1GDISK(8)                       GPT fdisk Manual                       GDISK(8)
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NAME

6       gdisk - Interactive GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator
7

SYNOPSIS

9       gdisk [ -l ] device
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11

DESCRIPTION

13       GPT  fdisk  (aka gdisk) is a text-mode menu-driven program for creation
14       and manipulation of partition tables. It will automatically convert  an
15       old-style  Master  Boot  Record  (MBR) partition table or BSD disklabel
16       stored without an MBR carrier partition to the  newer  Globally  Unique
17       Identifier  (GUID)  Partition  Table  (GPT) format, or will load a GUID
18       partition table. When used with the -l command-line option, the program
19       displays the current partition table and then exits.
20
21       GPT fdisk operates mainly on the GPT headers and partition tables; how‐
22       ever, it can and will generate a fresh protective MBR,  when  required.
23       (Any  boot loader code in the protective MBR will not be disturbed.) If
24       you've created an unusual protective MBR, such as a hybrid MBR  created
25       by  gptsync or gdisk's own hybrid MBR creation feature, this should not
26       be disturbed by most ordinary  actions.  Some  advanced  data  recovery
27       options require you to understand the distinctions between the main and
28       backup data, as well as between  the  GPT  headers  and  the  partition
29       tables.  For information on MBR vs. GPT, as well as GPT terminology and
30       structure, see the extended  gdisk  documentation  at  http://www.rods
31       books.com/gdisk/ or consult Wikipedia.
32
33       The  gdisk  program employs a user interface similar to that of Linux's
34       fdisk, but gdisk modifies GPT partitions. It also has the capability of
35       transforming MBR partitions or BSD disklabels into GPT partitions. Like
36       the original fdisk program, gdisk does not modify disk structures until
37       you  explicitly  write  them to disk, so if you make a mistake, you can
38       exit from the program with the 'q'  option  to  leave  your  partitions
39       unmodified.
40
41       Ordinarily,  gdisk  operates  on disk device files, such as /dev/sda or
42       /dev/hda under Linux,  /dev/disk0  under  Mac  OS  X,  or  /dev/ad0  or
43       /dev/da0  under  FreeBSD.  The  program  can also operate on disk image
44       files, which can be either copies of whole disks  (made  with  dd,  for
45       instance)  or raw disk images used by emulators such as QEMU or VMWare.
46       Note that only raw disk images are supported; gdisk cannot work on com‐
47       pressed or other advanced disk image formats.
48
49       The  MBR partitioning system uses a combination of cylinder/head/sector
50       (CHS) addressing and logical block  addressing  (LBA).  The  former  is
51       klunky  and limiting. GPT drops CHS addressing and uses 64-bit LBA mode
52       exclusively. Thus, GPT data structures, and  therefore  gdisk,  do  not
53       need  to  deal  with  CHS  geometries and all the problems they create.
54       Users of fdisk will note that gdisk lacks the options  and  limitations
55       associated with CHS geometries.
56
57       For best results, you should use an OS-specific partition table program
58       whenever possible. For example, you should make  Mac  OS  X  partitions
59       with  the  Mac  OS X Disk Utility program and Linux partitions with the
60       Linux gdisk or GNU Parted program.
61
62       Upon start, gdisk attempts to identify the partition type in use on the
63       disk.  If  it finds valid GPT data, gdisk will use it. If gdisk finds a
