file systems and disk partitions

[jklinck]

I have a triple boot G4 laptop with a 40GB disk that has 4 partitions. The three OS are 9.2.2, 10.2.3 and YellowDog Linux. The fourth partition was to be used to move files between linux and the mac OS but was never given a file system.

Although I liked YDLinux, I was unable to get it to do a number of things I wanted to do. I am now using mac OSX and Xdarwin to do everything under one OS.

I would like to put a file system on the fourth partition so that I can use it from OSX. It should be NFS+, of course. I have looked at the man page for pdisk and that might do the job, but I don't want to take a chance with my newly created mac partitions.

I may want to dump YDLinux and change the file system on that partition too to have a macOSX only laptop.

Any suggestions, or pointers to documents?

Thanks in advance,

John

[corinthian]

If you're looking to format the fourth partition for use between YDLinux and OS X, I might recommend UFS (Unix File System), which should be readable by any Unix-like OS, including OS X. You mention NFS+, but this is not an FS with which I am familiar. Perhaps you mean HFS+ (Mac OS standard FS)?

Anyway, I'll give you the same advice I just gave someone else, try diskutil from the OS X Terminal. It offers total control of formatting and partitioning volumes from the command line. Get options by typing "diskutil --help". Otherwise, try Apple's Disk Utility, which is a GUI wrapper for diskutil.

Hope this info is helpful.

[jklinck]

Thanks, Corintian,

I appreciate the pointer to diskutil. Yes, I meant HFS+, not NFS+ (sorry). I have given up on Linux for the time being so UFS is not that critical.

I looked at diskutil and tried to find a man page (not there) and looked in a number of sites for info (with no luck). Even did a google search.

The only command which seemed to install file systems is partitionDisk, which repartions (and erases) the whole disk. The other commands seem to work on volumes that are already mounted, and thus, have a file system.

I tried using the Disk Utilities, but it was not clear how to install a file system without erasing the whole disk.

Is there a command like mkfs in darwin?

Any more hints would be appreciated.

John

[mervTormel]

i take it the un-filesystem'd partition is visible in disk utility?

just select the partition in disk utility

select the /erase\ tab and

volume format: ( mac os extended )

and hit ( erase )

re: diskutil

$ diskutil --help
Disk Utility Tool 2002, Apple Computer, Inc.
Utility to manage disks and volumes.
Most options require root access to the device

Usage: diskutil <verb> <options>
<verb> is one of the following:
list (List the partitions of a disk)
...

is the only usage info about the util at this time.

--
hmm, Nofolk, VA, eh? lonely there?

[corinthian]

Quote: Originally posted by mervTormel $ diskutil --help Disk Utility Tool 2002, Apple Computer, Inc. Utility to manage disks and volumes. Most options require root access to the device Usage: diskutil <verb> <options> <verb> is one of the following: list (List the partitions of a disk) ...

That's not quite true. Giving diskutil a command without an argument gives you specific info on that command. For example, "sudo diskutil repairpermissions" (without the "/"), returns the following:

Usage:  diskutil [verifyPermissions|repairPermissions] [Mount Point
        |Disk Identifier|Device Node]
Verify or repair the permissions of an OS X boot volume.
Root access is required.
Example:  diskutil verifyPermissions /

[jklinck]

I looked at diskutil to gain access to the unused partition. Unfortunatel, diskutil does not see the partition. When I start it, I see the whole disk, and the Macintosh HD and Macintosh X partitions. The linux partition is not visible (as expected) but the unused partition (number 14 according to the result of df under linux) is also not visible.

This disk was originally partitioned by the mac os 9 install disk. I would have thought the repair disk would see all partitions.

I am about ready to get a new internal disk and start over. Any other suggetions before I give up and do it the expensive way?

John

(yes, Norfolk is quieter. The Navy docks are pretty empty. At least the big ships are elsewhere.)