Partition Table Terminology (System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems)

System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems

Partition Table Terminology

An important part of the disk label is the partition table. The partition table identifies a disk's slices, the slice boundaries (in cylinders), and the total size of the slices. You can display a disk's partition table by using the format utility. The following describes partition table terminology.

Table 10–6 Partition Table Terminology


Partition Term	Value	Description
Number	`0–7`	VTOC – Partitions or slices, numbered 0–7. EFI – Partitions or slices, numbered 0–6.
Tag	`0=UNASSIGNED 1=BOOT 2=ROOT 3=SWAP 4=USR 5=BACKUP 7=VAR 8=HOME 11=RESERVED`	A numeric value that usually describes the file system mounted on this partition.
Flags	`wm`	The partition is writable and mountable.
	`wu rm`	The partition is writable and unmountable. This state is the default for partitions that are dedicated for swap areas. (However, the `mount` command does not check the “not mountable” flag.)
	`rm`	The partition is read only and mountable.

Partition flags and tags are assigned by convention and require no maintenance.

For more information on displaying the partition table, see the following references: