Reference

disktab(5)

disk description file

NAME

disktab – disk description file

DESCRIPTION

disktab is a simple database which describes disk geometries and disk partition characteristics. It is used to initialize the disk label on the disk. The format is patterned after the termcap(5) terminal database. Entries in disktab consist of a number of colon (‘:’) separated fields. The first entry for each disk gives the names which are known for the disk, separated by “|” characters. The last name given should be a long name fully identifying the disk.

The following list indicates the normal values stored for each disk entry:

NameTypeDescription
dtstrType of controller (e.g., SMD, ESDI, floppy).
nsnumNumber of sectors per track.
ntnumNumber of tracks per cylinder.
ncnumTotal number of cylinders on the disk.
scnumNumber of sectors per cylinder (default: ns*nt).
sunumNumber of sectors per unit (default: sc*nc).
senumSector size in bytes (default:
banumBlock size for partition
bdnumBlock size for partition
benumBlock size for partition
[...]
bpnumBlock size for partition
fanumFragment size for partition
fdnumFragment size for partition
fenumFragment size for partition
[...]
fpnumFragment size for partition
oanumOffset of partition
obnumOffset of partition
ocnumOffset of partition
[...]
opnumOffset of partition
panumSize of partition
pbnumSize of partition
pcnumSize of partition
[...]
ppnumSize of partition
tastrType of partition
tbstrType of partition
tcstrType of partition
[...]
tpstrType of partition

FILES

/etc/disktab

SEE ALSO

getdiskbyname(3), disklabel(5), disklabel(8), newfs(8)

HISTORY

The disktab description file appeared in 4.2BSD.

History