Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:01:00 -0400 From: Joel Maxuel <j.maxuel@gmail.com> To: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Installer not recognizing existing partition tables Message-ID: <1547845260.4093.1.camel@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <1547844935.2361.1.camel@gmail.com> References: <1547790911.2471.3.camel@gmail.com> <20190118121130.81080d2b.freebsd@edvax.de> <1547844935.2361.1.camel@gmail.com>
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Oops, I forgot to properly note that I have removed the extra
partitions, and shrunk extended to reveal space for primary partitions.
So the reply was in the context of no change in the behaviour of the
installer environment.
Now current parted info:
Disk /dev/sda: 537234768s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File
system Flags
1 2048s 117229567s 117227520s primary ext4 boot
2 117229568s 419311615s 302082048s extended
5 117231616s 419311615s 302080000s logical ext4
Disk /dev/sdb: 1953525168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File
system Flags
1 2048s 78125055s 78123008s primary ext4
2 78127102s 1827698687s 1749571586s extended
5 78127104s 97656831s 19529728s logical ext4
6 97658880s 117188607s 19529728s logical ext4
7 117190656s 128907263s 11716608s logical linux-swap(v1)
8 128909312s 695232511s 566323200s logical ext4
9 695234560s 1827696639s 1132462080s logical ext2
On Fri, 2019-01-18 at 16:55 -0400, Joel Maxuel wrote:
> On Fri, 2019-01-18 at 12:11 +0100, Polytropon wrote:
> > On Fri, 18 Jan 2019 01:55:11 -0400, Joel Maxuel wrote:
> > > Looking to set up FreeBSD as part of a dual-boot with Debian
> > > Stretch
> > > (already installed). The drives I will be using includes an SSD
> > > (ada0/sda) for rootfs and an HDD (ada1/sdb) for swap and /home.
> >
> > Such kinds of setting are possible.
> >
> >
> >
> > > When I ran the FreeBSD installer, everything went fine until I
> > > got
> > > to
> > > partitioning - I chose the semi-manual option, and only ada0 &
> > > ada1
> > > appeared - no existing partitions below.
> > >
> > > dmesg revealed:
> > >
> > > ada0 at ahcich0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
> > > ...
> > > ada0: Command Queueing enabled
> > > ada0: 262321MB (537234768 512 byte sectors)
> > > ada1 at ahcich1 bus 0 scbus1 target 0 lun 0
> > > ...
> > > ada1: Command Queueing enabled
> > > ada1: 953869MB (1953525168 512 byte sectors)
> > > ada1: quirks=0x1<4k>
> > > GEOM_PART: integrity check failed (ada0, BSD)
> > > GEOM_PART: integrity check failed (ada1, BSD)
> >
> > That is correct so far - two physical devices.
> >
>
> So the GEOM_PART fail (with the wrong table type) is normal?
> Double checking that because trouble threads I have looked at have
> come
> up with this error before, but not the mismatched partition table
> identity (from what I have seen).
>
> >
> > > The parted details (I had pre-made the partitions for FreeBSD):
> >
> > You should not pre-make anything for FreeBSD, just supply
> > unused disk space. The installer will create the required
> > partitions on its own. Experience tells us to leave the
> > installation tasks to the installer of the OS we want to
> > install. ;-)
> >
>
> FWIW, initially I didn't, but yeah, that "free space" was inside
> extended partition(s) - good point you made nonetheless.
>
> >
> > > ~> sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
> > > Model: ATA Crucial_CT275MX3 (scsi)
> > > Disk /dev/sda: 537234768s
> > > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
> > > Partition Table: msdos
> > > Disk Flags:
> > >
> > > Number Start End Size Type File
> > > system Flags
> > > 1 2048s 117229567s 117227520s primary ext4
> > >
> > > boot
> > > 2 117229568s 537233407s 420003840s extended
> > > 5 117231616s 419311615s 302080000s logical ext4
> > > 6 419313664s 419315711s 2048s logical freebsd-ufs
> > > 7 419317760s 537233407s 117915648s logical
> >
> > And this reveals your problem:
> >
> > Within the MBR partitioning scheme (as opposed to GPT which
> > doesn't require any further discussion here), FreeBSD needs
> > to be installed into a slice. A slice is a DOS primary (!)
> > partition which the installer cannot allocate here - disk
> > space insufficient.
> >
> > FreeBSD cannot be installed into a logical drive inside a
> > DOS extended partition, which is what you're trying to do.
