Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 06:54:42 -0700 From: "Thomas D. Dean" <tomdean@wavecable.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Convert MBR Partitions to GPT Message-ID: <88cabc53-eff5-3e1a-6e77-2d86da2b8c8d@wavecable.com> In-Reply-To: <20190902141116.264edd01.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <1ef6d7eb-a7c9-2a5d-12b2-20c4ef255523@wavecable.com> <20190902133941.e563291f.freebsd@edvax.de> <0e0c086c-a907-d224-98b8-9486d921e7a5@wavecable.com> <20190902141116.264edd01.freebsd@edvax.de>
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On 9/2/19 5:11 AM, Polytropon wrote: > On Mon, 2 Sep 2019 05:04:52 -0700, Thomas D. Dean wrote: >> On 9/2/19 4:39 AM, Polytropon wrote: >>> On Sun, 1 Sep 2019 19:47:33 -0700, Thomas D. Dean wrote: >>>> I have 5 disk drives, with two (same) OS's. Actually, two drives have >>>> Windows 7 and its secondary plex. From an earlier post: >>>> >>>> sata6g_1 HD0 SSD ubuntu 18.04 >>>> sata6g_2 HD1 WD5000 Ubuntu 18.04 >>>> sata3g_3 HD2 WD5000 windows 7 - not used >>>> sata3g_4 HD3 WD5000 backup >>>> sata3g_5 HD4 WD5000 windows 7 secondary plex- not used >>>> sata3g_6 DVD DRW-24B3LT >>>> sata6g_E1 (empty) >>>> sata6g_E2 (empty) >>>> >>>> I plan to keep the SSD Ubuntu install until I can get FreeBSD up and >>>> running the way I want. >>>> >>>> So, for now, I want to install FreeBSD on sata3g_5 HD4. >>>> >>>> My motherboard, ASUS P9X79 PRO has support for UEFI boot. >>>> >>>> Is it worth the effort to change everything to GPT, or, should I just >>>> use GPT on the FreeBSD disk? I am leaning toward the later, but, ... >>>> >>>> I think the future has a SSD for FreeBSD. >>> >>> Don't confuse UEFI and GPT. :-) >>> >>> YOu can use both GPT and MBR (not on the same disk, of course, >>> but on different disks). Choosing MBR is suggested today only >>> for the few cases where it's absolutely needed. Use GPT if you >>> can. >>> >>> You cannot "convert" between the two except via "backup, re-init, >>> restore", which probably is not what you have in mind. >>> >>> But as it is about a new installation of FreeBSD into a multi-OS >>> setting, I'd suggest to leave everything untouched, install >>> FreeBSD on its disk using GPT partitioning, and add a "chain loader" >>> entry to GRUB configuration that boots FreeBSD. GRUB can understand >>> both MBR and GPT, so it doesn't matter. >>> >> >> Something, possibly BSDinstall or, maybe something unknown made the 2 >> Windows 7 disks unbootable. Great, now I can use them for something >> other than adding weight to the box. > > Maybe there is just some damage to the bootcode of each "Windows". > Suggestion: Unplug all disks except one of those (one at each time), > boot with a "Windows" installation / repair DVD, restore the boot > sector - should boot fine again. > > However, it sounds totally wrong that a FreeBSD installer even > _touches_ disks that are not subject to the FreeBSD installation. > I can image that adding boot code (single-boot or boot manager) > to the 1st disk of a setup is possible, but what you're describing > sounds just wrong. Not entirely impossible, but ... I downloaded the FreeBSD DVD1. Disabled USB 3.0 support in the "UEFI BIOS", as ASUS calls it. Now, FreeBSD does not go into the xhci loop. I chose the entire 3rd disk, ada2 for FreeBSD, accepted most of the defaults and the installation completed. I did not see where BSDinstall offered a choice about the MBR. However, I can not boot anything but FreeBSD. So, BSDinstall did write something to ada0, I have not discovered what. I can boot HD0 from "UEFI BIOS" Maybe BSDinstall messed with moterboard EFI boot??? > > Also boot into Linux and make sure the GRUB configuration is > correct. > > > >> I changed HD2, sdc to GPT with gparted. I installed Ubuntu 18.04 on it. >> I booted sda and used update-grub2. Seemed to go OK, but I could not >> get grub to boot sdc. The boot menu listed sdc, but when selected igrub >> actually booted sda. Looking at boot/grub/grub.cfg, I see the menuentry >> for sdc to have the same values as sda. >> >> grub bug?? > > Something went wrong when update-grub2 altered the configuration, > I'd guess. You can manually change the GRUB configuration as needed. > I am trying very hard to not do anything non-automatic or not out-of-the-box. Getting old and I forget things... Tom Dean
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