From owner-freebsd-current@freebsd.org Sat Dec 12 13:36:20 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 74CC5A14B66 for ; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 13:36:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rmacklem@uoguelph.ca) Received: from esa-jnhn.mail.uoguelph.ca (esa-jnhn.mail.uoguelph.ca [131.104.91.44]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0EF4A124B for ; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 13:36:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rmacklem@uoguelph.ca) IronPort-PHdr: 9a23:8XV2jRD7BhucdtxD2Sn8UyQJP3N1i/DPJgcQr6AfoPdwSP78pMbcNUDSrc9gkEXOFd2CrakU1ayO6+jJYi8p39WoiDg6aptCVhsI2409vjcLJ4q7M3D9N+PgdCcgHc5PBxdP9nC/NlVJSo6lPwWB6kO74TNaIBjjLw09fr2zQd6MyZzvn8mJuLTtICxwzAKnZr1zKBjk5S7wjeIxxbVYF6Aq1xHSqWFJcekFjUlhJFaUggqurpzopM0r221qtvkg789NV7nhN+R9FOQATWduD2dgz8TxrgXOS0Os+30OXy1CmRNSGBTI6lf5Q5HjvwPzrOF6wm+WMJulY6ozXGGY7qxoADrhgyQDOjtxpHvSg8dziK9eiA+mqAFyx5bUJoqcYqktNpjBdM8XEDISFv1aUDZMV8blN9MC X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: A2CnBACRIWxW/61jaINehHsGvT6BY4YOgWASAQEBAQEBAQGBCYItggcBAQEDASMEUgUNASACAg0ZAksBDwQTiCcIrBeRYAEKAQEBAR6BAYVVjHSBSQWOKohMjx+ERZZyAigBOoIRHRaBXiA0hAqBCAEBAQ X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.20,417,1444708800"; d="scan'208";a="255904622" Received: from nipigon.cs.uoguelph.ca (HELO zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca) ([131.104.99.173]) by esa-jnhn.mail.uoguelph.ca with ESMTP; 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B62615F55D; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10032) with ESMTP id PBbK2dtRnmXL; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5319415F565; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 (EST) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca Received: from zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10026) with ESMTP id 7UNSlsaZkpTV; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 (EST) Received: from zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca (zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca [172.17.95.18]) by zcs1.mail.uoguelph.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id 350F315F55D; Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:36:12 -0500 (EST) From: Rick Macklem To: Carsten Kunze Cc: freebsd-current Message-ID: <1031404841.129079609.1449927372100.JavaMail.zimbra@uoguelph.ca> Subject: Aw: Re: Aw: Re: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Originating-IP: [172.17.95.11] X-Mailer: Zimbra 8.0.9_GA_6191 (ZimbraWebClient - FF42 (Win)/8.0.9_GA_6191) Thread-Topic: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...) Thread-Index: 4qXMLDZsLFXU+EYy/+dpl09Xg2/b2g== X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 13:36:20 -0000 > Rick Macklem wrote: > > > I don`t use it, but gpart is the preferred FreeBSD command. You might try > > that instead. > > Does it work with MBR or only GPT? Anyway, I'll try it. > It does handle MBR. However, since you are already comfortable with the OpenBSD/NetBSD fdisk, maybe firing up one of those and using their fdisk to clear out the slice you want to use for FreeBSD would be easier. Especially since you mention below that you don't want to "touch with FreeBSD anymore". If you have problems doing this, maybe posting with exactly what error(s) you get from fdisk might get some specific suggestions w.r.t. fixing it? If you do choose to use a from the FreeBSD installer, either fdisk (I don't think you need to specify a disk, but if you do, try "/dev/ada0") or "gpart list" should show you what FreeBSD thinks the partition table looks like. (I don't use gpart, so I don't know its commands beyond that. The man page is rather long, so if you choose to use it, you've got some reading to do.) --> If there is anything under the "freebsd" slice, you need to delete those before creating new ones. --> If you do "Manual...MBR" from the installer, it should show you the slices and anything within each slice. If it shows you anything inside the "freebsd" slice, delete those before trying to create any new ones. The "Manual...MBR" is a front-end to either gpart of fdisk (I don't work on the installer, so I don't know which) and has always worked fine for me. (I recently installed using this on the space left over from a Windows install, so it understood the MBR the Windows install put on the drive. I did create the freebsd slice with this, followed by the partitions within the slice.) The only "trick" I've noticed is that I needed to know the names for the types of partitions: freebsd-ufs for a UFS partition freebsd-swap for a swap partition freebsd-zfs for a ZFS partition - because the installer seems to expect you to know these for the "Manual...MBR" case. > > Well, although installing is always a bit scary, if you don`t touch the > > other > > slices, I`d delete and create the freebsd one. It gets to a certain point > > when > > doing the `Manual MBR` before it asks you if you want to save it on disk. > > At least creating by the (curses) GUI installer is not possible. It does create > somewhere instead of asking me and it doesn't even tell me where it > has created it. And there are numeric bugs in the tool. The numbers it > displayed changed without reason and became even negative ... > So the MBR I don't touch with FreeBSD anymore ... > A simple task for the installer developer: Please let me use an existing > empty slice. This is no rocket sience. > > Carsten Once you have cleared out the FreeBSD partition with OpenBSD/NetBSD, then I'd encourage you to use "Manual ..MBR" and avoid the Auto option when you get to that point in the FreeBSD install. Good luck with it, rick ps: I'm not an installer guy. I just use it from time to time.