From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Mon Sep 2 08:45:07 2019 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C3EFD726F for ; Mon, 2 Sep 2019 08:45:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dpchrist@holgerdanske.com) Received: from holgerdanske.com (holgerdanske.com [IPv6:2001:470:0:19b::b869:801b]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "holgerdanske.com", Issuer "holgerdanske.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 46MNv62sy3z4Sr2 for ; Mon, 2 Sep 2019 08:45:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dpchrist@holgerdanske.com) Received: from 99.100.19.101 ([99.100.19.101]) by holgerdanske.com with ESMTPSA (ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:TLSv1.2:Kx=ECDH:Au=RSA:Enc=AESGCM(128):Mac=AEAD) (SMTP-AUTH username dpchrist@holgerdanske.com, mechanism PLAIN) for ; Mon, 2 Sep 2019 01:44:49 -0700 Subject: Re: Convert MBR Partitions to GPT To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <1ef6d7eb-a7c9-2a5d-12b2-20c4ef255523@wavecable.com> From: David Christensen Message-ID: <448b8e19-5cd4-df63-ca7b-9170f3f839ba@holgerdanske.com> Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 01:44:33 -0700 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <1ef6d7eb-a7c9-2a5d-12b2-20c4ef255523@wavecable.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 46MNv62sy3z4Sr2 X-Spamd-Bar: --- Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; dmarc=none; spf=none (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of dpchrist@holgerdanske.com has no SPF policy when checking 2001:470:0:19b::b869:801b) smtp.mailfrom=dpchrist@holgerdanske.com X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-3.58 / 15.00]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; RCVD_VIA_SMTP_AUTH(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-1.00)[-1.000,0]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[]; IP_SCORE(-1.52)[ipnet: 2001:470::/32(-4.45), asn: 6939(-3.12), country: US(-0.05)]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; PREVIOUSLY_DELIVERED(0.00)[freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[]; AUTH_NA(1.00)[]; RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-1.00)[-1.000,0]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[holgerdanske.com]; NEURAL_HAM_SHORT(-0.96)[-0.956,0]; R_SPF_NA(0.00)[]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; ASN(0.00)[asn:6939, ipnet:2001:470::/32, country:US]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[]; RCVD_TLS_ALL(0.00)[]; RCVD_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2019 08:45:07 -0000 On 9/1/19 7:47 PM, 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. I have a SOHO LAN with several phones/ laptops/ pads/ pods, a few workstations, a file/ version control server, and a maintenance/ backup/ archive/ image server, running Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 10, macOS, iOS, FreeBSD, and Debian GNU/ Linux. I use MBR partitioning and one drive for each Windows, BSD, and GNU/ Linux operating system image, and install a hard drive mobile dock in each workstation and server. My typical BSD and Linux system images are 1 GB boot, 1 GB swap, and 10 GB root, and fit on 16+ GB devices (HDD, SSD, USB flash drives). My Windows images are on 180 GB SSD's. A key benefit of this approach is that I avoid issues related to motherboard firmware (BIOS/ EFI/ UEFI), drive partitioning (MBR/ GPT), and bootloaders/ multi-boot (Windows, BSD, GRUB). The only time I need to run CMOS setup is to change the hardware clock. When I want to install an OS, I wipe the system drive/ insert a wiped drive and run the installer in the most straight-forward fashion. (I use complete installer images on USB flash drives.) When I want to change OS's, I power down, remove the system drive, install another system drive, and power up. I use GPT partitioning only for 2+ TB drives -- e.g. data drives and backup/ archive/ image drives. If you are trying to do everything with one computer, do yourself a favor and get another computer (preferably workstation/ server class with ECC memory). Also, get several large internal HDD's and matching mobile dock bays and trays for backups, archives, and images; and rotate them -- live, near-site, off-site. Learn a scripting language and automate administrative chores. Finally, the BSD books by Michael W. Lucas are very practical and TDAIOTFOS2 by McKusick, et al, is definitive. David