> > ONLY root type RDB (0x4e4252207) partitions (and the first one... or was
> > it last one.. of them per driver) are translated to the NetBSD "a" partition
> > letter.
> > ONLY swap type RDB (0x4e4253201) partitions (and the first one... or was
> > it last one.. of them per driver) are translated to the NetBSD "b" partition
> > letter.

I just wanted to thank everyone for replying... the problem was indeed
that I was doing a 'newfs /dev/sd1a' instead of 'newfs /dev/sd1d'.  I
formatted the drive (physically located in my apartment) from work this
morning, mounted it and it's running like a champ! :)  Sounds like this
needs to be added to an FAQ somewhere.

Thanks everyone!

Eric