Solved Boot partition BSD - "Invalid argument"

K

Kdmeizk

Hi,

I try to install FreeBSD on an external drive but when I create a partition, it says me "Invalid argument" when I try :

- a: as partition type ;
- a: as partition type + 512KB of size ;
- a: as partition type + 1GB of size ;
- a: as partition type + 1GB of size + / as mount point ;

- a as partition type ;
- a as partition type + 512KB of size ;
- a as partition type + 1GB of size ;
- a as partition type + 1GB of size + / as mount point ;

- freebsd-boot as partition type ;
- freebsd-boot as partition type + 512KB of size ;
- freebsd-boot as partition type + 1GB of size ;
- freebsd-boot as partition type + 1GB of size + / as mount point ;


The ONLY THING, I mean, which I can do is make : freebsd-ufs + size is entire disk + / as mount point.

I use the GUI installer and the BSD file system.

I think that I don't understand many things about this file system, and that's why I can't go further.

I searched on Internet "file system hierarchy BSD" or "partition system BSD" but I found often threads / answers on the GPT file system...

Thanks a lot of for any help.
 
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Are you trying to boot this from grub or grub2? Also, is this FreeBSD or PCBSD? When you say used the GUI installer, that seems to indicate that you might not be using FreeBSD itself.

In such a case, you might have better luck asking first on the PCBSD forums.
 
Dear Kdmeizk,
as far as I know PCBSD is supposed to be easier to install. I have not tried PCBSD up to now. But if you consider the interface of the installer as a GUI this place might be fine as well. The first question is about the partitioning MBR versus GPT. If it is MBR the first item to become comfortable with are the items partition and slice. Please have a look at http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/disksetup.html which describes the setup for GPT and MBR partitioning. But if you use the installers option of the guided partitioning everything should run smooth as well. If you use the shell mode as described in section 2.6.5 please post the exact command and output just in case you run into problems.
 
I would like if possible, use the BSD system. May be GPT and BSD (if I understood correctly) are family, but for me, xxxxxBSD stay BSD everywhere on the disk as possible.
 
I would like understand this "BSD BSD label without an MBR, sometimes called dangerously dedicated mode as non-BSD disk utilities may not recognize it."

BSD schema or label (?) doesn't contain a way to boot on the disk/partition?
 
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Dangerously-dedicated BSDlabel-only partitioning can boot a disk, but there is no reason to use that type of partitioning now.

The two practical choices are GPT or MBR. Use GPT unless your BIOS refuses to boot from it. If that happens, then use MBR with BSD partitioning inside a slice. This is a standard setup, and the installer will create either of these.

What is the goal? What are you trying to accomplish? Will there be more than one operating system on the external disk?
 
Ok, as partition table, there is only GPT and MBR. That's right? The choice with "BSD label" relates another thing? (I wonder me sincerely because it's an option/choice when we check "Create", here: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall/bsdinstall-part-manual-partscheme.png)

wblock@ said:
What are you trying to accomplish
Click to expand...

I'm just trying to understand several points at the moment here !

I need just only one system: FreeBSD, but I like understand possibles choices and wonder me "this, is better than this or not?"
 
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You can use the guided partitioning as in section 2.6.2 and have the output close to figure 2.15. As far as I know the guided partitioning might allocate more mount points as /var or /tmp depending on the disk space. Please try the GPT option first. If the guided partitioning works feel free to try the manual partitioning.

The labels are a different story. The partitions are finally listed in /etc/fstab. The problem is that the cryptic name as ad** might change if some disk is added or removed. Using labels countermeasures this issue.
 
Ok I think understand. Also, I think come back quickly because, the last time, when I used "guided partitioning", I had an error with "GPT header", something like this. But, I will install before come back and will check.
 
So, just after the reboot (when installation finished), and boot on the USB : external drive, I find this message: Invalid backup GPT header.

I see that I'm not alone, in particularly on this forum, who has this error. Apparently wblock@, you concluded, in another topic, that is a problem/bug?

In all cases, I assume there isn't hard to resolve it.
 
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The GPT partitioning places information at the start of the disk and a copy at the end of the disk. It seems as if the backup header has not been found. I am not sure how to resolve this issue. It might need more information about the hard disk. Please show the output of gpart show. The second option would be to use MBR partitioning. If you prefer to use GPT please wait for answers of other persons.

BTW: if you like to address someone add an @ sign at the beginning of the user name. The editor even provides a list of possible names for auto-complete if you just type the @ sign followed by a few letters. Kdmeizk are yourself and the user name is shown in red.
 
Kdmeizk said:
Ok, as partition table, there is only GPT and MBR. That's right ? The choice with "BSD label" relates another thing?
Click to expand...

No. There are many choices, but only MBR and GPT are commonly used. BSDlabel partitioning was around before MBR even existed, but only allows four slices and has trouble with disks larger than 2TB. So the typical setup with it is a terrible mix: an MBR slice with multiple BSDlabel partitions inside it. It's an ugly and confusing hack.

GPT is simplicity itself in comparison: up to 128 partitions by default, with no serious size limits on them.
 
I don't have the time atm but I saw GPT has an option to "complete/repair" its schema.

I had obtained answers for my questions, so I can put it in "Solved mode".
 
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