64       valid MBR or BSD disklabel but no GPT data, it will attempt to  convert
65       the  MBR or disklabel into GPT form. (BSD disklabels are likely to have
66       unusable first and/or final partitions because they  overlap  with  the
67       GPT  data structures, though.) GPT fdisk can identify, but not use data
68       in, Apple Partition Map (APM) disks, which are used on 680x0- and  Pow‐
69       erPC-based  Macintoshes.  Upon  exiting  with  the  'w'  option,  gdisk
70       replaces the MBR or disklabel with a GPT. This  action  is  potentially
71       dangerous!  Your system may become unbootable, and partition type codes
72       may become corrupted if the disk uses  unrecognized  type  codes.  Boot
73       problems  are  particularly  likely  if  you're  multi-booting with any
74       GPT-unaware OS. If you mistakenly launch gdisk on an MBR disk, you  can
75       safely  exit  the  program  without making any changes by using the 'q'
76       option.
77
78       The MBR-to-GPT conversion will leave at least one gap in the  partition
79       numbering  if  the original MBR used logical partitions. These gaps are
80       harmless, but you can eliminate them by using the 's'  option,  if  you
81       like.  (Doing this may require you to update your /etc/fstab file.)
82
83       When creating a fresh partition table, certain considerations may be in
84       order:
85
86
87       *      For data (non-boot) disks, and for boot disks used on BIOS-based
88              computers  with  GRUB as the boot loader, partitions may be cre‐
89              ated in whatever order and in whatever sizes are desired.
90
91
92       *      Boot disks for EFI-based systems require an EFI System Partition
93              (gdisk  internal  code  0xEF00) formatted as FAT-32.  The recom‐
94              mended size of this  partition  is  between  100  and  300  MiB.
95              Boot-related  files are stored here. (Note that GNU Parted iden‐
96              tifies such partitions as having the "boot flag" set.)
97
98
99       *      Some boot loaders for BIOS-based systems make use of a BIOS Boot
100              Partition  (gdisk  internal code 0xEF02), in which the secondary
101              boot loader  is  stored,  possibly  without  the  benefit  of  a
102              filesystem.  (GRUB2  may  optionally use such a partition.) This
103              partition can typically be quite small (roughly 32 to 200  KiB),
104              but  you  should  consult  your  boot  loader  documentation for
105              details.
106
107
108       *      If Windows is to boot from a GPT disk, a partition of  type  Mi‐
109              crosoft  Reserved  (gdisk  internal code 0x0C01) is recommended.
110              This partition should be about 128 MiB in  size.  It  ordinarily
111              follows  the  EFI  System Partition and immediately precedes the
112              Windows data partitions. (Note that old versions of  GNU  Parted
113              create all FAT partitions as this type, which actually makes the
114              partition unusable for normal file storage in both  Windows  and
115              Mac OS X.)
116
117
118       *      Some  OSes' GPT utilities create some blank space (typically 128
119              MiB) after each partition. The intent is to enable  future  disk
120              utilities  to use this space. Such free space is not required of
121              GPT disks, but creating it may help in future disk  maintenance.
122              You  can  use  GPT fdisk's relative partition positioning option
123              (specifying the starting sector as  '+128M',  for  instance)  to
124              simplify creating such gaps.
125
126

