diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'fdisk/cfdisk.8')
| -rw-r--r-- | fdisk/cfdisk.8 | 37 |
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/fdisk/cfdisk.8 b/fdisk/cfdisk.8 index c8391af2a..09dd54701 100644 --- a/fdisk/cfdisk.8 +++ b/fdisk/cfdisk.8 @@ -15,13 +15,14 @@ .SH NAME cfdisk \- Curses based disk partition table manipulator for Linux .SH SYNOPSIS -.BI "cfdisk [ \-avz ] [ \-c " cylinders " ] [ \-h " heads " ]" +.BI "cfdisk [ \-agvz ] [ \-c " cylinders " ] [ \-h " heads " ]" .BI "[ \-s " sectors-per-track " ] [ -P " opt " ] [ " device " ]" .SH DESCRIPTION .B cfdisk -is a curses based program for partitioning a hard disk drive. The +is a curses based program for partitioning any hard disk drive. +Typical values of the .I device -can be any one of the following: +argument are: .sp .nf .RS @@ -34,14 +35,28 @@ can be any one of the following: .RE .fi +In order to write the partition table .B cfdisk -first tries to read the geometry of the hard disk. If it fails, an -error message is displayed and +needs something called the `geometry' of the disk: the number +of `heads' and the number of `sectors per track'. Linux does not +use any geometry, so if the disk will not be accessed by other +operating systems, you can safely accept the defaults that .B cfdisk -exits. This should only happen when partitioning a SCSI drive on an -adapter without a BIOS. To correct this problem, you can set the -.IR cylinders ", " heads " and " sectors-per-track -on the command line. Next, +chooses for you. The geometry used by +.B cfdisk +is found as follows. First the partition table is examined, +to see what geometry was used by the previous program that +changed it. If the partition table is empty, or contains garbage, +or does not point at a consistent geometry, the kernel is +asked for advice. If nothing works 255 heads and 63 sectors/track +is assumed. The geometry can be overridden on the command line +or by use of the `g' command. When partitioning an empty large modern +disk, picking 255 heads and 63 sectors/track is always a good idea. +There is no need to set the number of cylinders, since +.B cfdisk +knows the disk size. + +Next, .B cfdisk tries to read the current partition table from the disk drive. If it is unable to figure out the partition table, an error is displayed and @@ -368,6 +383,10 @@ key to return to the main command line. Use an arrow cursor instead of reverse video for highlighting the current partition. .TP +.B \-g +Do not use the geometry given by the disk driver, but try to +guess a geometry from the partition table. +.TP .B \-v Print the version number and copyright. .TP |