System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

x86: The fdisk Menu

The fdisk menu appears on x86 based systems only and looks similar to the following.


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 following table describes the fdisk menu items.

Table 36–3 x86: Descriptions for fdisk Menu Items

Menu Item 

Description 

Create a partition

Creates 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 are prompted for the size of the fdisk partition as a percentage of the disk.

Change Active partition

Lets you specify the partition to be used for booting. This menu item identifies where the first stage boot program looks for the second stage boot program. 

Delete a partition

Deletes a previously created partition. This command destroys all the data in the partition. 

Exit

Writes a new version of the partition table and exits the fdisk menu.

Cancel

Exits the fdisk menu without modifying the partition table.