On Friday 26 Aug 2016 09:32:25 Peter Humphrey wrote: > Hello list, > > In my search for a suitable boot method, I'm trying Mike G's systemd-boot > ebuild. I've installed it with no problem, and now I reach the heart-in- > mouth stage of actually replacing gummiboot with it. But first, the backup, > including dd of what used to be called the MBR (what is it now?). > > # parted -l > Model: Unknown (unknown) > Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 256GB > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B > Partition Table: gpt > Disk Flags: > > Number Start End Size File system Name Flags > 1 1049kB 3146kB 2097kB uefi bios_grub > 2 3146kB 144MB 141MB fat32 boot boot, esp > 3 144MB 4504MB 4360MB linux-swap(v1) swap > 4 4504MB 15.0GB 10.5GB ext4 rescuesys > 5 15.0GB 32.2GB 17.2GB ext4 gentoo > 6 32.2GB 36.5GB 4295MB ext4 var > 7 36.5GB 45.1GB 8590MB ext4 home > [...] > > That start block of the uefi partition looks odd to me.
The 'Name' of the 1st partition is the label you have provided when you created it. It is NOT the type of the partition, which is shown under the 'Flags' column as 'bios_grub'. The 1st partition was created to accommodate Grub's boot code. It starts on the first cylinder (change the units in parted to cyl and you'll see it starts at '0 cyl') and has no fs on it. > I'm pretty sure I > didn't specify a start position to parted when I was constructing the > partition layout six months ago, preferring to let the program choose a > value itself. Parted and friends will create this partition for Grub at the very start of the disk, when you use GPT. If you stay with a conventional msdos partition table, then the first partition starts at cylinder 63 allowing enough space for MBR to store its boot code in the unallocated cylinders 0 to 62. > I do remember, though, that parted had a strange idea of what > 2MB meant: it's turned out to be 2097kB. You are mixing decimal and binary. 2MiB = 2 x 1024^2 = 2,097,152 > My question for the panel is whether I need to do anything about that > partition layout. What do you think? You don't have to do something about it, if you want to retain the ability to use Grub. If you will no longer use grub then you probably do not need the first grub-specific partition. As shown above the second partition is your EFI partition. 141MB may not be enough to store many kernel images, but it depends on how many kernel images and initramfs you keep in there at any time. -- Regards, Mick
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
