Hi, Generally you can call a partition without a file system on it a raw device. Some databases use this feature "to speed up access". You can treat /dev/hda# or /dev/sda# as a raw device (usually raw devices are character devices though, e.g. in AIX). For example, create a partition using fdisk (lets say it is /dev/sda10). Do NOT create a file system on it. Then, run: # tar -cvf /dev/sda10 /etc --> to backup files to this "raw" device Then you can read it back using: # tar -tvf /dev/sda10 --> will list files for you. Note, that you could write and read data from a partition that does not have a file system on it (you can not mount it). A hard disk partition is a block device: # ls -l /dev/sda1 --> brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Jan 19 22:27 /dev/sda1 "b" --> means that the file is a block device. -alexm On Tue, 23 Mar 1999, Andrew Tuson wrote:

I am trying to install Yard-SQL from the SuSE Linux 6.0 CD-ROMs. Part of the installaion instructions, concerning the cfg file, state that:

'The device /dev/ryard3 is just an example for using a raw device.

Some operating systems (eg Linux) do not have raw devices. Use block devices in these cases.'

The cfg lines to which this refers are:

# dbspace device size offset F ROOTDBS /dev/ryard3 200000 0

Can somebody please explain what 'raw devices' and 'block devices' are, and what I should put in the cfg file?

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