Partition Table vs Partition Scheme vs disklabel/bsdlabel : noob question 1
by el barto from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5C9M6)
I am new to this and I have been reading a lot of stuff the past days trying to understand but so much is confusing because same words seem to have a different meanings and the things explained sometimes seem to contradict.
Maybe because my native language is not English I do not understand everything.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
1) The Complete FreeBSD from O'Reilly is mentioning Partition Table and Partition Scheme in one sentence on page 34.
'FreeBSD does not use the PC Bios partition table directly. It maintains its own partitioning scheme with its own partition table'
It explains that the partition table contains information about the size, location and type of the slices.
This partition table is placed within the MBR at the first sector of the disk. (apparently this information can also be placed outside the MBR but I have not yet found how to do this.)
Nowhere is explained what a partitioning scheme is.
I found in the handbook here
that a partitioning scheme is apparently GPT / MBR / BSD
Is this correct?
2) Is it correct to assume that the BSD partition table is placed within the MBR but can also be placed within the BSD partitioning scheme?
I quess it is better to use GPT instead of BSD when you have UEFI?
3) MBR allows only 4 partitions and one can be an extended partitions with logical partitions.
Within Windows/MSDOS only 26 partitions are possible.
Linux and BSD use numbers so I assume they can have more than 26 partitions?
4) In BSD a disk is devided into slices and the slices can be devided into partitions.
When using the BSD partitioning scheme, as far I understand it makes 1 single 'extended' partition, called slice and withing that slice it creates the needed partitions.
Is this correct?
5) Apparently the word disklabel or bsdlabel is only used with BSD.
What is the difference between a disklabel and partition table?
Wikipedia about disklabel
'that contains information about the location of the partitions on the disk'
Is this one and the same thing? (see question 1 about partition table with the same explanation)
This is very confusing.
6) I seems you have also disklabel with another meaning which is the same thing as a drive name. Is this correct?
FreeBSD handbook here
'The Label is a name by which the partition will be known. Drive names or numbers can change if the drive is connected to a different controller or port, but the partition label does not change. Referring to labels instead of drive names and partition numbers in files like /etc/fstab makes the system more tolerant to hardware changes. GPT labels appear in /dev/gpt/ when a disk is attached. Other partitioning schemes have different label capabilities and their labels appear in different directories in /dev/.'
Maybe because my native language is not English I do not understand everything.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
1) The Complete FreeBSD from O'Reilly is mentioning Partition Table and Partition Scheme in one sentence on page 34.
'FreeBSD does not use the PC Bios partition table directly. It maintains its own partitioning scheme with its own partition table'
It explains that the partition table contains information about the size, location and type of the slices.
This partition table is placed within the MBR at the first sector of the disk. (apparently this information can also be placed outside the MBR but I have not yet found how to do this.)
Nowhere is explained what a partitioning scheme is.
I found in the handbook here
that a partitioning scheme is apparently GPT / MBR / BSD
Is this correct?
2) Is it correct to assume that the BSD partition table is placed within the MBR but can also be placed within the BSD partitioning scheme?
I quess it is better to use GPT instead of BSD when you have UEFI?
3) MBR allows only 4 partitions and one can be an extended partitions with logical partitions.
Within Windows/MSDOS only 26 partitions are possible.
Linux and BSD use numbers so I assume they can have more than 26 partitions?
4) In BSD a disk is devided into slices and the slices can be devided into partitions.
When using the BSD partitioning scheme, as far I understand it makes 1 single 'extended' partition, called slice and withing that slice it creates the needed partitions.
Is this correct?
5) Apparently the word disklabel or bsdlabel is only used with BSD.
What is the difference between a disklabel and partition table?
Wikipedia about disklabel
'that contains information about the location of the partitions on the disk'
Is this one and the same thing? (see question 1 about partition table with the same explanation)
This is very confusing.
6) I seems you have also disklabel with another meaning which is the same thing as a drive name. Is this correct?
FreeBSD handbook here
'The Label is a name by which the partition will be known. Drive names or numbers can change if the drive is connected to a different controller or port, but the partition label does not change. Referring to labels instead of drive names and partition numbers in files like /etc/fstab makes the system more tolerant to hardware changes. GPT labels appear in /dev/gpt/ when a disk is attached. Other partitioning schemes have different label capabilities and their labels appear in different directories in /dev/.'