upon Matthias Drochner reply i reread
(much more carefull) man disklabel.

now i expanded my disktab with:

ibm3200|IBM Deskstar-3 3.24GB IDE:\
        :dt=ST506:ty=winchester:se#512:nt#16:ns#63:nc#6296: \
        :pa#6346368:oa#0:ta=4.2BSD:ba#4096:fa#512: \
        :pc#6346368:oc#0: \
        :pd#6346368:od#0:

maxtor130|Maxtor 130MB IDE:\
        :dt=ST506:ty=winchester:se#512:nt#16:ns#38:nc#685: \
        :pa#254592:oa#0:ta=4.2BSD:ba#4096:fa#512: \
        :pc#254592:oc#0: \
        :pd#254592:od#0:

on the 386 i do :
disklabel -w -r /dev/wd1a maxtor130
newfs /dev/wd1a
newfs: /dev/wd1a: not a character-special device

on a 486 with:
disklabel -w -r /dev/wd1a ibm3200
newfs /dev/wd1a
and mounting with a reboot and edited fstab
i am able to use the disk.
but this one, after crashing later on in the day
(i suspect the nfs call or netatalk,
2 times ftp-ed about 500Mb to it but crashed afterward)
doesn't fsck or mount the disk after a reset.

disklabel -w -r wd1 <drive-type>
gives same results.

questions are:
what i'm i doing wrong?
is my disktab ok now?
what does "not a character-special device" mean?
is it normal to loose diskcontent of a second mounted disk?
(guess not)

thanx in advance again
(as you see, steep learning curve even for mounting a disk)
please respond to my e-mail as well,
being not subscribed to the port-i386 list.
~n