[Mageia-discuss] UEFI and Secure Boot

Fri Aug 24 23:56:43 CEST 2012

Maurice Batey a écrit :
+> On Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:52:55 -0400, andre999 wrote:
+>
+>> It would say GPT ;) ...
+>
+>    You are right! Thank you.
+>
+>> If you keep the MBR partition table, making dual-boot is easy enough.
+>
+>     Good.
+>
+>> If you want a challenge, you could convert it to GPT (with a hybrid table for
+>> Msw), which I have done several times with Mageia.
+>
+>     What advantage would there be for me to convert to GPT?
+
+GPT is a much cleaner and more secure partition table format.
+The usual (virtually standard) configuration is space for 128 partitions.
+No extended partitions are permitted.
+Partition size is virtually unlimited.  (Limited by the operating system.)
+There is a backup partition table at the end of the disk.
+
+> (Which would involve removing everything fro the drive first, so no
+> dual boot setup)
+
+Not at all.  Gdisk, in Mageia repos, lets you convert an MBR partition table to 
+GPT, as long as you make a little space at the end of the drive for the 
+(required) backup table.
+
+>
+> What do you mean by "hybrid table for Msw"? (What is "Msw?!)
+
+A "hybrid" GPT table is one that simulates a regular MBR drive in sector 1 
+(where the MBR table is located), so that non-GPT aware operating systems  can 
+boot.  (Such as all 32-bit versions of Microsoft's version of windows.)
+A regular GPT table puts a dummy MBR table with a single entry indicating that 
+the drive is filled by a single non Microsoft compatible partition.
+
+Msw is Microsoft's abbreviation for Microsoft windows, used a lot back when 
+they still had windows as a generic term in their dictionary.
+
+>
+> When you say "which I have done several times with Mageia" I take it
+> you mean giving the whole drive (thus  ditching Windows) to the Mageia
+> installer to re-format to GPT, instead of the 'legacy' MBR partitioning.
+
+I just used Gdisk. which does the conversion relatively quickly.  And kept Msw, 
+which booted nicely.
+Admittedly somewhat more complicated than setting up a dual-boot with an MBR 
+table.  But nicer if you have a lot of partitions.  (Which I tend to have.)
+I have done this for others as well.
+
+>
+>    --
+> /\/\aurice
+> 	
+>
+
+-- 
+André
+