OPTIONS

128       -l     List  the  partition  table  for  the  specified device and then
129              exits.
130
131       Most interactions with  gdisk  occur  with  its  interactive  text-mode
132       menus.  Three menus exist: the main menu, the recovery & transformation
133       menu, and the experts' menu. The main menu provides the functions  that
134       are  most  likely  to be useful for typical partitioning tasks, such as
135       creating and deleting partitions, changing partition type codes, and so
136       on. Specific functions are:
137
138
139       b      Save  partition data to a backup file. You can back up your cur‐
140              rent in-memory partition table to a disk file using this option.
141              The resulting file is a binary file consisting of the protective
142              MBR, the main GPT header, the backup GPT header, and one copy of
143              the  partition  table, in that order. Note that the backup is of
144              the current in-memory data structures, so if you launch the pro‐
145              gram,  make  changes,  and then use this option, the backup will
146              reflect your changes. Note also that the restore  option  is  on
147              the  recovery & transformation menu; the backup option is on the
148              main menu to encourage its use.
149
150
151
152       c      Change the GPT name of a partition. This name is  encoded  as  a
153              UTF-16  string,  but proper entry and display of anything beyond
154              basic ASCII values requires suitable locale  and  font  support.
155              For  the most part, Linux ignores the partition name, but it may
156              be important in some OSes. GPT fdisk sets a default  name  based
157              on  the partition type code. Note that the GPT partition name is
158              different from the filesystem name,  which  is  encoded  in  the
159              filesystem's data structures.
160
161
162       d      Delete  a partition. This action deletes the entry from the par‐
163              tition table but does not disturb the data  within  the  sectors
164              originally  allocated  to the partition on the disk. If a corre‐
165              sponding hybrid MBR partition exists, gdisk deletes it, as well,
166              and expands any adjacent 0xEE (EFI GPT) MBR protective partition
167              to fill the new free space.
168
169
170       i      Show detailed partition  information.  The  summary  information
171              produced by the 'p' command necessarily omits many details, such
172              as the partition's unique GUID and the  translation  of  gdisk's
173              internal  partition  type  code  to  a  plain type name. The 'i'
174              option displays this information for a single partition.
175
176
177       l      Display a summary of partition types. GPT uses a GUID  to  iden‐
178              tify  partition types for particular OSes and purposes. For ease
179              of data entry, gdisk compresses these into two-byte  (four-digit
180              hexadecimal)  values  that  are  related to their equivalent MBR
181              codes. Specifically, the MBR code is multiplied  by  hexadecimal
182              0x0100.  For  instance,  the code for Linux swap space in MBR is
183              0x82, and it's 0x8200 in gdisk. A one-to-one  correspondence  is
184              impossible, though. Most notably, the codes for all varieties of
185              FAT and NTFS partition correspond to a single GPT code  (entered
186              as 0x0700 in sgdisk). Some OSes use a single MBR code but employ
187              many more codes in GPT.  For  these,  gdisk  adds  code  numbers
188              sequentially, such as 0xa500 for a FreeBSD disklabel, 0xa501 for
189              FreeBSD boot, 0xa502 for FreeBSD swap,  and  so  on.  Note  that
190              these two-byte codes are unique to gdisk.
191
192
193       n      Create  a  new  partition.  This  command  is modelled after the
194              equivalent fdisk option, although some  differences  exist.  You
195              enter a partition number, starting sector, and an ending sector.
196              Both start and end sectors can be specified in absolute terms as
197              sector  numbers  or  as  positions  measured  in  kibibytes (K),
198              mebibytes (M), gibibytes (G), tebibytes (T), or  pebibytes  (P);
199              for  instance,  40M specifies a position 40MiB from the start of
200              the disk. You can specify locations relative to the start or end
201              of  the specified default range by preceding the number by a '+'
202              or '-' symbol, as in +2G to  specify  a  point  2GiB  after  the
203              default  start sector, or -200M to specify a point 200MiB before
204              the last available sector. Pressing the Enter key with no  input
205              specifies  the  default value, which is the start of the largest
206              available block for the start sector and the  end  of  the  same
207              block for the end sector.
208
209
210       o      Clear out all partition data. This includes GPT header data, all
211              partition definitions, and the protective MBR. The sector align‐
212              ment is reset to the default (2048 sectors, or 1MB).
213
214
215       p      Display  basic  partition  summary data. This includes partition
216              numbers, starting and ending sector  numbers,  partition  sizes,
