Arch Linux

xerxes_

Member

Registered: 2018-04-29

Posts: 675

[SOLVED] Installation for BIOS and UEFI system

Is it possible to install Archlinux on old BIOS system and move disk into UEFI system and back and forth?

I want to copy Archlinux installation from old hdd drive into new ssd, but use it for some time on old BIOS system and in future move this ssd drive to newer system with UEFI.

I think to format drive in MBR scheme because BIOS can't boot from GPT and UEFI should boot from MBR, partition first partition with fat32 where it would be boot mounted and kernel and grub stored.

Next there would be other partitions: swap and main partition for system, home, etc. No lvm, no partition encryption.

Would it be enough or am I missing something?

Last edited by xerxes_ (2022-04-16 20:51:05)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,544

Re: [SOLVED] Installation for BIOS and UEFI system

BIOS can't boot from GPT and UEFI should boot from MBR

I don't know where you got this from. The vast majority of BIOS systems can boot from GPT, and UEFI only has to be able to boot MBR from an external disk, and many of them won't even do that.

I would just do a normal UEFI install, then also install a BIOS bootloader. Note that you'll need a BIOS boot partition if you choose grub. You'll also want to make sure the bootloader/boot manager gets installed to the UEFI default location so that it can boot even if/when the NVRAM entry gets removed when you remove it from the system.

xerxes_

Member

Registered: 2018-04-29

Posts: 675

Re: [SOLVED] Installation for BIOS and UEFI system

I copied all files from my old hard drive to newer drive but thousands of symbolic links didn't copy well, for example instead of :
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 12-07 03:41 bin -> usr/bin
I have:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 12-07 03:41 bin -> /mnt/sda2/usr/bin
I copied files by mc when I boot installation medium (to not copy such dirs like proc, sys, dev, run, tmp and maybe others I don't know about I shouldn't copy) and mount both drives.
How to copy all files well? I don't want to copy drive sector by sector, but maybe this would be the simplest solution (but sizes of partitions are "a bit" different). What other options I have?

Last edited by xerxes_ (2022-04-15 15:55:01)

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,132

Re: [SOLVED] Installation for BIOS and UEFI system

You need to use the kind of tool you'd use to backup the system at any other time i.e. one which preserves this kind of information. I like rsync, but the wiki explains various options so just figure out the one which best suits your needs. Often, you will want to specify options to whatever tool you use, to ensure that the information you want retained is copied and the stuff you don't want isn't.

---

CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

xerxes_

Member

Registered: 2018-04-29

Posts: 675

Re: [SOLVED] Installation for BIOS and UEFI system

I successfully copied all files by command 'rsync -qaHAXS olddir newdir'. I stayed with mbr for now. Will try gpt another time.