1 .TH mpartition 1 "03Nov09" mtools-4.0.12
3 mpartition - partition an MSDOS hard disk
16 This manpage has been automatically generated from mtools's texinfo
17 documentation, and may not be entirely accurate or complete. See the
18 end of this man page for details.
22 .iX "c partitions (creating)"
23 .iX "c Zip disks (partitioning them)"
24 .iX "c Jaz disks (partitioning them)"
26 The \fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR command is used to create MS-DOS filesystems as
27 partitions. This is intended to be used on non-Linux systems,
28 i.e. systems where fdisk and easy access to Scsi devices are not
29 available. This command only works on drives whose partition variable
34 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-p\fR \fIdrive\fR
35 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-r\fR \fIdrive\fR
36 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-I\fR [\fR\&\f(CW-B\fR \fIbootSector\fR] \fIdrive\fR
37 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-a\fR \fIdrive\fR
38 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-d\fR \fIdrive\fR
39 \&\fR\&\f(CWmpartition\fR \fR\&\f(CW-c\fR [\fR\&\f(CW-s\fR \fIsectors\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-h\fR \fIheads\fR]
40 [\fR\&\f(CW-t\fR \fIcylinders\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-v\fR [\fR\&\f(CW-T\fR \fItype\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-b\fR
41 \&\fIbegin\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-l\fR length] [\fR\&\f(CW-f\fR]
47 Mpartition supports the following operations:
50 Prints a command line to recreate the partition for the drive. Nothing
51 is printed if the partition for the drive is not defined, or an
52 inconsistency has been detected. If verbose (\fR\&\f(CW-v\fR) is also set,
53 prints the current partition table.
56 Removes the partition described by \fIdrive\fR.
59 Initializes the partition table, and removes all partitions.
62 Creates the partition described by \fIdrive\fR.
65 "Activates" the partition, i.e. makes it bootable. Only one partition
66 can be bootable at a time.
69 "Desactivates" the partition, i.e. makes it unbootable.
71 If no operation is given, the current settings are printed.
73 For partition creations, the following options are available:
75 \&\fR\&\f(CWs\ \fIsectors\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
76 The number of sectors per track of the partition (which is also the
77 number of sectors per track for the whole drive).
79 \&\fR\&\f(CWh\ \fIheads\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
80 The number of heads of the partition (which is also the number of heads
81 for the whole drive). By default, the geometry information (number of
82 sectors and heads) is figured out from neighbouring partition table
83 entries, or guessed from the size.
85 \&\fR\&\f(CWt\ \fIcylinders\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
86 The number of cylinders of the partition (not the number of cylinders of
89 \&\fR\&\f(CWb\ \fIbegin\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
90 The starting offset of the partition, expressed in sectors. If begin is
91 not given, mpartition lets the partition begin at the start of the disk
92 (partition number 1), or immediately after the end of the previous
95 \&\fR\&\f(CWl\ \fIlength\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
96 The size (length) of the partition, expressed in sectors. If end is not
97 given, mpartition figures out the size from the number of sectors, heads
98 and cylinders. If these are not given either, it gives the partition
99 the biggest possible size, considering disk size and start of the next
102 The following option is available for all operation which modify the
106 Usually, before writing back any changes to the partition, mpartition
107 performs certain consistenct checks, such as checking for overlaps and
108 proper alignment of the partitions. If any of these checks fails, the
109 partition table is not changes. The \fR\&\f(CW-f\fR allows you to override
112 The following options are available for all operations:
115 Together with \fR\&\f(CW-p\fR prints the partition table as it is now (no
116 change operation), or as it is after it is modified.
119 If the verbosity flag is given twice, mpartition will print out a
120 hexdump of the partition table when reading it from and writing it to
123 The following option is available for partition table initialization:
125 \&\fR\&\f(CWB\ \fIbootSector\fR\&\f(CW\fR\
126 Reads the template master boot record from file \fIbootSector\fR.
130 .SH Viewing\ the\ texi\ doc
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