217              gdisk's  partition  types  codes, and partition names. For addi‐
218              tional information, use the 'i' command.
219
220
221       q      Quit from the program without saving  your  changes.   Use  this
222              option  if  you just wanted to view information or if you make a
223              mistake and want to back out of all your changes.
224
225
226       r      Enter the recovery & transformation  menu.  This  menu  includes
227              emergency  recovery options (to fix damaged GPT data structures)
228              and options to transform to or from other partitioning  systems,
229              including creating hybrid MBRs.
230
231
232       s      Sort partition entries. GPT partition numbers need not match the
233              order of partitions on the disk. If you want them to match,  you
234              can use this option.  Note that some partitioning utilities sort
235              partitions whenever they make  changes.  Such  changes  will  be
236              reflected  in  your  device  filenames,  so you may need to edit
237              /etc/fstab if you use this option.
238
239
240       t      Change a single partition's type code. You enter the  type  code
241              using  a  two-byte hexadecimal number, as described earlier. You
242              may also enter a GUID  directly,  if  you  have  one  and  gdisk
243              doesn't know it.
244
245
246       v      Verify  disk. This option checks for a variety of problems, such
247              as incorrect CRCs and mismatched  main  and  backup  data.  This
248              option does not automatically correct most problems, though; for
249              that, you must use options  on  the  recovery  &  transformation
250              menu.  If no problems are found, this command displays a summary
251              of unallocated disk space.
252
253
254       w      Write data. Use this command to save your changes.
255
256
257       x      Enter the experts' menu. Using this option  provides  access  to
258              features you can use to get into even more trouble than the main
259              menu allows.
260
261       ?      Print the menu. Type this command  (or  any  other  unrecognized
262              command) to see a summary of available options.
263
264
265       The second gdisk menu is the recovery & transformation menu, which pro‐
266       vides access to data recovery  options  and  features  related  to  the
267       transformation  of  partitions between partitioning schemes (converting
268       BSD disklabels  into  GPT  partitions  or  creating  hybrid  MBRs,  for
269       instance).   A  few options on this menu duplicate functionality on the
270       main menu, for the sake of convenience. The options on this menu are:
271
272
273       b      Rebuild GPT header from backup.  You  can  use  the  backup  GPT
274              header  to  rebuild  the  main GPT header with this option. It's
275              likely to be useful if your  main  GPT  header  was  damaged  or
276              destroyed (say, by sloppy use of dd).
277
278
279       c      Load  backup  partition  table.  Ordinarily, gdisk uses only the
280              main partition table (although the backup's integrity is checked
281              when  you  launch  the program). If the main partition table has
282              been damaged, you can use this option to load  the  backup  from
283              disk  and  use  it instead. Note that this will almost certainly
284              produce no or strange partition entries if you've just converted
285              an  MBR disk to GPT format, since there will be no backup parti‐
286              tion table on disk.
287
288
289       d      Use main GPT header and  rebuild  the  backup.  This  option  is
290              likely to be useful if the backup GPT header has been damaged or
291              destroyed.
292
293
294       e      Load main partition table. This option reloads the  main  parti‐
295              tion  table  from  disk. It's only likely to be useful if you've
296              tried to use the backup partition table (via 'c')  but  it's  in
297              worse shape then the main partition table.
298
299
300       f      Load  MBR  and  build fresh GPT from it. Use this option if your
301              GPT is corrupt or conflicts with the MBR and you want to use the
302              MBR as the basis for a new set of GPT partitions.
303
304
305       g      Convert GPT into MBR and exit. This option converts as many par‐
306              titions as possible into MBR form, destroys the GPT data  struc‐
307              tures,  saves the new MBR, and exits.  Use this option if you've
308              tried GPT and find that MBR works better  for  you.   Note  that
309              this  function  generates  up  to four primary MBR partitions or
310              three primary partitions and as many logical partitions  as  can
311              be generated. Each logical partition requires at least one unal‐
312              located block immediately before its first block. Therefore,  it
313              may be possible to convert a maximum of four partitions on disks
314              with tightly-packed  partitions;  however,  if  free  space  was
315              inserted  between  partitions when they were created, and if the
316              disk is under 2 TiB in size, it should be  possible  to  convert
317              all the partitions to MBR form.  See also the 'h' option.
318
319
