Creating a File System

This section explains how to create a file system on a disk. If you plan to use the disk partitions in raw mode and do not need a file system, you do not need to read this section.

Once the disk has been labelled, you can write a UFS or MS-DOS file system structure to any partition you have defined for the disk, except partition c.

Creating a UFS File System

Create the file system using the newfs command as follows:

host% rsh target newfs raw_device

where raw_device is a raw mode special file indicating a partition such as /dev/rda0a.

Creating an MS-DOS File System

Create the file system using the newfs_msdos command as follows:

host% rsh target newfs_msdos raw_device

where raw_device is a raw mode special file indicating a partition such as /dev/rhd0a.

Example 5-1 Creating a File System on a RAM Disk

You can pass extra parameters to newfs or newfs_msdos when creating a file system on a RAM disk in order to maximize available space. The following command could be used (on BSD type file systems only) to maximize space available on a 1 MB RAM disk:

host% rsh target newfs -o space -c 26 -m 0 /dev/rd0a

See "Activating a Swap Partition" for details on activating a swap partition.