The normal way to create a new OpenVMS system disk is to install
OpenVMS with the INITIALIZE option. When you do this, the installation
process responds as follows:
On both OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS
I64 systems, the disk is initialized with volume expansion (INITIALIZE/LIMIT) This method of initialization (using the /LIMIT qualifier)
may make your target system disk incompatible with versions of OpenVMS
prior to 7.2. HP recommends that you create your system disk in
the default manner unless you need to mount the disk on a version
of OpenVMS prior to 7.2. You can avoid use of the /LIMIT qualifier by initializing
your target system disk before you install OpenVMS, following the
steps described in
Alternative Method of Initialization.
On OpenVMS I64 systems only, a diagnostic partition
is created The diagnostic partition is visible only from the console;
it corresponds to the file [VMS$COMMON.SYSMAINT]SYS$DIAGNOSTICS.SYS
on the system disk. The partition is intended for use with the HP
IPF Offline Diagnostics and Utilities CD provided with the purchase
of your Integrity server. For more information about offline diagnostics,
refer to your hardware documentation and the following Web site:
http://docs.hp.com/hpux/diag
HP recommends creating the system disk with this
partition and not removing it. However, it is not required for operation
of OpenVMS. If you do not want the diagnostic partition, you can prevent
its creation by initializing the disk before installing OpenVMS,
following the steps described in
Alternative Method of Initialization. Alternatively, if you have already created
the system disk and the partition, you can remove it by following
the steps described in
Removing the Diagnostic Partition File (OpenVMS I64 Only). You can recreate the partition anytime afterward; see
Creating the Diagnostic Partition (OpenVMS I64 Only).
HP OpenVMS Version 8.2 Upgrade and Installation... 
