1SGDISK(8)                      GPT fdisk Manual                      SGDISK(8)
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3
4

NAME

6       sgdisk  - Command-line GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator for Linux
7       and Unix
8

SYNOPSIS

10       sgdisk [ options ] device
11
12

DESCRIPTION

14       GPT fdisk is a text-mode menu-driven package for creation and manipula‐
15       tion  of  partition  tables. It consists of two programs: the text-mode
16       interactive gdisk and the command-line sgdisk. Either program will  au‐
17       tomatically convert an old-style Master Boot Record (MBR) partition ta‐
18       ble or BSD disklabel stored without an MBR  carrier  partition  to  the
19       newer  Globally  Unique Identifier (GUID) Partition Table (GPT) format,
20       or will load a GUID partition table. This man page documents  the  com‐
21       mand-line sgdisk program.
22
23       Some advanced data manipulation and recovery options require you to un‐
24       derstand the distinctions between the main and backup data, as well  as
25       between  the  GPT  headers and the partition tables. For information on
26       MBR vs. GPT, as well as GPT terminology and structure, see the extended
27       gdisk   documentation  at  http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/  or  consult
28       Wikipedia.
29
30       The sgdisk program employs a user interface that's  based  entirely  on
31       the  command  line, making it suitable for use in scripts or by experts
32       who want to make one or two quick changes to a disk. (The  program  may
33       query  the  user when certain errors are encountered, though.) The pro‐
34       gram's name is based on sfdisk, but the user options of  the  two  pro‐
35       grams are entirely different from one another.
36
37       Ordinarily,  sgdisk  operates on disk device files, such as /dev/sda or
38       /dev/hda under Linux,  /dev/disk0  under  Mac  OS  X,  or  /dev/ad0  or
39       /dev/da0  under  FreeBSD.  The  program  can also operate on disk image
40       files, which can be either copies of whole disks (made with dd, for in‐
41       stance)  or  raw  disk images used by emulators such as QEMU or VMWare.
42       Note that only raw disk images are supported;  sgdisk  cannot  work  on
43       compressed or other advanced disk image formats.
44
45       The  MBR partitioning system uses a combination of cylinder/head/sector
46       (CHS) addressing and logical block  addressing  (LBA).  The  former  is
47       klunky  and limiting. GPT drops CHS addressing and uses 64-bit LBA mode
48       exclusively. Thus, GPT data structures, and therefore  sgdisk,  do  not
49       need to deal with CHS geometries and all the problems they create.
50
51       For best results, you should use an OS-specific partition table program
52       whenever possible. For example, you should make  Mac  OS  X  partitions
53       with  the  Mac  OS X Disk Utility program and Linux partitions with the
54       Linux gdisk, sgdisk, or GNU Parted programs.
55
56       Upon start, sgdisk attempts to identify the partition type  in  use  on
57       the  disk.  If  it  finds valid GPT data, sgdisk will use it. If sgdisk
58       finds a valid MBR or BSD disklabel but no GPT data, it will attempt  to
59       convert  the MBR or disklabel into GPT form. (BSD disklabels are likely
60       to have unusable first and/or final  partitions  because  they  overlap
61       with  the GPT data structures, though.) GPT fdisk can identify, but not
62       use data in, Apple Partition Map (APM) disks, which are used on  680x0-
63       and  PowerPC-based  Macintoshes. If you specify any option that results
64       in changes to an MBR or BSD disklabel, sgdisk ignores those changes un‐
65       less the -g (--mbrtogpt), -z (--zap), or -Z (--zap-all) option is used.
66       If you use the -g option, sgdisk replaces the MBR or disklabel  with  a
67       GPT.  This  action is potentially dangerous! Your system may become un‐
68       bootable, and partition type codes may become  corrupted  if  the  disk
69       uses  unrecognized type codes. Boot problems are particularly likely if
70       you're multi-booting with any GPT-unaware OS.
71
72       The MBR-to-GPT conversion will leave at least one gap in the  partition
73       numbering  if  the original MBR used logical partitions. These gaps are
74       harmless, but you can eliminate them by using the -s  (--sort)  option,
75       if  you  like.  (Doing  this  may require you to update your /etc/fstab
76       file.)
77
78       When creating a fresh partition table, certain considerations may be in
79       order:
80
81
82       *      For data (non-boot) disks, and for boot disks used on BIOS-based
83              computers with GRUB as the boot loader, partitions may  be  cre‐
84              ated in whatever order and in whatever sizes are desired.
85
86
87       *      Boot disks for EFI-based systems require an EFI System Partition
88              (gdisk internal code 0xEF00) formatted as FAT-32. I  recommended
89              making  this  partition  550  MiB. (Smaller ESPs are common, but
90              some EFIs have flaky FAT drivers that necessitate a larger  par‐
91              tition  for  reliable  operation.) Boot-related files are stored
92              here. (Note that GNU Parted identifies such partitions as having
93              the "boot flag" set.)
94
95
96       *      Some boot loaders for BIOS-based systems make use of a BIOS Boot
97              Partition (gdisk internal code 0xEF02), in which  the  secondary
98              boot  loader  is  stored,  possibly  without  the  benefit  of a
99              filesystem. (GRUB2 may optionally use such  a  partition.)  This
100              partition  can  typically be quite small (roughly 32 to 200 KiB,
101              although 1 MiB is more common in practice), but you should  con‐
102              sult your boot loader documentation for details.
103
104
105       *      If  Windows  is to boot from a GPT disk, a partition of type Mi‐
106              crosoft Reserved (sgdisk internal code 0x0C01)  is  recommended.
107              This  partition  should  be about 128 MiB in size. It ordinarily
108              follows the EFI System Partition and  immediately  precedes  the
109              Windows  data  partitions. (Note that GNU Parted creates all FAT
110              partitions as this type, which actually makes the partition  un‐
111              usable for normal file storage in both Windows and Mac OS X.)
112
113
114       *      Some  OSes' GPT utilities create some blank space (typically 128
115              MiB) after each partition. The intent is to enable  future  disk
116              utilities  to use this space. Such free space is not required of
117              GPT disks, but creating it may help in future disk maintenance.
118
119

