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1.1 root 1:
2:
3: hard disk Technical Information hard disk
4:
5:
6:
7:
8: The hard disk is the primary means of storing and accessing data
9: under the COHERENT system. This article introduces some aspects
10: of the COHERENT system that affect the care and feeding of your
11: hard disk.
12:
13: ***** Device Drivers *****
14:
15: The COHERENT system comes with two sets of drivers for hard
16: disks: the aatt drivers, for AT-style hard disks; and the ssccssii
17: drivers, for the SCSI family of hard disks. See their respective
18: articles in the Lexicon for details.
19:
20: ***** Partitioning *****
21:
22: The COHERENT command ffddiisskk displays information about how your
23: hard disk is currently configured. You can also use it to
24: repartition your hard disk and reassign partitions from MS-DOS to
25: COHERENT, or vice versa.
26:
27: Note that this is an extremely powerful command, with which you
28: can create much mayhem on your system. Like any powerful tool,
29: it should be treated carefully and with respect. See the article
30: on ffddiisskk in the Lexicon for details on how to use this command.
31:
32: Partitioning your hard drive can be an uncomplicated procedure.
33: We offer these guidelines in an effort to make it as simple as
34: possible. Before attempting any partitioning you should first
35: back-up all the data currently on your hard drive. If you do not
36: do this you risk losing data permanently. You should also know
37: the correct physical parameters of your hard drive. This
38: information can be obtained from your machine documentation or
39: from the drive manufacturer. It is best not to rely on the
40: parameters given in the BIOS: these may be translation
41: parameters.
42:
43: If your drive is formatted for MS-DOS, it is advisable to run MS-
44: DOS ffddiisskk before you start to install COHERENT. If the whole
45: drive is taken up by DOS partitions, you must use MS-DOS ffddiisskk to
46: create a non-DOS area on the drive. It is not sufficient to have
47: an empty MS-DOS logical drive set aside for COHERENT. COHERENT
48: does not recognise MS-DOS logical drives, it only sees the whole
49: partition. In the following diagram, the top column shows the
50: way MS-DOS ffddiisskk sees your drive, and lower the column shows the
51: way COHERENT ffddiisskk sees your drive:
52:
53:
54: Z-------------------------?
55: | DOS Root Partition |
56: C-------------------------4
57: | DOS Extended Partition |
58: | C-------------------4 |
59: | | Logical Drive 1 | |
60: | C-------------------4 |
61: | | Logical Drive 2 | |
62:
63:
64: COHERENT Lexicon Page 1
65:
66:
67:
68:
69: hard disk Technical Information hard disk
70:
71:
72:
73: | C-------------------4 |
74: | | Logical Drive 3 | |
75: | @-------------------Y |
76: @-------------------------4
77:
78:
79:
80: Z--------------------------?
81: | DOS Root Partition |
82: C--------------------------4
83: | |
84: | |
85: | |
86: | |
87: | DOS Extended Partition |
88: | |
89: | |
90: | |
91: @--------------------------4
92:
93:
94: If you use COHERENT ffddiisskk to repartition MS-DOS space, you risk
95: causing MS-DOS ffddiisskk to hang. One further word of warning. If
96: you have an automated disk formatting and partitioning utility on
97: your MS-DOS partition such as Disk Manager or Speedstor, you
98: should operate it in ``manual'' mode, not in ``automatic''.
99:
100: Some hard drives have more than 1,024 cylinders. COHERENT can
101: only recognise a drive up to this limit. You may have a utility
102: such as Speedstor that allows you to place MS-DOS partitions
103: beyond that boundary. COHERENT will not see those partitions,
104: but you can still access them as usual through MS-DOS. However,
105: when partitioning a drive with more than 1,024 cylinders, it is
106: necessary to follow the following principles:
107:
108: 11. Run the partitioning utility before you start to install
109: COHERENT. You should create a non-DOS partition that falls
110: completely within the 1,022-cylinder boundary. Your next
111: MS-DOS partition should start no sooner than the 1,026th
112: cylinder.
113:
114: ***** Adding a COHERENT Partition *****
115:
116: The following describes how to add a new COHERENT partition on
117: your hard disk.
118:
119: During your initial installation of COHERENT, the installation
120: program handled the details of preparing your hard disk for
121: COHERENT. Adding a partition after the system is installed is
122: not difficult, but it requires that you understand the operation
123: of the following commands: bbaaddssccaann, cchhmmoodd, cchhoowwnn, ffddiisskk, ffsscckk,
124: mmkkffss and mmoouunntt. See the Lexicon articles for each of these
125: commands for further information before attempting to add a
126: partition.
127:
128:
129:
130: COHERENT Lexicon Page 2
131:
132:
133:
134:
135: hard disk Technical Information hard disk
136:
137:
138:
139: In general, the following steps are required when creating a
140: partition for use by COHERENT. Please note that you must not
141: change the size of your existing root partition, or you may no
142: longer be able to boot COHERENT from the hard disk.
143:
144: 11. Completely back up all partitions on your hard disk. Be sure
145: to back up the COHERENT partitions, as well as any non-
146: COHERENT partitions (e.g., those for MS-DOS or OS/2). Verify
147: that your backups are _r_e_a_d_a_b_l_e and _c_o_r_r_e_c_t.
