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#1 2011-07-30 23:43:47

well.heeled.man
Member
Registered: 2011-06-15
Posts: 5

Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

Hi Folks,

Thinking about setting up a triple boot system like the one described above. I have had numerous ideas for a partitioning scheme, but nothing seems neat because of the requirement that both Window and BSD need to be on a primary partition.

My basic requirements are:

Arch Linux
separate /boot (as I want to use BTRFS for root)
/root (BTRFS)
/swap (not essential for Arch, as I have 4 GB RAM)
(Is a home required, or can I have a tiny /home for .(config) files?)

PC-BSD
separate /boot (as I want to use ZFS)
/, /var, /usr (ZFS pool)
/swap (essential for ZFS as I have heard it is RAM hungry)
(Is a home required at all. First time with BSD, so not sure how it works)

Windows
1 large C: drive (Easy)

Shared storage drive
(recommendations for the most mutually compatible file system? It pains me to say, but FAT32?)

So, should I go with the GUID partition table so I can just make all of these, or is there some clever trickery? I was considering LVM to make my Arch root and small home, but that does not really solve the four primary partition limit on the MBR.

I should add, I have a working Windows 7 and Arch setup and my main reason for wanting a BSD is so that I have the full gamut of OSes for learning and experimentation. I like the idea of Windows 7, an Arch/BTRFS/Gnome and a BSD/ZFS/KDE...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Scott

Last edited by well.heeled.man (2011-07-31 00:14:11)

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#2 2011-08-01 18:55:15

lintz
Member
Registered: 2008-10-26
Posts: 11

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

the /home for the arch shouldn't be required (not as a stand alone partition at least). Just mount whatever folder you want ether in root or else where. Maybe even on the shared partition?

And speaking about the shared one. As long as exFAT is unsupported yea it would need to be fat32.

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#3 2011-08-01 19:27:23

alphaniner
Member
From: Ancapistan
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 2,810

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

I thought BSD used slices within an MBR partition.

Or it considers MBR partitions to be slices, which it breaks up into what it calls partitions.  Something like that.

Edit: From PC-BSD wiki

A PC-BSD installation assumes that you have an existing primary partition to install into.

...

PC-BSD uses the same disk terminology as FreeBSD, which is different than the terminology used by Windows or Linux. In FreeBSD, the portion of the disk the operating system is installed into is called a "partition". That partition is then sliced up into "slices", with each slice containing a filesystem and a mount point.

Last edited by alphaniner (2011-08-01 19:34:06)


But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

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#4 2011-08-01 22:45:54

ANOKNUSA
Member
Registered: 2010-10-22
Posts: 2,141

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

alphaniner wrote:

I thought BSD used slices within an MBR partition.

Or it considers MBR partitions to be slices, which it breaks up into what it calls partitions.  Something like that.

Edit: From PC-BSD wiki

A PC-BSD installation assumes that you have an existing primary partition to install into.

...

PC-BSD uses the same disk terminology as FreeBSD, which is different than the terminology used by Windows or Linux. In FreeBSD, the portion of the disk the operating system is installed into is called a "partition". That partition is then sliced up into "slices", with each slice containing a filesystem and a mount point.

Doesn't this have to do with the nature of ZFS, being similar to the subvolumes of BTRFS?  I think FreeBSD/PC-BSD uses a single physical partition, logically sub-divided to allow for snapshots, security and simpler administration/maintenance.  I looked into FreeBSD a while back, but still need to figure out how to install it to GPT (if at all possible).

@OP:  Does your motherboard feature UEFI?  If not, this would be tedious, and I wouldn't try it personally before backing up and probably cloning my system partitions.  Windows will not install to a GUID partition table with a traditional BIOS governing your system, which means you'd need to chop up at least one primary partition into logical ones.  If you have UEFI with a GUID table, Windows and Arch will install easily enough; but again, I myself haven't found info on installing *BSD to a GPT table (though I haven't looked as hard as I could have).

