Disc Initialisation
with IRIX fx

 General Information

1. Introduction

fx is the IRIX tool for disc initialisation and partitioning. You will need to run this tool at least once with every new harddisc. This tool is also imprtant for writing the so called 'label' onto the disc - IRIX won't accept any harddiscs without this label. Especially it is not directly possible to install IRIX on a disc without this label. The next section will help you starting the fx tool from the 'Installation Tools' CD without any working IRIX installation.

2. Booting into fx

  • Onyx/Challenge R4K, Indigo R4K, Indigo2 R4K, Indy, O2:
    boot -f dksc(X,Y,8)sashARCS dksc(X,Y,7)stand/fx.ARCS --x
  • Onyx/Challenge R8K/R10K, Indigo2 R8K/R10K, Onyx2, Origin (except for an Origin 200), Octane, Fuel:
    boot -f dksc(X,Y,8)sash64 dksc(X,Y,7)stand/fx.64 --x
  • Origin 200 (Firmware up to 6.111):
    boot -f cdrom(X,Y,8)sash64 cdrom(X,Y,7)stand/fx.64 --x

3. Using fx

In most cases you want to partition a harddrive as a root-drive, that is the first harddisc in your system that contains the operating system. To do so, simply select repartition and then root-drive in fx, then exit.

4. Cleaning a Partition

Sometimes you want to clean a partition.

----- please choose one (? for help, .. to quit this menu)-----
 [exi]t              [d]ebug/            [l]abel/            [a]uto
 [b]adblock/         [exe]rcise/         [r]epartition/      [f]ormat
fx> label/show/partition

----- partitions-----
part  type       cyls           blocks        Megabytes   (base+size)
  0: efs        8 + 103      2528 + 32548       1 + 16
  1: rawdata  111 + 259     35076 + 81844      17 + 40
  6: efs      370 + 7553   116920 + 2386748    57 + 1165
  8: volhdr     0 + 8           0 + 2528        0 + 1
 10: entire     0 + 7923        0 + 2503668     0 + 1222

----- please choose one (? for help, .. to quit this menu)-----
 [exi]t              [d]ebug/            [l]abel/            [a]uto
 [b]adblock/         [exe]rcise/         [r]epartition/      [f]ormat
fx> exercise/sequential

fx/exercise/sequential: modifier = (rd-only) wr-o
fx/exercise/sequential: starting block# = ((0)) 2528
fx/exercise/sequential: nblocks = ((2501140)) 32548
fx/exercise/sequential: nscans = (1)
 * * * * * W A R N I N G * * * * *
about to destroy data on disk dksc(0,1,)! ok? yes
sequential pass 1: scanning [(2528), (35076))
........... 10.......... 20.......... 30.......... 40.......... 
50.......... 60.......... 70.......... 80.......... 90.......... 
100..

 
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