320       h      Create  a  hybrid  MBR.  This is an ugly workaround that enables
321              GPT-unaware OSes, or those that can't boot from a GPT  disk,  to
322              access up to three of the partitions on the disk by creating MBR
323              entries for them. Note that these hybrid MBR entries can  easily
324              go   out  of  sync  with  the  GPT  entries,  particularly  when
325              hybrid-unaware GPT utilities are used to edit the  disk.   Thus,
326              you  may need to re-create the hybrid MBR if you use such tools.
327              Unlike the 'g' option, this option does not  support  converting
328              any partitions into MBR logical partitions.
329
330
331       i      Show detailed partition information. This option is identical to
332              the 'i' option on the main menu.
333
334
335       l      Load partition data from a  backup  file.  This  option  is  the
336              reverse  of the 'b' option on the main menu. Note that restoring
337              partition data from anything but the original disk is not recom‐
338              mended.
339
340
341       m      Return  to  the  main  menu.  This  option  enables you to enter
342              main-menu commands.
343
344
345       o      Print protective MBR data. You can see a summary of the  protec‐
346              tive  MBR's  partitions with this option. This may enable you to
347              spot glaring problems or  help  identify  the  partitions  in  a
348              hybrid MBR.
349
350
351       p      Print  the  partition table. This option is identical to the 'p'
352              option in the main menu.
353
354
355       q      Quit without saving changes. This option is identical to the 'q'
356              option in the main menu.
357
358
359       t      Transform  BSD partitions into GPT partitions. This option works
360              on BSD disklabels held within GPT (or converted MBR) partitions.
361              Converted  partitions'  type  codes  are  likely  to need manual
362              adjustment. gdisk will attempt to convert BSD disklabels  stored
363              on the main disk when launched, but this conversion is likely to
364              produce first and/or last partitions that are unusable. The many
365              BSD variants means that the probability of gdisk being unable to
366              convert a BSD disklabel is high compared to  the  likelihood  of
367              problems with an MBR conversion.
368
369
370       v      Verify  disk.  This option is identical to the 'v' option in the
371              main menu.
372
373
374       w      Write table to disk and exit. This option is  identical  to  the
375              'w' option in the main menu.
376
377
378       x      Enter  the  experts'  menu.  This option is identical to the 'x'
379              option in the main menu.
380
381
382       ?      Print the menu. This option (or any unrecognized entry) displays
383              a summary of the menu options.
384
385
386       The  third gdisk menu is the experts' menu. This menu provides advanced
387       options that aren't  closely  related  to  recovery  or  transformation
388       between partitioning systems. Its options are:
389
390
391       a      Set  attributes. GPT provides a 64-bit attributes field that can
392              be used to set features for each partition. gdisk supports  four
393              attributes:  system  partition,  read-only,  hidden,  and do not
394              automount. You can  set  other  attributes,  but  their  numbers
395              aren't  translated  into anything useful. In practice, most OSes
396              seem to ignore these attributes.
397
398
399       c      Change partition GUID. You can enter a custom unique GUID for  a
400              partition  using this option. (Note this refers to the GUID that
401              uniquely identifies a partition, not to its type code, which you
402              can  change  with  the  't' main-menu option.) Ordinarily, gdisk
403              assigns this number randomly; however, you might want to  adjust
404              the number manually if you've wound up with the same GUID on two
405              partitions because of buggy GUID assignments (hopefully  not  in
406              gdisk) or sheer incredible coincidence.
407
408
409       d      Display  the  sector alignment value. See the description of the
410              'l' option for more details.
411
412
413       e      Move backup GPT data structures to the end of the disk. Use this
414              command  if  you've added disks to a RAID array, thus creating a
415              virtual disk with space that follows the backup GPT data  struc‐
416              tures.  This command moves the backup GPT data structures to the
417              end of the disk, where they belong.
418
419
420       f      Randomize the disk's GUID and all partitions' unique GUIDs  (but
421              not  their partition type code GUIDs). This function may be used
422              after cloning a disk with another utility in order to render all
423              GUIDs once again unique.
424
425
426       g      Change  disk GUID. Each disk has a unique GUID code, which gdisk
427              assigns randomly upon creation of the GPT data  structures.  You
428              can generate a fresh random GUID or enter one manually with this
429              option.
430
431
432       h      Recompute CHS values in protective or hybrid  MBR.  This  option
