The RK02/RK03 (Diablo predecessor to the DEC RK05) were introduced in
1972 so partitioning goes back that far at least.
My guess is it goes back even further.
On 1/31/2022 7:41 PM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
OS/8 partitioned RK02 disk packs.
On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 2:38 PM Warner Losh via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 12:01 PM Tom Gardner via cctalk <
cctalk@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
