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 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  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 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 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 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 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

     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)