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Date:      Fri, 8 May 1998 19:14:17 +0930
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        Cliff Addy <fbsdlist@federation.addy.com>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Multiple partitions per disk (was: Writable /usr?)
Message-ID:  <19980508191417.J12200@freebie.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.980508043628.5555C-100000@federation.addy.com>; from Cliff Addy on Fri, May 08, 1998 at 04:42:05AM -0400
References:  <s551e442.042@wpmail.gbr.epa.gov> <Pine.BSF.3.95q.980508043628.5555C-100000@federation.addy.com>

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On Fri,  8 May 1998 at  4:42:05 -0400, Cliff Addy wrote:
> On Thu, 7 May 1998 09:20:35 +0930, Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> wrote:
>
>> Having many partitions is Evil.  It increases the likelihood that you
>> will run out of space on one partition while having enough space on
>> the disk.
>
> This is a really simple-minded view of the world brought on by a DOS-only
> background. 

Ah.  That must be the problem.  Thanks for drawing it to my attention.
Maybe now you can explain how it happened to me.

> In actuality, multiple partitions, as implemented in fbsd, is
> great.  This means that when my /var partition gets too full, I can
> replace it with another hard drive mounted where the /var partition of the
> main drive used to be.  Pop in the new drive, copy old stuff over, edit
> fstab and I'm done.

You appear to be confusing the advantages of mount with the
disadvantages of too many partitions.  In practice, most people don't
have the luxury of replacing a drive with another one.  In a more
typical scenario, they have two partitions on one drive.  One
partition is overflowing, the other is half empty.  Do you advocate
buying a new disk under these circumstances?  And what advantage do
you have from your two partitions in the first place?

> Of course, DOS machines can't even dream of such a thing.

In fact, I do know a little about Microsoft.  They have (or had) a
feature called ASSIGN, which reassigned drive letters.  It would
appear to do what you advocate.  Compare page 1623 of "The Complete
FreeBSD", second edition (http://www.cdrom.com/titles/os/bsdbook2.htm).

Greg
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