Linux Partition Naming Convention (IDE Drive Mappings)

Linux Partition Naming Convention ( IDE Drive Mappings )
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by nixCraft on May 4, 2006 9 comments LAST UPDATED March 6, 2009 in Debian / Ubuntu, File system, Linux Q. I am new to Linux and I not able to understand /dev/hdc (is it C: drive?) under Linux. This is quite confusing for a new Linux user like me. What device naming convention followed by Linux? Can you explain it in laymans term? A. Linux does not follows DOS or Windows XP style partition names or drive names. It is true that it is a bit
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confusing for a new Linux user. Linux use combination of bus and . For example if you are using IDE hard disk or CDROM it is will use HD word. If you are using SCSI interface it will use SD word. A typical home pc or laptop has 2 or 4 IDE channels as follows: ide0 = primary ide1 = secondary ide2 = tertiary ide3 = quaternary For example: ide0 = primary master = hda ide1 = primary slave = hdb ide2 = secondary master = hdc ide3 = secondary slave = hdd and so on... SCSI devices are listed as devices sda, sdb, sdc, sdd, sde, sdf, and sdg in the /dev directory. Similarly, partitions on these disks can range from 1 to 16 and are also in the /dev directory. Now each hard drive has 4 primary partitions (limit of PC x86 architecture). First partition is denoted by number 1. For example: First partition : /dev/hda1 Second partition : /dev/hda2 Third partition : /dev/hda3 Fourth partition : /dev/hda4 You can run command fdisk -l to display list of partitions: WARNING! These examples may result into data loss. Use fdisk command with caution as it manipulate your partition table.
# fdisk -l
Output:
Disk /dev/hda: 20.0 GB, 20060651520 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2438 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id /dev/hda1 * 1 1275 10241406 /dev/hda2 1276 1530 2048287+ Disk /dev/hdb: 80.0 GB, 80060424192 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9733 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id /dev/hdb1 * 1 2432 19535008+ /dev/hdb2 2433 2554 979965 /dev/hdb3 2555 6202 29302560 /dev/hdb4 6203 9733 28362757+ /dev/hdb5 6203 9733 28362726
System 83 W95 FAT32 82 Linux swap / Solaris
System 83 Linux 82 Linux swap / Solaris 83 Linux 5 Extended 83 Linux
In above output /dev/hda1 is FAT32 partition with Windows XP installed (windows XP/Vista C: ).
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If you would like to be kept up to date with our posts, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or even by subscribing to our RSS Feed. Featured Articles: 30 Handy Bash Shell Aliases For Linux / Unix / Mac OS X Top 30 Nmap Command Examples For Sys/Network Admins 25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices Top 20 Nginx WebServer Best Security Practices 20 Examples: Make Sure Unix / Linux Configuration Files Are Free From Syntax Errors 15 Greatest Open Source Terminal Applications Of 2012 My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop { 9 comments read them below or add one } 1 Anonymous May 4, 2006 at 4:53 pm It is true that PC/X86 impose a limit of 4 primary partitions per hard drive, but one of those partitions can be designated as an extended partition. Inside of this extended partition, logical partitions can be specified. So you can have partition number as follows: a) 1-4 primary partitions b) 5-16 logical partitions For example /dev/hda5. Reply 2 Anonymous July 20, 2006 at 11:16 am Having looked at the answer to the question, I think that output fdisk -l suggests that windows OS is at ide0, and linux is ide1. Some time ago I was trying to do the same configuration( windows OS-primary master, linux primary slave). The installation was ok. During the boot up, I was getting error some think like MBR error . Then I had to create a boot disk in order to get my windows to work.
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Is your boot loader on MBR or on hda1? My ide0 has 4 partionspartition 1(NTFS)- windows os partition 2 & 3(NTFS)- windows data partition 4 Unallocated. Any suggestion how could I get the same configuration to work? Reply 3 nixcraft July 23, 2006 at 9:02 pm You can install mbr on /dev/hda (IDE0) and use grub to boot both oses or use Windows 2000/XP to boot Linux. Both operations require modification of MBR, hence backup is suggested. If you need specific procedure let me know or just post your question to our forum.cyberciti.biz Reply 4 Anonymous August 2, 2006 at 7:01 pm DISK ==> Your device /dev/hda ==> Primary Master IDE /dev/hdb ==> Primary Slave IDE /dev/hdc ==> Secondary Master IDE /dev/hdd ==> Secondary Slave IDE /dev/sda ==> SCSI Disk 0 /dev/sdb ==> SCSI Disk 1 /dev/sdc ==> SCSI Disk 2 /dev/sdd ==> SCSI Disk 3 in order to address the actual data that is being held on your data, you need to address it by partitions. For example if you had 2 parition on /dev/hda. First parition => /dev/hda1 Second parition => /dev/hda2 Hope this helps someone :) Reply 5 ghanshyam Gupta March 6, 2009 at 1:16 pm For example: ide0 = primary master = hda ide1 = primary slave = hab ide2 = secondary master = hdc ide3 = secondary slave = hdd Hi , ide1 = primary slave = hab should be
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thanks ghanshyam gupta Reply 6 ghanshyam Gupta March 6, 2009 at 1:18 pm ide1 = primary slave = hab should be ide1 = primary slave = hdb Reply 7 sangeetha June 18, 2009 at 11:42 am hi,can any one suggeess me, how to run an application in linux Reply 8 VARMA April 18, 2011 at 9:51 am Shortcut Key for RUN command = Alt+f2 Reply 9 Brian Esserlieu September 14, 2011 at 3:14 pm Works on openSUSE 11, make sure to change the ownership of the new partition from root (sudo chown ). Reply Leave a Comment Name * E-mail * Website
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Tagged as: /dev/hda /dev/hdb naming standards, c drive, convention partitions, dev directory, device boot, device renaming linux convention, drive names, fdisk command, format a disk in linux, hard disk, hdc, hdd, ide vs. hd linux /dev/ide0, linux device convention, linux drive names in windows, linux hard disk name, linux hard drive naming convention, linux hda naming convention, linux partition naming, linux user, naming convention, partition, primary slave, scsi devices, sdc, sdf, sdg, secondary slave Previous Faq: File Size Limit Exceeded Error Under Linux and Solution Next Faq: How does SNMP work?
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Linux Partition Naming Convention (IDE Drive Mappings)

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