Aw: Re: Aw: Re: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...)

[Rick Macklem]

> 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.
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Aw: Re: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...)

[Carsten Kunze]

Rick Macklem  wrote:

> Did you use "Manual" when it gets to the partitioning screen?
> When I've done this, after selecting "Manual MBR" (or whatever it's called,
> one or two below "Auto"), it should show you the slices
> (what FreeBSD calls the 4 MBR partitions):
> - Then I select the "freebsd" (move around until it is highlighted one)
>   and create partitions within it with "Create" at the bottom of the
> screen.
>   (I always have "fun" with the interface, but repeated attempts with 
>and the arrow keys eventually get me to the right place on the screen;-)

I think I did select "auto" which brings me into the "manual" screen after few
steps. It does show the slices and does even show NTFS and Linux
partitions inside the extended partition (I have 3 primary MBR partitions,
first is freebsd, then two NTFS, then an extendet with further NTFS and
Linux).

The first 10MB of the first slice (freebsd) had been cleared with
"dd if=/dev/zero of=...".  When I put the cursor line on this slice and
select "create" it doesn't allow me to create the freebsd-ufs for "/".

> Good luck with it, rick
> ps: If it doesn't show the slices,I'm guessing the MBR doesn't make sense
> to
> FreeBSD's fdisk. You can go to "" instead of "" and
> then
> try typing "fdisk".

I did try the shell and typed "fdisk" and "disklabel" but this did not work as
known from other BSDs.

The actually issue is that I can't create something in the found freebsd
slice.  In the past I did simply remove this slice and added a new one
(since the free space on the disk had exactly been what I wanted to
use).  But now the seemingly free space is not actually completely free
so I'd like to not delete the slice.  The installer should support using
this slice.

Carsten
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Aw: Re: Aw: Re: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...)

[Carsten Kunze]

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.

> 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
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Re: Aw: Re: Partitioning on a MBR table disk fails (and destroys my data...)

[Rick Macklem]

Carsten Kunze wrote:
> Rick Macklem  wrote:
> 
> > Did you use "Manual" when it gets to the partitioning screen?
> > When I've done this, after selecting "Manual MBR" (or whatever it's called,
> > one or two below "Auto"), it should show you the slices
> > (what FreeBSD calls the 4 MBR partitions):
> > - Then I select the "freebsd" (move around until it is highlighted one)
> >   and create partitions within it with "Create" at the bottom of the
> > screen.
> >   (I always have "fun" with the interface, but repeated attempts with 
> >and the arrow keys eventually get me to the right place on the screen;-)
> 
> I think I did select "auto" which brings me into the "manual" screen after
> few
> steps. It does show the slices and does even show NTFS and Linux
> partitions inside the extended partition (I have 3 primary MBR partitions,
> first is freebsd, then two NTFS, then an extendet with further NTFS and
> Linux).
> 
> The first 10MB of the first slice (freebsd) had been cleared with
> "dd if=/dev/zero of=...".  When I put the cursor line on this slice and
> select "create" it doesn't allow me to create the freebsd-ufs for "/".
> 
Sorry, I can`t explain why it would fail. I have seen different fdisks have
differing opinions w.r.t. partition alignment in the past.

> > Good luck with it, rick
> > ps: If it doesn't show the slices,I'm guessing the MBR doesn't make sense
> > to
> > FreeBSD's fdisk. You can go to "" instead of "" and
> > then
> > try typing "fdisk".
> 
> I did try the shell and typed "fdisk" and "disklabel" but this did not work
> as
> known from other BSDs.
> 
You didn`t say what `fdisk` gave as output.
If it doesn`t show your slices, I can only guess that the MBR isn`t understood
by FreeBSD for some reason.
I don`t use it, but gpart is the preferred FreeBSD command. You might try that 
instead.

As I said, it works for me, but I use a simple:
- windows NTFS
- windows NTFS
- freebsd
set of slices and I created freebsd with the "Manual MBR" option of the
installer. I do not know what ``auto`` might have done.

Over the years, I have found that different variants of "fdisk" have different
ideas w.r.t. alignment.
> The actually issue is that I can't create something in the found freebsd
> slice.  In the past I did simply remove this slice and added a new one
> (since the free space on the disk had exactly been what I wanted to
> use).  But now the seemingly free space is not actually completely free
> so I'd like to not delete the slice.  The installer should support using
> this slice.
> 
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.

rick

> Carsten
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