Origin of "partition" in storage devices

[Warner Losh]

On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 12:01 PM Tom Gardner via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:

> There is a discussion of the origin of the term "partition" in storage
> devices such as HDDs at:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Disk_partitioning#Where_did_the_term_%22p
> artition%22_originate
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Disk_partitioning#Where_did_the_term_%22partition%22_originate>
> ?
>
> It seems clear it was used in memory well before HDDs but when it got
> started there is unclear.
> * IBM PC DOS v2 was an early user in 1983 with FDISK and its first PC
> support of HDDs
> * UNIX, Apple OS's and IBM mainframe all seem to come later.
>

SunOS had partitions from the start (1982). These may have been carried over
from the Ubisoft port, but I've not been able to confirm that. If so, they
date a little
earlier. HP/UX had them in about this same time period, but my sources for
that
are not very good.

Warner


> Partitioning as a "slice" probably predates IBM PC DOS v2
>
> Would appreciate some recollections about DEC usage, other minicomputers
> and
> the BUNCH.
>
> You can either post directly to Wikipedia or let me know; links to
> references would greatly be appreciated
>
> Tom
>
>