[net.unix-wizards] partition sizes in 4BSD systems

gnu@l5.uucp (John Gilmore) (12/05/85)

In article <100@hadron.UUCP>, jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) writes:
> For BSD, the root partition is always 15884 sectors ("blocks" is
> not a good term here, although the code uses it).  This is nice
> and reasonable for an RP0[456].  It is minimal for the others.
> Being LCD, it is thus the standard.  This will usually not completely
> cover a cylinder on other drives, leading to problems when dd'ing
> using a multiple of the cylinder size.  Partition B, often used
> as swap, is 33440 sectors long.

Hmm, I always wondered where those numbers came from.  On my Sun-3:

# dkinfo sd0
sd0: SCSI controller at addr 200000, unit # 0
1022 cylinders 8 heads (base 2) 17 sectors/track
a: 15884 sectors (116 cyls, 6 tracks, 6 sectors)
   starting cylinder 0
b: 33440 sectors (245 cyls, 7 tracks, 1 sectors)
   starting cylinder 117
c: 138448 sectors (1018 cyls)
   starting cylinder 0
g: 89080 sectors (655 cyls)
   starting cylinder 363

      :-) !!!

PPS: I repartitioned the other drives though, so they use whole cylinders. 

jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (12/06/85)

In article <317@l5.uucp> gnu@l5.uucp (John Gilmore) writes:
>In article <100@hadron.UUCP>, jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) writes:
>> For BSD, the root partition is always 15884 sectors ... This is nice
>> and reasonable for an RP0[456].  ...  Partition B, often used
>> as swap, is 33440 sectors long.
>Hmm, I always wondered where those numbers came from.  ...

From /etc/disktab:
rp06|RP06|DEC RP06:\
	:ty=removable:ns#22:nt#19:nc#815:\
	:pa#15884:ba#8192:fa#1024:\
	:pb#33440:pc#340670:\
	...
	:ph#291346:bh#4096:fh#1024: (actually, no longer true)
				    (because they drop 3 tracks)
				    (for bad block information.)
19 sectors/track, 418 sectors/cylinder.
 38 * 418 = 15884
 80 * 418 = 33440
697 * 418 = 291346
===
815

Oddly enough,

rm03|RM03|DEC RM03:\
	:ty=removable:ns#32:nt#5:nc#823:\
	:pa#15884:ba#8192:fa#1024:\
	:pb#33440:pc#131680:\
32 sectors/track, 160 sectors/cylinder.
 209 * 160 = 33440

rm05|RM05|DEC RM05:\
	:ty=removable:ns#32:nt#19:nc#823:\
	:pa#15884:ba#8192:fa#1024:\
	:pb#33440:pc#500384:\
32 sectors/track, 608 sectors/cylinder.
 55 * 608 = 33440

But nothing else fits.	;-)
-- 

	Joe Yao		hadron!jsdy@seismo.{CSS.GOV,ARPA,UUCP}