Difference between revisions of "Linux Partition Table"

Revision as of 11:39, 30 August 2019

MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) are two different types of partition table available to linux users now.

• MBR standards for Master Boot Record. It was introduced with IBM PC DOS 2.0 in 1983.
• GPT stands for GUID Partition Table. It is associated with UEFI

GPT

Use the command 'gdisk' which is GPT fdisk to work with your GPT partition table.

More useful might be 'parted'. Here is example output:

(parted) print                                                            
Model: ATA ST3500413AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  1075MB  1074MB  fat32           EFI System Partition  boot, esp
 2      1075MB  18.3GB  17.2GB  linux-swap(v1)
 3      18.3GB  156GB   137GB   ext4            /
 4      156GB   293GB   137GB   ext4            /2
 5      293GB   500GB   207GB   ext4            /share

The UEFI partition is marked with the boot flag. This is the first partition read on system boot. From there UEIF directs which partition to load next, or in this case, which one to direct to grub2. To access the UEFI setup we reboot the machine and from the grub2 menu select "System setup."

Q: When I have more than one partition with an active operating system, why does UEIF Startup Menu, Boot Menu (F9) only show one of the operating systems for UEFI Boot Sources?