> >
> > If you free up disk space, the installer - in "MBR mode" -
> > will create a slice (another DOS primary partition), and
> > inside this slice, will create partitions / labels.
> >
> > Example:
> >
> > /dev/ada0s1 -> ext4
> > (extended and logicals omitted)
> > /dev/ada0s2 -> FreeBSD slice
> > /dev/ada0s2a -> FreeBSD boot partition (or "everything")
> > /dev/ada0s2b -> FreeBSD swap partition
> >
> > Depending on how you want to set the system up, you will
> > at least need ada0s2 with ada0s2a; everything else is optional
> > or can be located elsewhere.
> >
>
> <SNIP>
>
> >
> > Same problem here: No free disk space, and only a logical
> > drive within a DOS extended partition which FreeBSD cannot
> > natively use, at least not for booting.
> >
> > It _might_ be possible to initialize this one with newfs
> > manually, and use it as /home (with "newfs" command and
> > maybe "tunefs" if needed). The corresponding /dev/ada1s<?>
> > will be a mystery for now. :-)
>
> I suppose here is why I am replying as such - /dev (in the FreeBSD
> installer environment) is not splitting out ada0 and ada1 into their
> partition nodes. As mentioned before, `gpart list` (my mistake for
> quoting `gpart show` earlier) returns nothing, and with the added `-
> a`
> switch, the only returned data is related to the optical drive.
>
> > Sorry, I have never been using heavy DOS partitioning in
> > combination with FreeBSD, and even for dual-booting systems,
> > I've only been using primary partitions. I never needed
> > more than 4 "drive letters"... :-)
> >
>
> Understood.
>
> > Sidenote:
> >
> > For /home, if I understood you correctly, you don't even
> > need to add a label to the slice. Let's say, /dev/ada1s2
> > will be the DOS primary partition on the 2nd disk where
> > you want to place /home. You now _could_ add a 'd' label
> > ('a' reserved for boot partition, 'b' for swap, and 'c'
> > for "the whole thing, whatever it is"), and then run
> > "newfs /dev/ada1s2d" on it. That's not needed, you can
> > "newfs /dev/ada1s2" as well, and then use /dev/ada1s2
> > for the /etc/fstab entry. If you wanted to use the entire
> > disk as "FreeBSD data" (i. e., not to boot from), you
> > could use "newfs /dev/ada1" to initialize it. This approach,
> > not using any partitioning at all, is called "dedicated",
> > because only FreeBSD can use it. The omission of partitioning
> > information will make it unusable for other operating systems,
> > even if they have UFS file system support.
> >
> > However, if you use the typical FreeBSD partitioning approach,
> > you should get things up and running without further problems.
> >
> >
> >
> > > `gpart show` returns nothing, and because the GEOM error
> > > automatically
> > > assumes the partition tables are BSD when they are really MBR
> > > (msdos),
> > > I don't believe the thread I found will be of assistance:
> > >
> > > https://www.mail-archive.com/freebsd-geom@freebsd.org/msg01424.ht
> > > ml
> > >
> > > ...nor would I want to really risk blowing everything away (even
> > > with
> > > backups) for the possibility that my partition tables have gone
> > > weird
> > > over the years.
> >
> > Try to remove the logical drives you prepared. See if the
> > installer picks up the free disk space. You have sufficient
> > DOS primary partitions left (you only need 1), that should
> > be okay. The installer seems to be a little confused here,
> > don't make it harder for it than it needs to be. :-)
> >
>
> To add some detail as to what the partition editor (continues to)
> read
> back (in case this jars an idea for someone):
>
> ada0 256GB
> ada1 932GB
>
> IIRC, if the partitioner considered the drives as initialized, a
> third
> column with "MBR" would be present. Instead, it seems that the
> partitioner considered the drives as uninitialized or corrupt?
>
> >
> > > AHCI is turned on in my BIOS, but I am wondering if due to my
> > > other
> > > BIOS settings (noted above; IME disabled as well as it can be) if
> > > that
> > > is making FreeBSD expect something different from the controller
> > > than
> > > what is really happening. I feel it is going to be something
> > > silly
> > > such as a slightly different process for non-UEFI.
> >
> > I don't think so. The drives seem to be detected correctly
> > without any errors. It's just the confusing partitioning.
> > With unused disk space, things should work better.
> >
>
> I did grep dmesg against GEOM as well, and there are two extra
> GEOM_PART errors for the drive UUID's this time, instead of just the
> /dev nodes.
>
> I suppose I could check for different kernel modes - there may be an
> option at the cd-loader that covers this.
>
> Thanks for the tips thus far.
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