216 lines
6.2 KiB
Groff
216 lines
6.2 KiB
Groff
.TH PFDISK 8 "Oct 1990" "Release 1.3"
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.SH NAME
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pfdisk \- partition fixed disk
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B pfdisk
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.I device
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.LP
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.B pfdisk
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partitions the fixed disk identified as
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.I device
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into (at most) four parts, each of which may
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be independently loaded with an operating system.
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The actual name of
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.I device
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depends on the operating system in use.
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For ESIX (System V/386) the device name is either
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"/dev/rdsk/0s0" or "/dev/rdsk/1s0".
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For Minix, it is "/dev/hd0" or "/dev/hd5".
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For MS-DOS it is a single digit (zero or one).
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.LP
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.B pfdisk
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reads the hard disk partition table from block zero of
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.I device
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into memory and allows the user to examine, modify, or save the
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partition table. A regular file may be used instead of a real
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.I device
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for testing purposes, though the device geometry must be specified
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manually, and some systems will requrire a file-name argument with
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the "R" and "W" commands (DOS, ESIX).
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.LP
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The partition table on
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.I device
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is NOT modified unless the write command (W) is used with no argument.
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.SH USAGE
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.SS Commands
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.LP
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All
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.B pfdisk
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commands consist of a command word followed by optional
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blank-separated command arguments.
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Note that only the first letter of a command word is significant
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(except for "wq" and "q!").
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All command letters are accepted in either upper or lower case.
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Numeric arguments are specified using C syntax.
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Extra arguments are silently ignored.
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.LP
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The commands are:
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.TP
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.B ?
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Prints a command summary (help).
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.TP
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.BI 1 " sys_id first last sys_name"
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Set the partition table entry for part one, using:
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.I sys_id
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as its system ID code,
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.I first
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as the lowest numbered cylinder it uses,
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.I last
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as the highest numbered cylinder it uses, and
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.I sys_name
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(optional) as the system name (in the menu name table).
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.TP
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.BI 2|3|4 " sys-id first last sys-name"
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Similar to
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.B 1
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but sets partition two, three, or four, respectively.
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.TP
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.BI A " number"
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Mark partition
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.I number
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as active (so it will be used for booting). If
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.I number
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is zero, no partition will be active.
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.TP
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.BI G " cylinders heads sectors"
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Inform
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.B pfdisk
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what the geometry of the device is.
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.TP
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.B I
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Print a summary of the known ID codes.
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.TP
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.B L
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List the partition table.
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See
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.B "Output Format"
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below.
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.TP
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.B Q
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Quit without saving. If the memory copy of the partition table was
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modified, a warning will be issued and the command ignored.
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.TP
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.B Q!
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Quit, even if the memory copy of the partition table was not saved.
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.TP
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.BI R " file-name"
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Read boot sector from
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.I file-name
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(if given) otherwise read from
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.I device.
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.TP
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.BI W " file-name"
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Write boot sector to
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.I file-name.
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(if given) otherwise write to
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.I device.
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.TP
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.B WQ
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Same as "write" followed by "quit".
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.TP
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.B #
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This line is a comment (to be ignored).
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.SS "Output Format"
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.LP
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Here is a sample of the output from the
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.B L
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command:
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.LP
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.nf
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# Partition table on device: /dev/rdsk/0s0
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geometry 1222 15 34 (cyls heads sectors)
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# ID First(cyl) Last(cyl) Name # start, length (sectors)
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1 4 0 127 MS-LOSS # 34, 65246
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2 129 128 255 Minix # 65280, 65280
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3 0 0 0 # 0, 0
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4 99 256 1220 ESIX # 130560, 492150
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# note: last(4): phys=(1023,14,34) logical=(1220,14,34)
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active: 4
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.fi
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.LP
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This output format is carefully constructed so that it
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may be saved in a file (by redirecting standard output)
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and later used as input (by redirecting standard input).
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On a UNIX system, one can save this output using the command:
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.IP
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(echo L) | pfdisk device-name >
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.I save-file
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.LP The printable representation saved in
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.I save-file
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is a complete record of the partition table.
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On a UNIX system, one could use
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.I save-file
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to re-initialize the partition table using the command:
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.IP
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(cat save-file ; echo wq) | pfdisk device-name
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.LP
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Consistency of each partition table entry is checked
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while the table is listed. Any inconsistencies discovered
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are reported in a commentary note as shown above.
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.SS "Physical vs. Logical"
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.LP
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Each partition table entry has both "physical" and a "logical" fields.
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The physical fields specify the lowest and highest cylinder,head,sector
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combinations to be used in that partition. The logical start field
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has the total number of sectors which precede this partition, and
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the logical length field has the total number of sectors contained
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in this partition. These fields should be self consistent unless
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the disk has more than 1024 cylinders.
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.LP
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The physical cylinder fields are only ten-bits wide so the contents
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are limited to 1023. The logical sector fields are 32 bits wide and
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always show the true logical beginning and length of the partition.
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Generally, the physical start field is used only to locate the
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secondary boot sector, and the logical start and length fields are
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used to actually delimit the partition used by a particular system.
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.SS "Partition Names"
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.LP
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The
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.B Name
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field in the partition table is treated specially if the
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.B bootmenu
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program is installed in the primary boot sector.
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(See the file bootmenu.doc for more information.)
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.B pfdisk
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can recognize the name table used by
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.B bootmenu
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and will show the actual names present in that name table.
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If any other boot program is used then the
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.B Name
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field reflects the result of a table-lookup of the system ID.
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.LP
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If you provide a name when setting any partition entry, the
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boot-sector is marked as using a name table, so that on
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subsequent uses of
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.B pfdisk
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you will see the partition names you have specified.
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.SS "Boot program replacement"
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.LP
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You can replace the boot program in your boot sector without
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affecting the partition table by using
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.B pfdisk
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as follows. First, (as always) save a copy of the current boot
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sector (on a floppy) using the "W file" command. Then, use the
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"R file" command to read the new boot program.
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If the boot program read in is less than 446 bytes long, the
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partition table will be unchanged.
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.LP
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Unlike the DOS or UNIX
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.B fdisk
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programs,
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.B pfdisk
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has
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.I NO
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boot program compiled into its executable image.
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If you wish to use
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.B pfdisk
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to partition a newly formatted hard disk, you must have a boot program
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image available to read in using the "r file" command.
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Two boot programs, "bootmenu.bin" and "bootauto.bin" are distributed with
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.B pfdisk
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and should be found with its source files. See the file bootmenu.doc
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for further information about these boot programs.
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.SH AUTHOR
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Gordon W. Ross
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