From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 6 18:44:53 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 140F6106564A for ; Fri, 6 Jul 2012 18:44:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vrwmiller@gmail.com) Received: from mail-yx0-f182.google.com (mail-yx0-f182.google.com [209.85.213.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BD4948FC0A for ; Fri, 6 Jul 2012 18:44:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: by yenl8 with SMTP id l8so10396863yen.13 for ; Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:44:52 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=RymtX3pZyqXi09QCszfifIFkxiIodbHPpJaW3SirJ+4=; b=jLH1O4CMoN8PXiI60P6SftYdXdBgJxINkTWX2ffWwS4ZNWBrQJ4j6xwQsBuIhO3HNF DNSwQ6SLS4HwGAweROUCz1JMRiJqVRHSVJGC+Nt/bPp5bFtAn0oHibhip8X6B1/RLTXl HpbjDptzLwLAhZ59BEX2xfvK9KvqXax2FAv5VwNg/JOAwVoT+m9RWdCg2CYV8383ArwR 8KpfRpLtKKjXwVyN/qOQW4IHDh0t5g2LsHxriJcLJCzd5AlNDcnRk16xj7vVKXzIcoH7 V0AbUWctmlxxO26ON2tDeyobLk8k1i9zoI20RL6QtDFX1Sw5qXMOrdbJHhje7il0gj+g NIWA== MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.60.26.134 with SMTP id l6mr32202607oeg.40.1341600275269; Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:44:35 -0700 (PDT) Sender: vrwmiller@gmail.com Received: by 10.182.10.34 with HTTP; Fri, 6 Jul 2012 11:44:35 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20120706202558.2a6d7e42.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <4FF71637.9030206@d3photography.com> <20471.8240.321332.987229@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <4FF724AF.9090602@ose.nl> <20120706202558.2a6d7e42.freebsd@edvax.de> Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2012 14:44:35 -0400 X-Google-Sender-Auth: BR35T8hU5t05ZHNUgCIVEyYrmyQ Message-ID: From: Rick Miller To: Polytropon Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: Bas Smeelen , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Does FreeBSD start slices at head boundaries? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:44:53 -0000 [snip] >> I think Ryan means partition and not slice? >> I would not recommend no slices at all, It's deprecated to use >> "dangerously dedicated disks" > > First of all, it's "dedicated disks", there's nothing dangerous > related. :-) > > If you are using the MBR approach ("old way"), you can do > either creating a "DOS primary partition", a slice, which > then will contain your partitions: a swap partition and > one or more UFS partitions. So you have ad0s1a, ad0s1b > and so on. > > When you omit the slice and create the partitions on the "bare > disk", you have a dedicated layout. FreeBSD will run with > it without any problem. It _may_ be possible that some > systems like "Windows" have trouble with this approach, > but if you're going to use FreeBSD only on that disk, there > is no danger, no problem. You have ad0a, ad0b and so on. > > If you are using the GPT approach ("new way"), you create > partitions using a different tool set, setting them to be > a file system or a swap partition. You end up in ad0p1, > ad0p2 and so on. Note that those aren't "DOS primary > partitions" anymore, outdated systems may not properly > recognize them. > > If you label your partitions (you can do that with both > approaches), you don't need to deal with device names at > all. Thanks for this explanation. Is there any performance advantage to using a "dedicated disk" layout over the old way of creating a slice and having your partitions within it? [snip] > To OP: > > If you omit the slice and just create two partitions (one for > FS and one for swap), FreeBSD will use this fine. Just make > sure to set the boot parameters properly. Or simply use the > GPT-related tools, so you don't have to deal with the question > at all. Thanks again for the concise explanation.