Linux disks and partition names may be different from those in other
operating systems. You should know the names that Linux uses when
you create and mount partitions. The basic scheme can be found in
Table 2.1 on page [*].
Table 2.1: Linux Device Names
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Device | Linux Name |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| First floppy drive | /dev/fd0 |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Second floppy drive | /dev/fd1 |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| First partition on /dev/hda (typically C: in | /dev/hda1 |
| other OSs) | |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Fifth partition on /dev/hdc | /dev/hdc5 |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Second partition on /dev/sdb | /dev/sdb2 |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Entire Primary-Master IDE hard disk or CD-ROM | /dev/hda |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Entire Primary-Slave IDE hard disk or CD-ROM | /dev/hdb |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Entire Secondary-Master IDE hard disk or | /dev/hdc |
| CD-ROM | |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Entire Secondary-Slave IDE hard disk or | /dev/hdd |
| CD-ROM | |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| First SCSI disk | /dev/sda |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Second and remaining SCSI disks | /dev/sdb and so forth |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| First serial port (COM1 in other OSs) | /dev/ttyS0 |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| Second, third, etc. serial ports | /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyS2, etc. |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| SCSI tape units (automatic rewind) | /dev/st0, /dev/st1, etc. |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| SCSI tape units (no automatic rewind) | /dev/nst0, /dev/nst1, etc. |
|-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------|
| SCSI CD-ROMs | /dev/scd0, /dev/scd1, etc. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The partitions on each disk are represented by appending a number to
the disk name. For example, the names hda1 and hda2 represent the
first and second partitions of the first IDE disk drive in your
system. Linux represents the primary partitions with the drive name
plus the numbers 1 through 4. For example, the first primary
partition on the first IDE drive is /dev/hda1. The logical
partitions are numbered starting at 5, so the first logical
partition on that same drive is /dev/hda5. Remember that the
extended partition—that is, the primary partition holding the
logical partitions—is not usable by itself. This applies to SCSI
drives as well as IDE drives.
Let’s assume you have a system with two SCSI disks, one at SCSI
address 2 and the other at SCSI address 4. The first disk (at
address 2) is then named sda and the second sdb. If the sda drive
has three partitions on it, these will be named sda1, sda2, and
sda3. The same applies to the sdb disk and its partitions. Note that
if you have two SCSI host bus adapters (i.e., controllers), the
order of the drives can get confusing. The best solution in this
case is to watch the boot messages, assuming you know the drive
models.