Is it identical whether run from an installed system, or during the
installation process? The reason I ask is that looking at
<https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/reference/html/book-reference/cha-grub2.html>
I find no reference to a BIOS/Grub boot partition for Grub use on a
legacy system with GPT partitioning. It makes me suspect there's a
separate step required for populating the BIOS/Grub partition that
only the installer handles.
I did a migration to a new disk GPT partitioned from an MBR original
(with 42 partitions & roughly 30 distros installed), first partitioning,
then formatting, then copying content with rsync, then adjusting fstabs.
I've never tried using GPT on a legacy system previously. I booted the
GPT disk's TW from the old disk's legacy Grub, installed rpm Grub2 and
its deps, then ran yast2 bootloader, expecting yast2 to do the whole job,
but the result is the BIOS reports no bootable device found. During yast2,
on the first tab, because I found no reference to a BIOS/Grub partition,
I checked only the write to partition and set active flag boxes.
Was not checking the write to MBR box a mistake? Looking at the BIOS/Grub
partition in a binary editor, it's all nulls. :( Looking at the MBR, I see
what looks like DOS Windows compatible code normally used on all my MBR disks,
which my partitioner usually puts there when it creates the first partition
on a new or wiped disk. :p
Answer: it was a mistake, but how could I have known? I booted from Grub
legacy again, then reran yast2 bootloader, checked the write generic code
to MBR box, OK'd, rebooted, and all is now good WRT booting TW from new
GPT SSD in 2009 Core2Duo PC. :)
# parted /dev/sdb print
Model: ATA KINGSTON RBU-SNS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name
Flags
1 1049kB 263MB 262MB k256p01 DOS C: reservation
msftdata
2 263MB 599MB 336MB k256p02 reserved for ESP
msftdata
3 599MB 1018MB 419MB ext2 k256p03 res
legacy_boot
4 1018MB 1019MB 1049kB k256p04 BIOS Boot (noEFI)
bios_grub
5 1019MB 1020MB 1049kB k256p05 DOS dummy
msftdata
6 1020MB 1285MB 264MB k256p06 DOS E: reservation
msftdata
7 1285MB 4402MB 3117MB linux-swap(v1) k256p07 swapper swap
...
9 11.1GB 15.7GB 4614MB ext4 k256p09 /home
...
12 43.4GB 47.6GB 4194MB ext4 k256p12 /usr/local
...
23 115GB 121GB 6711MB ext4 k256p23 tumbleweed
...
#
Note: I believe parted reports ext2 for #3 because I omitted the journal
in running mkfs.ext4.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