OPTIONS

121       Some options take no arguments, others take one argument  (typically  a
122       partition number), and others take compound arguments with colon delim‐
123       itation. For instance, -n (--new) takes a partition number, a  starting
124       sector   number,   and  an  ending  sector  number,  as  in  sgdisk  -n
125       2:2000:50000 /dev/sdc, which  creates  a  new  partition,  numbered  2,
126       starting at sector 2000 an ending at sector 50,000, on /dev/sdc.
127
128       Unrelated options may be combined; however, some such combinations will
129       be nonsense (such as deleting a partition and then  changing  its  GUID
130       type  code).   sgdisk  interprets options in the order in which they're
131       entered, so effects can vary depending on order. For  instance,  sgdisk
132       -s  -d 2 sorts the partition table entries and then deletes partition 2
133       from the newly-sorted list; but sgdisk -d 2  -s  deletes  the  original
134       partition 2 and then sorts the modified partition table.
135
136       Error checking and opportunities to correct mistakes in sgdisk are min‐
137       imal. Although the program endeavors to keep the  GPT  data  structures
138       legal,  it  does  not prompt for verification before performing its ac‐
139       tions. Unless you require a command-line-driven program, you should use
140       the interactive gdisk instead of sgdisk, since gdisk allows you to quit
141       without saving your changes, should you make a mistake.
142
143       Although sgdisk is based on the  same  partition-manipulation  code  as
144       gdisk,  sgdisk  implements fewer features than its interactive sibling.
145       Options available in sgdisk are:
146
147
148       -a, --set-alignment=value
149              Set the sector alignment multiple. GPT fdisk aligns the start of
150              partitions  to  sectors  that are multiples of this value, which
151              defaults to 1 MiB (2048  on  disks  with  512-byte  sectors)  on
152              freshly  formatted  disks.  This alignment value is necessary to
153              obtain optimum performance with Western Digital Advanced  Format
154              and  similar  drives  with  larger  physical than logical sector
155              sizes, with some types of RAID arrays, and with SSD devices.
156
157
158       -A,        --attributes=list|[partnum:show|or|nand|xor|=|set|clear|tog‐
159       gle|get[:bitnum|hexbitmask]]
160              View  or  set  partition  attributes.  Use  list  to see defined
161              (known) attribute values. Omit the partition  number  (and  even
162              the  device filename) when using this option. The others require
163              a partition number. The show and get options  show  the  current
164              attribute  settings (all attributes or for a particular bit, re‐
165              spectively). The or, nand, xor, =, set, clear,  and  toggle  op‐
166              tions  enable  you  to  change the attribute bit value. The set,
167              clear, toggle, and get options work on a bit number; the  others
168              work  on  a  hexadecimal  bit  mask. For example, type sgdisk -A
169              4:set:2 /dev/sdc  to  set  the  bit  2  attribute  (legacy  BIOS
170              bootable) on partition 4 on /dev/sdc.
171
172
173       -b, --backup=file
174              Save  partition data to a backup file. You can back up your cur‐
175              rent in-memory partition table to a disk file using this option.
176              The resulting file is a binary file consisting of the protective
177              MBR, the main GPT header, the backup GPT header, and one copy of
178              the  partition  table, in that order. Note that the backup is of
179              the current in-memory data structures, so if you launch the pro‐
180              gram,  make  changes,  and then use this option, the backup will
181              reflect your changes. If the GPT data  structures  are  damaged,
182              the  backup  may  not  accurately reflect the damaged state; in‐
183              stead, they will reflect GPT fdisk's  first-pass  interpretation
184              of the GPT.
185
186
187       -B, --byte-swap-name=partnum
188              Swap  the  byte  order  for the name of the specified partition.
189              Some partitioning tools, including GPT fdisk 1.0.7 and  earlier,
190              can  write the partition name in the wrong byte order on big-en‐
191              dian computers, such as the IBM  s390  mainframes  and  PowerPC-
192              based Macs. This feature corrects this problem.
193
194
195       -c, --change-name=partnum:name
196              Change  the  GPT  name of a partition. This name is encoded as a
197              UTF-16 string, but proper entry and display of  anything  beyond
198              basic  ASCII  values  requires suitable locale and font support.
199              For the most part, Linux ignores the partition name, but it  may
200              be  important  in  some OSes. If you want to set a name that in‐
201              cludes a space, enclose it in quotation marks, as in  sgdisk  -c
202              1:"Sample  Name" /dev/sdb. Note that the GPT name of a partition
203              is distinct from the filesystem name, which is  encoded  in  the
204              filesystem's data structures.
205
206
207       -C, --recompute-chs
208              Recompute  CHS  values  in protective or hybrid MBR. This option
