title: What is the general sizing number for /dev partition on RHEL
body: <p>Please check the below description:</p>
  
  <p>Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses a naming scheme that is file-based, with file names in the form of <strong>/dev/xxyN</strong>.
  Where,
  <strong>xx:</strong>
  The first two letters of the partition name indicate the type of device on which the partition resides, usually sd.
  <strong>y:</strong>
  This letter indicates which device the partition is on. For example, /dev/sda for the first hard disk, /dev/sdb for the second, and so on.
  <strong>N:</strong>
  The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are numbered 1 through 4. Logical partitions start at 5. So, for example, /dev/sda3 is the third primary or extended partition on the first hard disk, and /dev/sdb6 is the second logical partition on the second hard disk.</p>
  
  <p>In Red Hat Enterprise Linux each partition is used to form part of the storage necessary to support a single set of files and directories. Mounting a partition makes its storage available starting at the specified directory (known as a mount point).</p>
  
  <p><strong>For example</strong>, if partition /dev/sda5 is mounted on /usr/, that would mean that all files and directories under /usr/ physically reside on /dev/sda5. So the file /usr/share/doc/FAQ/txt/Linux-FAQ would be stored on /dev/sda5, while the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf would not. It is also possible that one or more directories below /usr/ would be mount points for other partitions. For instance, a partition (say, /dev/sda7) could be mounted on /usr/local/, meaning that /usr/local/man/whatis would then reside on /dev/sda7 rather than /dev/sda5.</p>
  
  <p>Generally speaking,  the disk spacing for /dev partition depends on number and size of the partitions (both primary and logical)to be used by operating system. However, there is no one right answer to this question. It depends on your needs and requirements.</p>
  
  <p><strong>My question is, Is there any affect to the initial partition memory (say, we given 32 GB to /dev partition while installing RHEL OS), if we are adding more harddisk memories(say in 100's of GB's) to /dev partition.</strong></p>