System Administration Guide, Volume 1

IA: The fdisk Menu

The fdisk menu appears on IA based systems only and looks like this.


format> fdisk
             Total disk size is 1855 cylinders
             Cylinder size is 553 (512 byte) blocks
                                           Cylinders
      Partition   Status    Type      Start   End   Length    %
      =========   ======    ========  =====   ===   ======   ===
          1                 DOS-BIG       0   370     371     20
          2       Active    SOLARIS     370  1851    1482     80
 
SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
     1.   Create a partition
     2.   Change Active (Boot from) partition
     3.   Delete a partition
     4.   Exit (Update disk configuration and exit)
     5.   Cancel (Exit without updating disk configuration)
Enter Selection: 

The table below describes the fdisk menu items.

Table 32-3 IA: The fdisk Menu Item Descriptions

The Command ... 

Allows You To ... 

Create a partition

Create an fdisk partition. You must create a separate partition for each operating environment such as Solaris or DOS. There is a maximum of 4 partitions per disk. You will be prompted for the size of the fdisk partition as a percentage of the disk.

Change Active partition

Specify which partition will be used for booting. This identifies where the first stage boot program will look for the second stage boot program. 

Delete a partition

Delete a previously created partition. This command will destroy all the data in the partition. 

Exit

Write a new version of the partition table and exit the fdisk menu.

Cancel

Exit the fdisk menu without modifying the partition table.