On 05/02 09:49, Andrea Conti wrote: > > I think, I feel better if I repartitioning/reformat both drives, > > though. > > It's not necessary, but if it makes you feel better by all means do so. > > > *GPT/MBR > > From a discussion based on a "GPT or MBR for my system drive" in > > conjunction with UEFI it was said, that GPT is more modern and > > save. > > > More modern I concur. For the rest it's mainly about features: >2TB > partitions and way more metadata, plus not having to bother with CHS values > which make no sense in today's drives. > And being able to define >4 partitions without littering the disk with > extended boot records, which is probably the only thing I'd call "safer". > > My point was that none of this is relevant in an external drive which is > under 1TB and will only hold a single partition starting at sector 1 and > spanning the rest of the disk. > A system drive, especially if booting from UEFI is a different case for which > GPT absolutely makes sense. >
Ok, the other way around: Does GPT hurt more than MBT on a external HD used for backup puporses (no boot), has 1T and 1 partion of that size? > > My question was meant not so much as "MBR or GPT?" > > but more whether there are some variants of GPT (with > > protected MBR for example -- which was completly new to me), > > which I should use or avoid. > > There are really no "variants" of GPT. The protective MBR is only there to > make all space in the disk look allocated to MBR partitioning tools that are > not GPT-aware, and is automatically written for you by all GPT partitioning > tools. > > In addition to the opaque entry of type 0xee, this MBR can also contain > entries pointing to at least some of the actual partitions; this is called a > 'hybrid' MBR and allows MBR-only access to partitions that are within the > limits of MBR addressing (start and end sector <2TB). These are only useful > in very specific cases an I would consider them a hack more than a solution; > while gpt-fdisk has some support for creating hybrid MBRs (don't know about > fdisk), you won't get one unless you specifically ask for it. >: Thanks of the information! :) > > But: Are rescue systems for USB-stick more UEFI/GPT aware nowadays > > or "traditionally" based on MBR/BIOS-boot? > > I think that anything that's not ancient will have tools and kernel support > for both MBR and GPT, and will boot fine in both BIOS and UEFI modes. > > > One thing I found is really handy: An USB-stick with an rEfind > > installation. As long as your PC supports UEFI (or can switched to it) > > rEfind is able to boot "everything" without prior configuration. > > You can probably do the same with GRUB2, albeit in a way less user-friendly > fashion :) > But why do you consider the ability to boot anything but the rescue system > itself important in a rescue system? Recently a BIOS update deleted all UEFI entries and the system no longer boots. With rEfind from a USBstick I was able to boot the sustem nonetheless and the reinstallation of grub solves the problem. Task accomplished! :) > > > > Some rescue-system which really shines and with which you have made good > > experiences? > > My usual go-to is SystemRescueCD (the old 5.x gentoo-based one). > > andrea Thanks for the info, Andrea! Cheers! Meino
