted  if  they  fall  outside  the
       device, if they are inside some other partition, if the base equals the
       device's base (no room for the boot sector), or if the size is zero.

       Part complies with the good old UNIX tradition of  trusting  the  user.
       It will write any table, no matter how bad.  You have been warned.

       By  the  way,  as  far  as  MINIX 3 is concerned there is absolutely no
       reason to make partitions start precisely on a cylinder  or  track  nor
       does  it  have  to  be an exact number of cylinders long.  MINIX 3 only
       looks at the base and size of a partition, the geometry  of  the  drive
       doesn't  have to be correct.  Other Operating systems can be very picky
       about partitions that are not  aligned.   Some  partition  editors  may
       refuse  to edit a table, others may even make a mess of the table.  The
       only exception is the first partition, it traditionally starts  on  the
       first track, not the first cylinder.  All editors must understand this.
       (Subpartition tables are MINIX 3 specific, so there is no reason at all
       for any alignment.)

   Extended Partitions
       Extended  partitions  are  a  mess that is only made slightly better by
       part by translating the base offsets to absolute numbers.  It is better
       to  use  DOS fdisk to create them, but if you insist on using part then
       this is what they should look like:

              The extended partition entry in the primary partition table must
              cover the whole logical partition space within it.

              The  area  thus  created  is  split  in  segments,  each segment
              contains a partition table  in  sector  0  and  one  (just  one)
              logical partition.

              The  first  entry  of a segment's partition table describes this
              logical partition: it's partition ID, base and size.

              The second entry is an extended partition  that  describes  base
              and  size  of  the  next  segment  (partition  table and logical
              partition).  The last segment's partition  table  is  empty,  or
              contains one logical partition.

SEE ALSO
       mkfs(1), fd(4), hd(4).

BUGS
       You  can  have  a  table  read,  messed  up, and written in no time, be
       careful.

       You can't type head or sector numbers directly.

       Sectors are counted from 0 for consistency,  but  the  partition  table
       counts from 1 like DOS addresses them.  Most confusing.

       You can't write a backup copy to a file, that's what dd(1) with count=1
       is for.

AUTHOR
       Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)

                                                                       PART(8)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | SEE ALSO | BUGS | AUTHOR