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mntsv

Member

Registered: 2017-01-20

Posts: 24

[SOLVED] On macbook pro, I ignorantly formatted the EFI partition.

Ok, next level newbiness over here.

Am playing around with Linux on Mac, but am keeping a small OSx partition for firmware updates. Put Mint on, then later decided to delete Mint and other non-OSx parts, thought the ESP was from Mint, so I just formatted with

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

and went on with my life. Mac still works fine after restart/shutdown, but I accidentally discovered that the ESP is where Mac keeps all it's stuff for firmware updates.

Have been reading about people not being able to boot after deleting ESP (but nothing about those who just formatted, would think it would be the same); only other thing I found was from wiki article about ESP: "On Macintosh computers based on Apple–Intel architecture, the EFI system partition is initially left blank and unused for booting.However, the EFI system partition is used as a staging area for firmware updates."

So when I checked the ESP, obviously it was empty, but was it empty before I formatted it? Is it only used when I install firmware updates during which they do stuff in the partition, apply the changes, and then delete everything? Really unfamiliar with Macs, to add to my newbiness.

Any guidance is much appreciated.

Last edited by mntsv (2017-02-19 23:26:49)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: [SOLVED] On macbook pro, I ignorantly formatted the EFI partition.

What has this to do with Arch?

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

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mntsv

Member

Registered: 2017-01-20

Posts: 24

Re: [SOLVED] On macbook pro, I ignorantly formatted the EFI partition.

I formatted the partition from Arch LiveUSB, and was wondering if there was any command line format reverse tool or something.

mntsv

Member

Registered: 2017-01-20

Posts: 24

Re: [SOLVED] On macbook pro, I ignorantly formatted the EFI partition.

Reinstalled. Worked out. Thanks for the spiritual support.