[clug] Dumb user question: 2+TB disks, MBR & BIOS...

Kim Holburn kim.holburn at gmail.com
Wed Jan 2 01:09:19 MST 2013


On 2013/Jan/02, at 5:57 PM, Michael James wrote:
> Yes, MBR (msdos) partition tables can't describe a partition greater than ~2TB.
> 
> For a single data partition you __could__ use the whole device
> ie:   mkfs.ext4  /dev/sdb   but I think that's a scary idea.

I like this idea.  Adding partitions adds an extra layer to access a disk.  No partitions makes it slightly faster. Nothing wrong with that. There is no need to use partions unless you really need to use them.

> So GPT partitioning is the way to go, much more modern table structure.
> GPT partitioned disks can be BIOS or EFI booted,
> all modern GRUBs have the patches to support BIOS booting.
> There is a gotcha, you need a small partition first on the disk to put the intermediate grub stages.
> 
> See this for a good discussion of GPT partitioning:    http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/

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Kim Holburn
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