Does anyone here have experience with partioning a Hard Drive with GPT?

If so, I would really be interested in what you have to say concerning how it workked out for you.

Hello

Yes, all of my drives (HDD and SSD) are partitioned with GPT and I've had no problems with them at all.

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Hi ozar. Can you tell how to partition a 2 TB HD hard drive with GParted using GPT?

I want to use several Linux distros on the same HD. I will NOT be using Microsoft Windows.

After you open gparted, create a new partition table, choosing "gpt" as the type. Then create each of your partitions at whatever size you need, or want them to be. Depending on the bootloader and machine you intend to use, you might also need a separate partition for BIOS, or for UEFI purposes.

Gparted and its usage is pretty well documented here:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/documentation.php

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Some command line tools:

gdisk - this works similar to fdisk. Have a look at:http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/walkthrough.html
This also has useful advanced options such as converting between GPT & MBR without loss of data.

parted - look at http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/fdisk-...eater-2tb.html

Regards,
Stefan

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I will need a BIOS partition, just not sure of how to make one, does GParted do that? UEFI, not sure there, I will have to study that.

SYSTEM: MSI 890FXA-GD70 mother board, 8 GB of ram, WD 2 TB hard drive, CPU Hex a Core, AMD Phenom II X6.
Flags: (Lm nx SSE, SSE2, SSe3, SSE4 a SVM.

The above information was taken from the AntiX system information.

Yes, gparted can do it. That looks to be a legacy BIOS motherboard and if it is, you won't need to worry about UEFI. You can create a bios partition for booting by creating a partition that is left unformatted, then you right-click it and choose Manage Flags, then choose the bios_grub flag.

Thats just it ozar, when I create a BiOS partion for booting, how big? How do I leave it unformated?
Looking at Gparted in GPT mode it just calls for partitions.

I am completely new to this and need some example type talking. I'm lost!


Can you provide a "picture/type" of the entries I'm supposed to make?

I usually make my own bios partitions about 2MB, but 1MB may be big enough for your needs. Using gparted for partitioning chores is probably about as easy as it gets, so if you are uncomfortable with using it, I'd recommend practicing a bit by creating a partition or two on a drive before you get down to business. If you goof up, you can start over by creating a new partition table (if needed) then recreate your partitions again. Once you feel comfortable with it, you'll be well on your way. Note that some people find using the command line easier for partitioning chores while others find the GUI that comes with gparted the easier route.

You can find some gparted instructions with images here:

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=using_gparted

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I should add that it's easier to work with gparted if you run it from within a livecd such as the gparted livecd or parted-magic's livecd. If you are wanting to try to convert your current partition table to GPT, you can take a look at the first link posted in post #5 above for instructions on that.

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Ho ozar, I am working with a NEW 2 TB hard drive, so if I make a mistake I guess I can start over reformating the whole thing again, but hopefuly I won't make a mistake!

I will be creating this partioning scheme in the "GPT" format.

There will be 5 partitions for 5 different Linux distributions.

Using the GPT format do I still make all the same partitions used in a MBR type partioning scheme, like "home", "Data", etc,.

Yes, you would still create any partitions for Linux as usual.

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Therin lies the big problem! If all the links I have gone to just had the following all would be fine:

I have a 2 TB hard drive, I would like to see a view/picture of the finished screen showing "ALL text necessary in the Gparted final screen necessary to complete the partioning table/HD partioning in GPT, prior to hitting the "Making it so button"

5 partitions for 5 different distros.

1. partition for the bios boot, witch you showded me how to make, by entering the "flag" in an unformated partition.

1. /home partition (can this be a common partition relative to all distros?

/ ( I think this is the root partition), does each partition need one, or is "1" a catch all)

/data partition (common to all distros ?) I sure don't know, but I hope so!

None of the links or searching produces a viable picture that makes sense, plus, they are all basically different relative to there termanolgy, so how does the GPT setup supposed to work if they don't show a complete screen/picture/explanation ready on a sample disk for "push button and make it so"?

It's because of these problems that I have spent many many hours to little learning.

I am not knocking you sir, just trying to point out the problems. I sinserely hope you see my point.

Take care.

First partition - size 1007 KiB, unpartitioned (2 MB like ozar said is good enough, type EF02)

Since you want to use this disk to dual boot in between a few distros, you have to realize what you want first; Do you want a common shared home directory across all distros (it is your personal decision)? Do you want encryption? Even besides this being said, what if you want to expand/resize partitions in the future to allocate to a different distro (for whatever means needed)? I would personally use LVM after changing your partition table to GPT, since multiple distros on one drive will have many partitions, whereas with LVM you have the capability to resize, encrypt, and be better organized. This is only my opinion, since I do things like this all the time, and would rather share my best experiences.

For gparted - have you used gparted ever before? You can see the details by expanding the dialog box when applying what you have done in real time. For what you really want, as you make changes to your partitions/etc, you will see a "history" at the bottom of the screen in the GUI window.

For your MAIN concern, well... This is where the nitty gritty comes into play:
Refer to any wiki regarding the explanation of GPT, and the advantages over MBR:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...artition_Table

There is no "viable picture for yourself," as you will need to "RTFM" (No harsh feelings, but you do need to apply yourself more to the material that is being presented to you.)

Cheers!

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No there will be more partitions if they all share the same /home partition

Each one of the 5 distros you choose to I stall will be their own /

If /home is common then that adds 1 more to make 6 partitions at least but don't forget about swap and the bios partition you may need, so now that's 8.

If a /data partition is what you want then have at it. This gives you 9 partitions now but this could very well be somewhere inside the /home partition which will already be common to all distros as long as you have it mounted upon installation of that distro and make sure you don't format it by accident.

That's not true at all due to the fact that you are or SHOULD be learning from these problems.

There might be a better way to better organize so many partitions as in what CORP769 posted previously about LVM but I have never used it myself.

Another choice maybe to install a primary distro as a host an use a VM (virtual machine) to install the others.

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