Since
<filename>vinum
</filename> exists within the
<trademark class="registered">UNIX
</trademark> disk storage framework, it would be possible to use
<trademark class="registered">UNIX
</trademark> partitions as the building block for multi-disk plexes. In fact, this turns out to be too inflexible as
<trademark class="registered">UNIX
</trademark> disks can have only a limited number of partitions. Instead,
<filename>vinum
</filename> subdivides a single
<trademark class="registered">UNIX
</trademark> partition, the
<emphasis>drive
</emphasis>, into contiguous areas called
<emphasis>subdisks
</emphasis>, which are used as building blocks for plexes.