209              can sometimes help if a disk utility, OS, or BIOS  doesn't  like
210              the  CHS  values used by the partitions in the protective or hy‐
211              brid MBR. In particular, the GPT specification  requires  a  CHS
212              value  of  0xFFFFFF  for over-8GiB partitions, but this value is
213              technically illegal by the usual standards. Some BIOSes hang  if
214              they  encounter  this  value.  This option will recompute a more
215              normal CHS value -- 0xFEFFFF for over-8GiB partitions,  enabling
216              these BIOSes to boot.
217
218
219       -d, --delete=partnum
220              Delete  a partition. This action deletes the entry from the par‐
221              tition table but does not disturb the data  within  the  sectors
222              originally  allocated  to the partition on the disk. If a corre‐
223              sponding hybrid MBR partition exists, gdisk deletes it, as well,
224              and expands any adjacent 0xEE (EFI GPT) MBR protective partition
225              to fill the new free space.
226
227
228       -D, --display-alignment
229              Display current sector alignment value. Partitions will be  cre‐
230              ated  on  multiples of the sector value reported by this option.
231              You can change the alignment value with the -a option.
232
233
234       -e, --move-second-header
235              Move backup GPT data structures to the end of the disk. Use this
236              option  if  you've  added disks to a RAID array, thus creating a
237              virtual disk with space that follows the backup GPT data  struc‐
238              tures.  This command moves the backup GPT data structures to the
239              end of the disk, where they belong.
240
241
242       -E, --end-of-largest
243              Displays the sector number of the end of the  largest  available
244              block  of sectors on the disk. A script may store this value and
245              pass it back as part of -n's option to create a partition. If no
246              unallocated  sectors  are  available,  this function returns the
247              value 0.
248
249
250       -f, --first-in-largest
251              Displays the sector number of the start of the largest available
252              block  of sectors on the disk. A script may store this value and
253              pass it back as part of -n's option to create a partition. If no
254              unallocated  sectors  are  available,  this function returns the
255              value 0. Note that this parameter is blind to  partition  align‐
256              ment;  when  you  actually  create  a partition, its start point
257              might be changed from this value.
258
259
260       -F, --first-aligned-in-largest
261              Similar to -f (--first-in-largest), except  returns  the  sector
262              number  with  the current alignment correction applied. Use this
263              function if you need to compute the actual partition start point
264              rather  than a theoretical start point or the actual start point
265              if you set the alignment value to 1.
266
267
268       -g, --mbrtogpt
269              Convert an MBR or BSD disklabel disk to a GPT disk. As a  safety
270              measure,  use of this option is required on MBR or BSD disklabel
271              disks if you intend to save your changes, in  order  to  prevent
272              accidentally damaging such disks.
273
274
275       -G, --randomize-guids
276              Randomize  the disk's GUID and all partitions' unique GUIDs (but
277              not their partition type code GUIDs). This function may be  used
278              after  cloning  a  disk  in order to render all GUIDs once again
279              unique.
280
281
282       -h, --hybrid
283              Create a hybrid MBR. This option takes from one to three  parti‐
284              tion numbers, separated by colons, as arguments. You may option‐
285              ally specify a final partition "EE" to indicate that the EFI GPT
286              (type  0xEE)  should  be  placed last in the table, otherwise it
287              will be placed first, followed by the partition(s) you  specify.
288              Their  type  codes are based on the GPT fdisk type codes divided
289              by 0x0100, which is usually correct for Windows  partitions.  If
290              the  active/bootable  flag  should be set, you must do so in an‐
291              other program, such as fdisk. The  gdisk  program  offers  addi‐
292              tional hybrid MBR creation options.
293
294
295       -i, --info=partnum
296              Show  detailed  partition  information.  The summary information
297              produced by the -p command necessarily omits many details,  such
298              as  the  partition's unique GUID and the translation of sgdisk's
299              internal partition type code to a plain type name. The -i option
300              displays this information for a single partition.
301
302
303       -j, --adjust-main-table=sector
304              Adjust  the  location of the main partition table. This value is
305              normally 2, but it may need to be increased in some cases,  such
306              as  when  a system-on-chip (SoC) is hard-coded to read boot code
307              from sector 2. I recommend against adjusting this  value  unless
308              doing so is absolutely necessary.
309
