idisk(1M)

NAME

idisk — create partitions for IA64 disks

SYNOPSIS

idisk [-p |-a |-l |-q |-v |-r |-R |-w ] [-f {- | partition_description_file}] device

DESCRIPTION

idisk creates operating system partitions on a disk that is to be used for IA64. It reads in the partition information from a data file that may be specified in the command string or redirected from stdin. By default, idisk operates in read-only mode and displays the partition information that is currently on the disk. To write new partition information on the disk the user must specify the -w option.

Options

idisk recognizes the following options:

-p: Print the primary EFI partition header and partition tables.
-a: Print the alternate EFI partition header and partition tables.
-l: Print the legacy partition table that resides in the master boot record. idisk writes partition information for the first four partition in the partition table in used by legacy DOS and Windows. This information is used as a backup in the event all the EFI information is corrupted.
-q: Work silently. No user prompts or warnings. For use in shell scripts.
-v: Validate EFI partition information. Does the same checks the driver does verifying that both the primary and alternate EFI partition headers and tables are correct. Returns two if either is bad and zero if both are correct.
-r: Restore the EFI partition headers and tables. This option checks both the primary header and tables and the alternate header and tables. If one is found bad it is restored from the other good version. One of either the primary or alternate header and tables must be good for this option to succeed. The -w option must be specified for information to be written to the disk.
-R: Remove all EFI partition headers and tables from the disk. This option also destroys the information contained in the MBR (master boot record). The -w option must be specified for information to be written to the disk.
-f { - | partition_description_file}: The partition_description_file contains the number of partitions to be created and the type and requested size of each partition. The filename may be specified here or redirected from stdin when the ``-'' is used.
-w: Enable write mode. By default idisk operates in read-only mode. To create and write partition information to the disk you must specify the -w option.

Partition Description File

The first entry in the partition description file is the number of partitions to create. This is followed by a line containing the type and size for each of the partitions. Recognized partition types are: EFI, HPUX, and HPDUMP. Size may be specified in megabytes or as a percentage of the whole disk. Internally, idisk creates the partitions whose size is specified in MB first then creates those whose size was specified as a percentage. Those partitions specified as a percent are assigned space from what is available after the MB partitions are created. If the size of a partition is specified as 100% then all space remaining is assigned to that partition.

An example partition description file is shown below:

2 
EFI 100MB 
HPUX 100% 

The first entry specifies the number of partitions to create. The second specifies an EFI partition of 100 megabytes. The last entry specifies a HPUX partition consisting of all the remaining space on the disk after the EFI partition has been created.

RETURN VALUE

Exit values are:

0: Successful completion.
>0: Error condition occurred.

EXAMPLES

Create the partitions specified in the above description file, printing only the primary partition information:

idisk -w -p -f ia64dsk.dat /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0

Create the partitions specified in the above description file, printing all available information (default), redirecting input from stdin:

idisk -w -f - /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0 < ia64dsk.dat

Only read the disk, printing all tables (default) on the disk:

idisk /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0

Destroy all partition information on the disk:

idisk -R /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0

Restore partition information from either a good primary or alternate header or table to the header or table that is bad:

idisk -w -r /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0

AUTHOR

idisk was developed by HP.

NOTE

idisk has been ported to Windows NT 4.0 and 2000.