Arch Linux

darkjh

Member

Registered: 2011-10-21

Posts: 33

Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

Hello,

Just had a new SSD in my laptop and installed a Win7 64bit on it with legacy (BIOS) boot mode and this new SSD is partitioned in MBR.
Now I want to install Archlinux in another disk drive, partitioned in GPT (already partitioned like this when I brought the laptop)

Recap:
  - Win7 installed, BIOS boot mode, in a MBR disk
  - want to install ArchLinux in another GPT disk

Question: Is this possible? Something I should pay attention to during installation? What bootloader you suggest in this case? On my old laptor I use grub2 + win7 chainloader and it works very well.

Thanks!

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

Not all motherboards will allow non-EFI booting with a GPT disk.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … OS_systems

If you use GRUB, you will need a BIOS boot partition (type "EF02" in gdisk, I always use the "spare" sectors from 34-2047).

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

darkjh

Member

Registered: 2011-10-21

Posts: 33

Re: Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

Not all motherboards will allow non-EFI booting with a GPT disk.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … OS_systems

If you use GRUB, you will need a BIOS boot partition (type "EF02" in gdisk, I always use the "spare" sectors from 34-2047).

Thanks for the tips.
I think it will be a lot simpler that I convert the disk from GPT to MBR first and then install linux. Is there a non-destructive way to convert GPT to MBR?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

Is there a non-destructive way to convert GPT to MBR?

# gdisk /dev/sdX

Then press "r" (& <Enter>) and "g" (& <Enter>) then "w" (& <Enter>) to write the changes to disk.

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

darkjh

Member

Registered: 2011-10-21

Posts: 33

Re: Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

Thanks Head_on_a_Stick, problem is resolved.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Mixed MBR and GPT disk drives

You're welcome

Please add "[SOLVED]" to the thread title for the benefit of others.

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî