A Question about Partitions...

[Whitterquick]

What is the point of partitioning a disk with a single (full disk) partition? I see most guides include this step but never a reason why. Partitions have always been about separation (or so I thought), but there is nothing to separate if using the full disk as a single volume. Why have /dev/sdc1 if there is no /dev/sdc2? Surely it makes sense to just use /dev/sdc and install the file system on that? What am I missing?

 

[dylanw]

To some extent, it's a standard/expected. While it is possible to create some file systems directly on a block device (I believe ZFS creates partitions automatically), you don't really gain anything from it. On the other hand, without a partition table, some OSes may be confused by the device, and not recognize that it contains meaningful information. It may also be confusing to anyone working with the system.