310
311       -l, --load-backup=file
312              Load  partition  data from a backup file. This option is the re‐
313              verse of the -b option. Note that restoring partition data  from
314              anything  but  the original disk is not recommended. This option
315              will work even if the disk's original partition  table  is  bad;
316              however, most other options on the same command line will be ig‐
317              nored.
318
319
320       -L, --list-types
321              Display a summary of partition types. GPT uses a GUID  to  iden‐
322              tify  partition types for particular OSes and purposes. For ease
323              of data entry, sgdisk compresses these into two-byte (four-digit
324              hexadecimal)  values  that  are  related to their equivalent MBR
325              codes. Specifically, the MBR code is multiplied  by  hexadecimal
326              0x0100.  For  instance,  the code for Linux swap space in MBR is
327              0x82, and it's 0x8200 in gdisk. A one-to-one  correspondence  is
328              impossible, though. Most notably, the codes for all varieties of
329              FAT and NTFS partition correspond to a single GPT code  (entered
330              as 0x0700 in sgdisk). Some OSes use a single MBR code but employ
331              many more codes in GPT. For these, sgdisk adds code numbers  se‐
332              quentially,  such  as 0xa500 for a FreeBSD disklabel, 0xa501 for
333              FreeBSD boot, 0xa502 for FreeBSD swap,  and  so  on.  Note  that
334              these two-byte codes are unique to gdisk and sgdisk. This option
335              does not require you to specify a valid disk device filename.
336
337
338       -m, --gpttombr
339              Convert disk from GPT to MBR form. This option takes from one to
340              four partition numbers, separated by colons, as arguments. Their
341              type codes are based on the GPT  fdisk  type  codes  divided  by
342              0x0100.  If  the active/bootable flag should be set, you must do
343              so in another program, such as fdisk.  The gdisk program  offers
344              additional MBR conversion options. It is not possible to convert
345              more than four partitions from GPT to MBR  form  or  to  convert
346              partitions  that  start  above  the 2TiB mark or that are larger
347              than 2TiB.
348
349
350       -n, --new=partnum:start:end
351              Create a new partition. You enter a partition  number,  starting
352              sector,  and an ending sector. Both start and end sectors can be
353              specified in absolute terms as sector numbers  or  as  positions
354              measured   in  kibibytes  (K),  mebibytes  (M),  gibibytes  (G),
355              tebibytes (T), or pebibytes (P); for instance, 40M  specifies  a
356              position 40MiB from the start of the disk. You can specify loca‐
357              tions relative to the start or  end  of  the  specified  default
358              range  by preceding the number by a '+' or '-' symbol, as in +2G
359              to specify a point 2GiB after the default start sector, or -200M
360              to  specify  a  point 200MiB before the last available sector. A
361              start or end value of 0 specifies the default  value,  which  is
362              the  start  of  the largest available block for the start sector
363              and the end of the same block for  the  end  sector.  A  partnum
364              value  of 0 causes the program to use the first available parti‐
365              tion number.  Subsequent  uses  of  the  -A  (--attributes),  -c
366              (--change-name),  -t (--typecode), and -u (--partition-guid) op‐
367              tions may also use 0 to refer to the same partition.
368
369
370       -N, --largest-new=num
371              Create a new partition that fills the largest available block of
372              space  on  the disk. You can use the -a (--set-alignment) option
373              to adjust the alignment, if desired. A num value of 0 causes the
374              program to use the first available partition number.
375
376
377       -o, --clear
378              Clear out all partition data. This includes GPT header data, all
379              partition definitions, and the protective MBR.  Note  that  this
380              operation  will,  like  most other operations, fail on a damaged
381              disk. If you want to prepare a disk you know to be  damaged  for
382              GPT  use, you should first wipe it with -Z and then partition it
383              normally. This option will work even if the disk's original par‐
384              tition  table  is  bad;  however, most other options on the same
385              command line will be ignored.
386
387
388       -O, --print-mbr
389              Display basic MBR partition summary data. This  includes  parti‐
390              tion  numbers,  starting  and  ending  sector numbers, partition
391              sizes, MBR partition types codes, and partition names. This  op‐
392              tion  is  useful mainly for diagnosing partition table problems,
393              particularly on disks with hybrid MBRs.
394
395
396       -p, --print
397              Display basic GPT partition summary data. This  includes  parti‐
398              tion  numbers,  starting  and  ending  sector numbers, partition
399              sizes, sgdisk's partition types codes, and partition names.  For