433              can  sometimes  help if a disk utility, OS, or BIOS doesn't like
434              the CHS values used by  the  partitions  in  the  protective  or
435              hybrid  MBR. In particular, the GPT specification requires a CHS
436              value of 0xFFFFFF for over-8GiB partitions, but  this  value  is
437              technically  illegal by the usual standards. Some BIOSes hang if
438              they encounter this value. This option  will  recompute  a  more
439              normal  CHS value -- 0xFEFFFF for over-8GiB partitions, enabling
440              these BIOSes to boot.
441
442
443       i      Show detailed partition information. This option is identical to
444              the 'i' option on the main menu.
445
446
447       l      Change  the sector alignment value. Disks with more logical sec‐
448              tors per  physical  sectors  (such  as  modern  Advanced  Format
449              drives),  some  RAID  configurations,  and many SSD devices, can
450              suffer performance problems if partitions are not aligned  prop‐
451              erly for their internal data structures. On new disks, GPT fdisk
452              attempts to align partitions on 2048-sector (1MiB) boundaries by
453              default,  which  optimizes  performance  for  all  of these disk
454              types. On pre-partitioned disks, GPT fdisk attempts to  identify
455              the  alignment  value  used  on that disk, but will set 8-sector
456              alignment on disks larger than 300 GB even if  lesser  alignment
457              values  are detected. In either case, it can be changed by using
458              this option.
459
460
461       m      Return to the main  menu.  This  option  enables  you  to  enter
462              main-menu commands.
463
464
465       n      Create a new protective MBR. Use this option if the current pro‐
466              tective MBR is damaged in a way that gdisk doesn't automatically
467              detect  and correct, or if you want to convert a hybrid MBR into
468              a "pure" GPT with a conventional protective MBR.
469
470
471       o      Print protective MBR data. You can see a summary of the  protec‐
472              tive  MBR's  partitions with this option. This may enable you to
473              spot glaring problems or  help  identify  the  partitions  in  a
474              hybrid MBR.
475
476
477       p      Print  the  partition table. This option is identical to the 'p'
478              option in the main menu.
479
480
481       q      Quit without saving changes. This option is identical to the 'q'
482              option in the main menu.
483
484
485       r      Enter  the recovery & transformations menu. This option is iden‐
486              tical to the 'r' option on the main menu.
487
488
489       s      Resize partition table. The default partition table size is  128
490              entries.   Officially,  sizes  of  less  than 16KB (128 entries,
491              given the normal entry size) are unsupported by the GPT specifi‐
492              cation;  however,  in  practice they seem to work, and can some‐
493              times be useful in converting MBR disks. Larger sizes also  work
494              fine.  OSes  may impose their own limits on the number of parti‐
495              tions, though.
496
497
498       t      Swap two partitions' entries in the partition table. One  parti‐
499              tion  may be empty. For instance, if partitions 1-4 are defined,
500              transposing 1 and 5 results in a table with partitions  numbered
501              from  2-5.  Transposing  partitions in this way has no effect on
502              their disk space allocation; it only alters their order  in  the
503              partition table.
504
505
506       u      Replicate  the  current  device's  partition  table  on  another
507              device. You will be prompted to type the new device's  filename.
508              After  the  write  operation completes, you can continue editing
509              the original device's partition table.  Note that the replicated
510              partition  table  is  an exact copy, including all GUIDs; if the
511              device should have its own unique GUIDs, you should  use  the  f
512              option on the new disk.
513
514
515       v      Verify  disk.  This option is identical to the 'v' option in the
516              main menu.
517
518
519       z      Zap (destroy) the GPT data structures and exit. Use this  option
520              if  you want to repartition a GPT disk using fdisk or some other
521              GPT-unaware program.  You'll be given the choice  of  preserving
522              the  existing  MBR,  in  case it's a hybrid MBR with salvageable
523              partitions or if you've already created new MBR  partitions  and
524              want  to  erase  the  remnants of your GPT partitions. If you've
525              already created new MBR partitions, it's conceivable  that  this
526              option will damage the first and/or last MBR partitions! Such an
527              event is unlikely, but could occur if your  new  MBR  partitions
528              overlap the old GPT data structures.
529
530
531       ?      Print the menu. This option (or any unrecognized entry) displays
532              a summary of the menu options.
533
534
535       In many cases, you can press the Enter key to select a  default  option
536       when  entering  data.  When  only one option is possible, gdisk usually
537       bypasses the prompt entirely.
538
539