148:
149: 22. Log in as the superuser rroooott. Make sure all other users are
150: off the system; then invoke the command /eettcc/sshhuuttddoowwnn. This
151: shuts down COHERENT and returns the system to single-user
152: mode. Type the command ssyynncc to flush all buffers.
153:
154: 33. Invoke the COHERENT command ffddiisskk and add the COHERENT
155: partition to your disk, as described above. Be sure to write
156: down the device name associated with your new partition (e.g.,
157: /ddeevv/aatt00cc) and its size.
158:
159: 44. The command bbaaddssccaann checks the device for bad blocks. If your
160: partition resides on a non-SCSI device (e.g., MFM, RLL, ESDI,
161: or IDE), run the command bbaaddssccaann as follows:
162:
163: /etc/badscan -v -o /conf/proto._d_e_v_i_c_e _r_a_w__d_e_v_i_c_e _x_d_e_v_i_c_e
164:
165: where _d_e_v_i_c_e specifies the four-character block-special device
166: name for the partition (e.g., aatt00cc), _r_a_w__d_e_v_i_c_e is the full
167: device path name for the character-special device associated
168: with the partition (e.g., /ddeevv/rraatt00cc), and _x_d_e_v_i_c_e specifies
169: the partition-table device for the disk drive (e.g.,
170: /ddeevv/aatt00xx).
171:
172: 55. Invoke the command mmkkffss to create a COHERENT file system on
173: the new partition, as follows:
174:
175: /etc/mkfs /dev/_d_e_v_i_c_e /conf/proto._d_e_v_i_c_e
176:
177: This invocation will cause mmkkffss to use the contents of the
178: ``proto'' file that bbaaddssccaann created when it built the
179: _b_a_d__b_l_o_c_k list for the new partition.
180:
181: 66. If need be, use command mmkkddiirr to create a directory to use as
182: a _m_o_u_n_t _p_o_i_n_t for the newly created file system. The mount
183: point is the directory onto which this directory's file system
184: will be appended. Usually, this directory is located under
185: `/', also called the _r_o_o_t _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y. You can, however, mount
186: a file system onto any directory that already exists. If you
187: create a new directory (e.g., /ww or /mmyyddiirr), use the commands
188: cchhoowwnn and cchhmmoodd to set an appropriate ownership and mode for
189: for the directory.
190:
191: 77. Edit the file /eettcc/mmoouunntt.aallll and add a line of the following
192: form:
193:
194:
195:
196: COHERENT Lexicon Page 3
197:
198:
199:
200:
201: hard disk Technical Information hard disk
202:
203:
204:
205: /etc/mount _d_e_v_i_c_e /_m_o_u_n_t__p_o_i_n_t
206:
207: where _d_e_v_i_c_e is the full path name of the device that
208: specifies your new partition (e.g., /ddeevv/aatt00cc), and
209: _m_o_u_n_t__p_o_i_n_t is the name of the directory that you created in
210: the earlier step.
211:
212: 88. Finally, edit the file /eettcc/cchheecckklliisstt and add the character
213: special device name (e.g., /ddeevv/rraatt00cc) of the new COHERENT
214: partition to it. This will ensure that COHERENT will
215: automatically run ffsscckk on that partition's file system
216: whenever you boot the system. This can be vital in recovering
217: from a system crash.
218:
219: ***** Adding Another Hard Disk *****
220:
221: If you wish to add another hard disk to your system, you may have
222: to run some low-level routines that are hardware specific. See
223: the documentation that accompanies your hardware for details.
224:
225: In brief, when you install the hard disk, you must partition it,
226: as you did your original hard disk when you first installed
227: COHERENT. If you wish to add non-COHERENT operating systems to
228: one or more partitions, do so first; then add COHERENT to the
229: remaining partitions, as described above.
230:
231: ***** Changing the Size of the Root Partition *****
232:
233: Changing the size of your rroooott file system requires that you
234: reinstall COHERENT. It is strongly advised that you back up _a_l_l
235: partitions of your system before you attempt to do this. In
236: addition, to reduce the time involved in restoring your data
237: files, make an additional backup of all directories and files
238: that have changed form your original MWC installation. The
239: command ffiinndd will help you locate all such files; see its Lexicon
240: entry for details.
241:
242: You should then follow the directions given in the release notes
243: for installing COHERENT. Note that when you attempt to install
244: COHERENT over an existing COHERENT partition, COHERENT will ask
245: you if you are sure you know what you're doing before the
246: installation procedure creates a new file system on the
247: partition. Be sure to request that a new file system be created,
248: or the installation will fail.
249:
250: After installing the COHERENT distribution onto your new root
251: partition, restore any data files and directories from the second
252: set of backups that you performed.
253:
254: ***** See Also *****
255:
256: aatt, bbaaddssccaann, cchhmmoodd, cchhoowwnn, ffddiisskk, ffsscckk, tteecchhnniiccaall iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn,
257: mmkkffss, mmoouunntt, ssccssii
258:
259:
260:
261:
262: COHERENT Lexicon Page 4
263:
264:
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