400              additional information, use the -i (--info) option.
401
402
403       -P, --pretend
404              Pretend to make specified changes. In-memory GPT data structures
405              are altered according to other parameters, but changes  are  not
406              written to disk.
407
408
409       -r, --transpose
410              Swap two partitions' entries in the partition table. One or both
411              partitions may be empty, although swapping two empty  partitions
412              is  pointless.  For  instance,  if  partitions  1-4 are defined,
413              transposing 1 and 5 results in a table with partitions  numbered
414              from  2-5.  Transposing  partitions in this way has no effect on
415              their disk space allocation; it only alters their order  in  the
416              partition table.
417
418
419       -R, --replicate=second_device_filename
420              Replicate  the  main  device's  partition table on the specified
421              second device.  Note that the replicated partition table  is  an
422              exact  copy,  including all GUIDs; if the device should have its
423              own unique GUIDs, you should use the -G option on the new disk.
424
425
426       -s, --sort
427              Sort partition entries. GPT partition numbers need not match the
428              order  of partitions on the disk. If you want them to match, you
429              can use this option.  Note that some partitioning utilities sort
430              partitions  whenever they make changes. Such changes will be re‐
431              flected in your device  filenames,  so  you  may  need  to  edit
432              /etc/fstab if you use this option.
433
434
435       -t, --typecode=partnum:{hexcode|GUID}
436              Change  a  single partition's type code. You enter the type code
437              using either a two-byte hexadecimal number,  as  described  ear‐
438              lier,    or    a    fully-specified    GUID   value,   such   as
439              EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7.
440
441
442       -T, --transform-bsd=partnum
443              Transform BSD partitions into GPT partitions. This option  works
444              on BSD disklabels held within GPT (or converted MBR) partitions.
445              Converted partitions' type codes are likely to need  manual  ad‐
446              justment.  sgdisk  will attempt to convert BSD disklabels stored
447              on the main disk when launched, but this conversion is likely to
448              produce first and/or last partitions that are unusable. The many
449              BSD variants means that the probability of sgdisk  being  unable
450              to convert a BSD disklabel is high compared to the likelihood of
451              problems with an MBR conversion.
452
453
454       -u, --partition-guid=partnum:guid
455              Set the partition unique GUID for an individual  partition.  The
456              GUID may be a complete GUID or 'R' to set a random GUID.
457
458
459       -U, --disk-guid=guid
460              Set  the  GUID  for the disk. The GUID may be a complete GUID or
461              'R' to set a random GUID.
462
463
464       --usage
465              Print a brief summary of available options.
466
467
468       -v, --verify
469              Verify disk. This option checks for a variety of problems,  such
470              as  incorrect CRCs and mismatched main and backup data. This op‐
471              tion does not automatically correct most problems,  though;  for
472              that,  you  must  use  options  on the recovery & transformation
473              menu. If no problems are found, this command displays a  summary
474              of  unallocated  disk  space.  This option will work even if the
475              disk's original partition table is bad; however, most other  op‐
476              tions on the same command line will be ignored.
477
478
479       -V, --version
480              Display  program  version  information.  This option may be used
481              without specifying a device filename.
482
483
484       -z, --zap
485              Zap (destroy) the GPT data structures and then  exit.  Use  this
486              option if you want to repartition a GPT disk using fdisk or some
487              other GPT-unaware program. This option  destroys  only  the  GPT
488              data  structures; it leaves the MBR intact. This makes it useful
489              for wiping out GPT data structures after a disk has been  repar‐
490              titioned for MBR using a GPT-unaware utility; however, there's a
491              risk that it will damage boot loaders or even the start  of  the
492              first or end of the last MBR partition. If you use it on a valid
493              GPT disk, the MBR will be left with  an  inappropriate  EFI  GPT
494              (0xEE)  partition definition, which you can delete using another
495              utility.
496
497
498       -Z, --zap-all
499              Zap (destroy) the GPT and MBR data  structures  and  then  exit.
500              This  option works much like -z, but as it wipes the MBR as well
501              as the GPT, it's more suitable if you want to repartition a disk
502              after using this option, and completely unsuitable if you've al‐
503              ready repartitioned the disk.
504
505
506       -?, --help
507              Print a summary of options.
508
509