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#5 2011-08-01 23:16:45

alphaniner
Member
From: Ancapistan
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 2,810

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

ANOKNUSA wrote:

Doesn't this have to do with the nature of ZFS, being similar to the subvolumes of BTRFS?  I think FreeBSD/PC-BSD uses a single physical partition, logically sub-divided to allow for snapshots, security and simpler administration/maintenance.  I looked into FreeBSD a while back, but still need to figure out how to install it to GPT (if at all possible).

Check out the page I linked, it's all there.  A ZFS layout is indeed different from a UFS layout, but from what I read it's still all on a sliced up MBR primary partition.

Using GPT is also mentioned briefly on that page.  It almost seems like they recommend it for capable machines.


But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

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#6 2011-08-02 00:33:40

cybertorture
Member
Registered: 2010-05-05
Posts: 339

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

@well.heeled.man

from my own experience i would recommend you pure FreeBSD instead of PC-BSD (even tho they are the same in nature), the main problem is that pc-bsd is somehow not complete .. too many preinstalled stuff, ports witch is 1st thing to learn in FBSD is way too complicated with those jails.. and never the less fbsd + kde is not a good start - better use xfce at most

as for partitions well ...

I think FreeBSD/PC-BSD uses a single physical partition, logically sub-divided to allow for snapshots

yes that is true

as for zfs start learning by use files instead of partitions or harddrives unless you are ready to loose your data O.o

example

cybertorture@ego ~
> sudo zpool status
  pool: tank
 state: ONLINE
 scan: resilvered 32,5K in 0h0m with 0 errors on Tue Aug  2 01:45:54 2011
config:

    NAME                  STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
    tank                  ONLINE       0     0     0
      /home/zfs           ONLINE       0     0     0
      /home/zfs1          ONLINE       0     0     0
      /home/zfs2          ONLINE       0     0     0
      /home/zfs3          ONLINE       0     0     0
      /home/zfs-spare     ONLINE       0     0     0
    spares
      /mnt/data/zfs-test  AVAIL   

errors: No known data errors

cybertorture@ego ~
> ll /home/zfs*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M  2 авг  1,53 /home/zfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M  2 авг  1,53 /home/zfs1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M  2 авг  1,53 /home/zfs2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M  2 авг  1,53 /home/zfs3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M  2 авг  1,53 /home/zfs-spare

about GPT, any reason not to use msdos ? maybe you have 2.2+ GB harddive  ? smile

edit: about partitions

sda1 ntfs - windowze
sda2 ext2 - boot (safe bet)
sda3 ufs - fbsd
sda4 - extended
sda5 btrfs - arch
sda6 ntfs - shared storage

Last edited by cybertorture (2011-08-02 00:39:51)


O' rly ? Ya rly Oo

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#7 2011-08-03 20:40:41

well.heeled.man
Member
Registered: 2011-06-15
Posts: 5

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

Thanks folks!

No UEFI unfortunately, so no GUUID.

I decided to go with sda1 - Arch, sda2 - BSD, sda3 - Windows, sda4 - storage.

I have LVM2 for the Arch partition with a seperate boot and swap, with root and home as BTRFS subvolumes.

I don't have the BSD (free or PC, still unsure) installed yet, but do the slices mean that I can further subdivide the sda2? If not I may turn it all in to a ZFS volume and use an SD card for BSD boot.

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#8 2011-08-03 21:00:00

cybertorture
Member
Registered: 2010-05-05
Posts: 339

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

@well.heeled.man yes you will do this within *BSD installation

as a result you will see some wired stuuf in linux like (in your case - sda5 sda6 sda7 ...etc) but do not worry

be carefull if you install windows as 2nd or 3rd OS because it rewrite MBR without confirmattion sad


O' rly ? Ya rly Oo

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#9 2011-08-03 23:19:17

well.heeled.man
Member
Registered: 2011-06-15
Posts: 5

Re: Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

Thanks Cybertorture!

I will give it a go with the same set-up I have for Arch then: with a seperate boot and swap and all others as ZFS pools, within sda2. I have read that the PC-BSD disk gives you a nice UI for installing FreeBSD, so I might take your advice...

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