Origin of "partition" in storage devices

[Huw Davies]

> On 1 Feb 2022, at 09:42, cctalk at classiccmp.org wrote:
> 
> A somewhat broader search found the 1984 RT-11 System Release Notes with the following:
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> 
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> 1.4.2.4 Logical Disk Subsetting Handler (LD) - The logical disk subsetting handler lets you define logical disks, which are subsets of physical disks. You define logical disks by assigning a logical disk unit number to a file on a physical disk. You can then use the logical disk as though it were a physical disk.
> 
> AA-5286F-TC-T1_RT-11_System_Release_Notes_Jul84.pdf (bitsavers.org) <http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/rt11/v5.1_Jul84/AA-5286F-TC-T1_RT-11_System_Release_Notes_Jul84.pdf>  p15/102
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> Suggests DEC had not yet adopted the term “partition” for a segment of a disk

From http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/ultrix-11/2.0/AE-X370C-TC_ULTRIX-11_2.0SPD_Sep84.pdf <http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/ultrix-11/2.0/AE-X370C-TC_ULTRIX-11_2.0SPD_Sep84.pdf> it seems that at least one part of Digital used partitions as we now know it in September 1984. I wonder if AT&T Unix Seventh edition also called them partitions?

Huw