>
> hi,
> i have got a system with win95(hda1) and linux(hda5). i didnt mount the win95
> partition. but i was fiddling with /dev directory as root. at one point of
> time i redirected ls to /dev/hda1. because of that the win95 partition got
> corrupted and was not getting booted.
>
> my question is:
> when i havent mounted the win95 partition, how is it that that partition
> is accessible?
> how /dev/file is related to the device when not mounted?
>
> Thanx
> Jay
>
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Every file in /dev is a device, you can access the raw compounts (as root)
though these, there is a way you can directly 'look' at the kernal memory
though these devices (/dev/kmem??), so I would assume you can directly
'read and wirte' to the raw hard disk device it's self. I don't know what
ls would have done to it, i don't think it would write to it, but
something happened. If you mount the disk it would be safer since you
have to go though the 'rules' of it's file system. Normal user accounts
shouldn't have access to files in the /dev directory.
Even if it is not mounted it is still phyiscally in your machine, windows
can't 'see or mount' your drive where linux is installed, but it is still
'connected' to the machine. If you run fdisk it shows up as non-dos part
and can delete the whole linux partation even though it is not mounted.
This is because it fdisk can access (or can call something to access) the
'raw' devices. Just the same as root can access (or can call somethining
to access) the raw devices in /dev
Bud
