Hey folks - been gone for awhile and want to get a machine running something newer than Slackware 13.1. I bought a new Thinkpad T430 with Windows 7 Pro on it and intend to add 14.1-64 to it. I cloned the factory HDD's Windows installation to a Samsung 840 SSD in the main bay, and installed a new 750GB HDD in the ultrabay. I've shrunk the NTFS C: on the SSD and have a 45GB ext4 partition on it for /. I put a 16GB swap and a 180GB ext4 partition on the HDD for /home. I set the linux partitions up with a GParted live disk.

The BIOS menu on this machine is set for booting both UEFI and Legacy BIOS, with Legacy set as first priority. There is a 400MB NTFS partition at the beginning of the SSD that I assume is the EFI boot partition. I've tried setting it to startup only in UEFI, and Windows won't boot. It only boots when set to "Legacy Only" or "Both" with Legacy first. A Slackware 14.1 install disk also boots fine from an external DVD drive.

I think C: is a GPT drive, but is booting in Legacy BIOS mode. Can I just install LILO like usual and set up entries for Win7 and Slack and carry on?

My main question: what's the easiest method to install a bootloader for Slack that can handle a GPT boot drive and Win7? I've read README_UEFI and I'm not sure it applies to Win7 if it's booting in Legacy mode. I've also read that LILO may have problems with a GPT drive since it's usually installed to the MBR. How can I tell for sure if my SSD is GPT or MBR?

Well, I found through the Windows disk manager that my SSD (C: or /dev/sda) is an MBR drive. I'm going to proceed with installing LILO to the MBR and try to avoid having to use the Windows 7 bootloader and BCDedit.

I got thrown off by seeing UEFI options in the BIOS and that extra 400MB partition on the SSD. That's probably the Windows boot partition rather than an EFI partition. This machine also can come with Windows 8 which is why it has a UEFI-capable BIOS. I started reading about how to handle UEFI and didn't realize initially I wouldn't have to mess with it.

You can boot UEFI on T430, but have to leave legacy compatibility on with Windows 7. Windows 8 will boot UEFI only fine.