Installing a hard disk

SCO OpenServer Handbook
Chapter 18, Adding hard disks

This section describes how to install an additional IDE, EIDE, ESDI, IDA, or SCSI hard disk. If the disk is SCSI, you must already have updated the system configuration files as described in ``Configuring a SCSI hard disk''. For all disk controller types, it is assumed that you have already physically installed the hard disk and booted the system.

NOTE: If you are installing a disk that already contains filesystems, you can retain the data they contain by preserving the disk's existing partition and division information. However, as a precaution, you should back up the data before removing the disk from the old system.

Log in as root and put the system into maintenance mode.
Select Hard Disk from the devices listed by the Hardware/Kernel Manager, or enter the command mkdev hd. (Enter mkdev hd -u or mkdev hd -h if you require detailed usage and help information for mkdev.)
Select the type of hard disk that you want to add to the system.
IDA disks: Enter the logical number of the disk and the number of the controller to which it is connected.
SCSI disks: Enter the host adapter type and number, the bus number, the disk controller ID, and the LUN of the disk.
ST506-interface (IDE, EIDE, and some ESDI), or ESDI disks: Enter the number of the disk on the controller. If you are installing IDE or EIDE disks on ISA or EISA bus machines, you must also enter the number of the controller to which the disk is attached.
Choose to continue the installation, or exit. If you choose to continue the installation, the driver outputs a message to show it has been initialized.
The mkdev hd script now runs the programs dkinit(ADM), fdisk(ADM), badtrk(ADM), and divvy(ADM) in sequence to configure the hard disk for use.
- If your disk has an IDE, EIDE, ESDI, or IDA controller, mkdev hd runs dkinit(ADM) to allow you to change the physical parameters defined for the disk such as its geometry, and whether it supports error correction. See ``Changing default disk parameters using dkinit'' for more information.
  dkinit is not run for SCSI disks. If you move a SCSI disk between machines or change the host adapter, you may need to run dparam(ADM) on the disk to change the geometry defined in the masterboot block. See ``Writing a new masterboot block'' for more information.
- If your disk has an IDE, EIDE, or ESDI controller, mkdev hd runs fdisk(ADM) to allow you to create disk partitions. See ``Partitioning a hard disk using fdisk'' for more information.
- If your disk has an IDE, EIDE, or ESDI controller, mkdev hd runs badtrk(ADM) to allow you to scan the disk and map bad tracks to the bad track table reserved within a UNIX system partition. For SCSI disks, mkdev hd uses badtrk to reserve a table for bad SCSI logical blocks but it does not allow you to scan the disk. See ``Scanning a disk for defects using badtrk'' for more information.
  If the virtual disk driver is linked into the kernel, and you want to configure your multiple hard disks as virtual disks, choose to exit at this point and run the Virtual Disk Manager. See Chapter 8, ``Administering virtual disks'' in the System Administration Guide for details.
- The mkdev hd script runs divvy(ADM) to allow you to divide a UNIX system partition into separate filesystems and swap areas. See ``Dividing a disk partition into divisions using divvy'' for more information.

The installation and configuration of your hard disk is now complete. You can return the system to multiuser mode. See Chapter 2, ``Administering filesystems'' in the System Administration Guide for details of how to mount the new filesystems for use.