# fdisk(8)

## NAME

         fdisk - partition a hard disk [IBM]

## SYNOPSIS

         fdisk [-hm] [-sn] [file]

## OPTIONS

         -h   Number of disk heads is m

         -s   Number of sectors per track is n

## EXAMPLES

         fdisk /dev/hd0      # Examine disk partitions

         fdisk -h9 /dev/hd0  # Examine disk with 9 heads

## DESCRIPTION

         When fdisk starts up, it reads in the partition table  and  displays  it.
         It then presents a menu to allow the user to modify partitions, store the
         partition table on a file, or load it from a  file.   Partitions  can  be
         marked  as MINIX, DOS or other, as well as active or not.  Using fdisk is
         self-explanatory. However, be aware that repartitioning a disk will cause
         information  on  it  to  be  lost.  Rebooting  the  system immediately is
         mandatory after changing partition sizes and parameters.   MINIX,  XENIX,
         PC-IX,  and  MS-DOS all have different partition numbering schemes.  Thus
         when using multiple systems on the same disk, be careful.

         Note that MINIX, unlike MS-DOS , cannot  access  the  last  sector  in  a
         partition  with  an odd number of sectors.  The reason that odd partition
         sizes do not cause a problem with MS-DOS is that  MS-DOS  allocates  disk
         space  in units of 512-byte sectors, whereas MINIX uses 1K blocks.  Fdisk
         has a variety of other features that can be seen by typing h.

         Fdisk normally knows the geometry of the device  by  asking  the  driver.
         You can use the -h and -s options to override the numbers found.

## SEE ALSO

         part(8).