HP-UX Reference (11i v2 04/09) - 1M System Administration Commands A-M (vol 3)

i
idisk(1M) idisk(1M)
(Itanium(R)-based Processor Family Only)
NAME
idisk - create partitions for Itanium(R)-based system’s disks
SYNOPSIS
idisk [-p |-a |-l |
-b |-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 Itanium-based systems. 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 informa-
tion 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 parti-
tion 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 cor-
rupted.
-b Print the first usable and last usable block numbers that are available to create partitions.
First usable is the first block a partition can start on. Last usable is the last block that can be
contained in a partition. These numbers are relative to the whole disk and do not take into
account any partitions that may exist. They represent the total disk space that can be parti-
tioned. Use the
-q option to only print the values without headings.
-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 infor-
mation contained in the MBR (master boot record). The
-w option must be specified for infor-
mation 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 parti-
tion 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 avail-
able 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%
HP-UX 11i Version 2: September 2004 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company Section 1M−−297