.TH PREP 8
.SH NAME
disk/prep \- make disk partition table
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B disk/prep
[
.B -r
]
.I special
.SH DESCRIPTION
A partition table is stored on a disk to specify the division of
the physical disk into a set of logical units.
On Plan 9 the partition table is a list of triples: name, starting sector,
and ending sector.
The first two partitions must have the names
.B disk
and
.BR partition ;
the
.B disk
partition records the starting and ending sectors for the whole disk,
and the
.B partition
partition, typically the last sector on the disk, holds the
partition table itself.
.PP
.I Special
is the maximal prefix of names of the logical units on the disk, for example
.BR #w/hd0 .
.I Prep
reads and prints the associated partition table
and then enters a simple interactive mode to control editing the table.
.PP
The single option
.B -r
(readonly) prohibits writing the table on disk.
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR floppy (3),
.IR hard (3)