130956SobrienThis is the Main Slice (``FDISK'' or PC-style Partition) Editor. 210882Speter 312661SpeterPossible commands are printed at the bottom and the Master Boot Record 412661Spetercontents are shown at the top. You can move up and down with the 521971Sjkharrow keys and (C)reate a new slice whenever the highlighted 621971Sjkhselection bar is over a slice whose type is marked as "unused." 710882Speter 821971SjkhYou are expected to leave this screen with at least one slice 912661Spetermarked "FreeBSD." Note that unlike Linux, you don't need to create 1030956Sobrienmultiple FreeBSD FDISK partition entries for different things like 1112661Speterswap, file systems, etc. The usual convention is to create ONE 1230956SobrienFreeBSD slice (FDISK partition) per drive and then subsection this slice 1330956Sobrieninto swap and file systems with the Label editor. 1412661Speter 1510882SpeterNo actual changes will be made to the disk until you (C)ommit from the 1612661SpeterInstall menu or use the (W)rite option here! You're working with what 1712661Speteris essentially a copy of the disk label(s), both here and in the Label 1812661SpeterEditor. 1912661Speter 20155367SceriIf you want to use the entire disk for FreeBSD, type `A'. Slices will 21155367Sceribe aligned to fictitious cylinder boundaries and space will be reserved 2212661Speterin front of the FreeBSD slice for a [future] possible boot manager. 2312661Speter 24155367SceriFor the truly dedicated disk case, type `F'. You'll be asked whether or 25155367Scerinot you wish to keep the disk (potentially) compatible with other 26155367Scerioperating systems, i.e. the information in the FDISK table should be 27155367Scerikept valid. A truly dedicated disk can be achieved by selecting `No'. 28155367SceriIn that case, all BIOS geometry considerations will no longer be in 29155367Scerieffect and you can safely ignore any ``The detected geometry is 30155367Sceriinvalid'' warning messages you may later see. It is also not necessary 31155367Sceriin this case to set a slice bootable or install an MBR boot manager as 32155367Sceriboth things are then irrelevant. The FreeBSD slice will start at 33155367Sceriabsolute sector 0 of the disk (so that FreeBSD's disk label is identical 34155367Scerito the Master Boot Record) and extend to the very last sector of the 35155367Sceridisk medium. Needless to say, such a disk cannot have any sort of a 36155367Sceriboot manager, `disk manager', or anything else that has to interact with 37155367Scerithe BIOS. This option is therefore only considered safe for SCSI disks 38155367Sceriand most IDE disks and is primarily intended for people who are going to 39155367Sceriset up a dedicated FreeBSD server or workstation, not a typical `home PC'. 4012661Speter 41155367SceriIf you select the default of `Yes' at the compatibility, slices will be 42155367Scerialigned to fictitious cylinder boundaries and space will be reserved 43155367Sceriin front of the FreeBSD slice for a [future] possible boot manager. 44155367SceriThis is pretty much equivalent to having chosen `A' originally. 4520518Sjkh 4620518SjkhThe flags field has the following legend: 4720518Sjkh 4821971Sjkh '=' -- This slice is properly aligned. 49155346Sceri 'A' -- This slice is marked active. 5021971Sjkh 'R' -- This slice contains the root (/) filesystem 5120518Sjkh 5221971SjkhIf no slice is marked Active, you will need to either install 5320518Sjkha Boot Manager (the option for which will be presented later in the 5420518Sjkhinstallation) or set one Active before leaving this screen. 5520518Sjkh 5621971SjkhTo leave the slice editor, type `Q'. 5774203Sjkh 58