> > *0: A6 0 1 1 - 131 127 63 [ 63: 2112516 ] OpenBSD > > 1: DA 131 128 1 - 262 254 63 [ 2112579: 2112516 ] <Unknown ID> > > 2: DA 263 0 1 - 6211 254 63 [ 4225095: 95570685 ] <Unknown ID> > > 3: DA 6212 0 1 - 12160 254 63 [ 99795780: 95570685 ] <Unknown ID> > > Just follow the instructions in the OpenBSD installer, offered by > default. When it prompts you 'Do you want to use all of wd0 for OpenBSD', > just say yes, it will run fdisk -i > > It will make partition 3 the default active bootable one
But I *never* want to use the entire disk for OpenBSD. I have a system for quick recovery in case of a disaster. I only use half of the disk. When I install a new version of OpenBSD, I use the other half of the disk. That way, if a disaster happens, I can quickly boot, run fdisk -- changing the bootable partition, and then reboot into my previous system. In the above fdisk output, partitions 0 and 2 are my current system, while partitions 1 and 3 are my last and next systems. After I install a new system onto partitions 1 and 3, partitions 0 and 2 will become my last and next systems. (Using 2 partitions like this is a holdover from the days when the bootable partition had to be in the first few cylinders of the drive.) I'm surprised more people don't do this. It provides for very quick and easy recovery in the case of a disaster. (I've only ever had such a disaster once; I've been using OpenBSD since late 1996.) The other advantage of this system is that it provides an easy means for seeing how I did things previously. I can quickly run disklabel, use an empty slice to point to one of my old slices, and then mount it. After I'm done I can run disklabel again and put it back. So I never want to use the entire disk for OpenBSD. Therefore, I will need to remember to escape to a shell and run "fdisk -u" when installing to a virgin disk. It would be nice if the OpenBSD install procedure checked for the lack of a valid MBR, and installed one automatically (after asking); that would save some people from experiencing the problem I experienced. Ken Hendrickson