BUGS

541       As of March 2014 (version 0.8.10),  gdisk  should  be  considered  beta
542       software. Known bugs and limitations include:
543
544
545       *      The program compiles correctly only on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X,
546              and Windows.  Linux versions for x86-64 (64-bit), x86  (32-bit),
547              and  PowerPC  (32-bit) have been tested, with the x86-64 version
548              having seen the most testing. Under FreeBSD,  32-bit  (x86)  and
549              64-bit  (x86-64) versions have been tested. Only 32-bit versions
550              for Mac OS X  and  Windows  have  been  tested  by  the  author,
551              although  I've  heard of 64-bit versions being successfully com‐
552              piled.
553
554
555       *      The FreeBSD version of the program can't write  changes  to  the
556              partition  table to a disk when existing partitions on that disk
557              are mounted. (The same problem exists with  many  other  FreeBSD
558              utilities,  such  as gpt, fdisk, and dd.) This limitation can be
559              overcome by typing sysctl  kern.geom.debugflags=16  at  a  shell
560              prompt.
561
562
563       *      The  fields used to display the start and end sector numbers for
564              partitions in the 'p'  command  are  14  characters  wide.  This
565              translates to a limitation of about 45 PiB. On larger disks, the
566              displayed columns will go out of alignment.
567
568
569       *      In the Windows version, only ASCII characters are  supported  in
570              the   partition  name  field.  If  an  existing  partition  uses
571              non-ASCII UTF-16 characters, they're likely to be  corrupted  in
572              the  'i' and 'p' menu options' displays; however, they should be
573              preserved when  loading  and  saving  partitions.  Binaries  for
574              Linux, FreeBSD, and OS X support full UTF-16 partition names.
575
576
577       *      The program can load only up to 128 partitions (4 primary parti‐
578              tions and 124 logical partitions) when converting from MBR  for‐
579              mat.   This   limit  can  be  raised  by  changing  the  #define
580              MAX_MBR_PARTS line in the basicmbr.h source code file and recom‐
581              piling;   however,   such   a   change   will  require  using  a
582              larger-than-normal partition table. (The limit of 128 partitions
583              was  chosen  because  that number equals the 128 partitions sup‐
584              ported by the most common partition table size.)
585
586
587       *      Converting from MBR format sometimes fails because  of  insuffi‐
588              cient space at the start or (more commonly) the end of the disk.
589              Resizing the partition  table  (using  the  's'  option  in  the
590              experts'  menu) can sometimes overcome this problem; however, in
591              extreme cases it may be necessary to resize  a  partition  using
592              GNU Parted or a similar tool prior to conversion with gdisk.
593
594
595       *      MBR  conversions work only if the disk has correct LBA partition
596              descriptors. These descriptors should be  present  on  any  disk
597              over  8 GiB in size or on smaller disks partitioned with any but
598              very ancient software.
599
600
601       *      BSD disklabel support can create first  and/or  last  partitions
602              that overlap with the GPT data structures. This can sometimes be
603              compensated by  adjusting  the  partition  table  size,  but  in
604              extreme cases the affected partition(s) may need to be deleted.
605
606
607       *      Because  of  the  highly variable nature of BSD disklabel struc‐
608              tures, conversions from this form may be  unreliable  --  parti‐
609              tions  may  be dropped, converted in a way that creates overlaps
610              with other partitions, or converted with incorrect start or  end
611              values. Use this feature with caution!
612
613
614       *      Booting  after converting an MBR or BSD disklabel disk is likely
615              to be disrupted. Sometimes re-installing a boot loader will  fix
616              the  problem,  but other times you may need to switch boot load‐
617              ers. Except on EFI-based platforms,  Windows  through  at  least
618              Windows  7  doesn't  support  booting from GPT disks. Creating a
619              hybrid MBR (using the 'h' option on the recovery  &  transforma‐
620              tion  menu)  or  abandoning GPT in favor of MBR may be your only
621              options in this case.
622
623

AUTHORS

625       Primary author: Roderick W. Smith (rodsmith@rodsbooks.com)
626
627       Contributors:
628
629       * Yves Blusseau (1otnwmz02@sneakemail.com)
630
631       * David Hubbard (david.c.hubbard@gmail.com)
632
633       * Justin Maggard (justin.maggard@netgear.com)
634
635       * Dwight Schauer (dschauer@ti.com)
636
637       * Florian Zumbiehl (florz@florz.de)
638
639
640

SEE ALSO

642       cfdisk (8), cgdisk (8), fdisk (8), mkfs (8),  parted  (8),  sfdisk  (8)
643       sgdisk (8) fixparts (8)
644
645       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
646
647       http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html
648
649       http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/
650
651

AVAILABILITY

653       The  gdisk  command  is  part of the GPT fdisk package and is available
654       from Rod Smith.
655
656
657
658Roderick W. Smith                   0.8.10                            GDISK(8)
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