[arch-general] fdisk vs. gdisk for GPT partitioning

[Leonid Isaev]

On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 07:33:43AM +0100, Thomas Bächler wrote:
> Am 21.12.2014 um 22:48 schrieb Leonid Isaev:
> > On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 09:49:42PM +0100, Sebastiaan Lokhorst wrote:
> >> Thanks everyone for your responses! It seems that gdisk is still favorable
> >> for advanced tasks, but fdisk is can be used for basic tasks, as are
> >> usually required by beginners.
> > 
> > No, that was my point: for "advanced" tasks you need neither. I never read the
> > beginners' guide, and don't care how it is formatted. I am just trying to
> > un-confuse people regarding the whole GPT vs MBR thing...
> 
> If you want to un-confuse people, you can really simplify the
> instructions by using only fdisk in the beginner's guide. Then you have
> the same tool for both GPT and MBR.

I usually go with cfdisk(8) though. But in general, I'd recommend to use
BIOS/MBR whenever possible...

> >> This is not true. Some low-end modern machines completely drop legacy BIOS
> >> boot. So booting via UEFI is required, and thus GPT is required.
> > 
> > I really doubt this. Are you saying that some vendors on purpose break such
> > things as booting from an external USB key?
> 
> I have a firmware that boots from USB fine in UEFI mode, but _only_ if
> it is formatted with MBR - it won't boot from GPT USB disks. Confusing,
> right?

Not really. I can tell that Win 7/8/8.1 installation DVD downloaded from MSDN
are definitely not GPT-formatted.

But, that's what happens on my tablet. Formally the firmware is UEFI, but I
only use MBR partitioning.

Cheers,
-- 
Leonid Isaev
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