RETURN VALUES

511       sgdisk returns various values depending on its success or failure:
512
513
514       0      Normal program execution
515
516
517       1      Too few arguments
518
519
520       2      An error occurred while reading the partition table
521
522
523       3      Non-GPT disk detected and no -g option, but operation requires a
524              write action
525
526
527       4      An error prevented saving changes
528
529
530       5      An error occurred while reading standard input (should never oc‐
531              cur with sgdisk, but may with gdisk)
532
533
534       8      Disk replication operation (-R) failed
535
536

BUGS

538       Known bugs and limitations include:
539
540
541       *      The program compiles correctly only on Linux, FreeBSD,  and  Mac
542              OS X. Linux versions for x86-64 (64-bit), x86 (32-bit), and Pow‐
543              erPC (32-bit) have been tested, with the x86-64  version  having
544              seen the most testing.
545
546
547       *      The  FreeBSD  version  of the program can't write changes to the
548              partition table to a disk when existing partitions on that  disk
549              are  mounted.  (The  same problem exists with many other FreeBSD
550              utilities, such as gpt, fdisk, and dd.) This limitation  can  be
551              overcome  by  typing  sysctl  kern.geom.debugflags=16 at a shell
552              prompt.
553
554
555       *      The fields used to display the start and end sector numbers  for
556              partitions  in the -p option are 14 characters wide. This trans‐
557              lates to a limitation of about 45 PiB. On larger disks, the dis‐
558              played columns will go out of alignment.
559
560
561       *      The program can load only up to 128 partitions (4 primary parti‐
562              tions and 124 logical partitions) when converting from MBR  for‐
563              mat.   This   limit  can  be  raised  by  changing  the  #define
564              MAX_MBR_PARTS line in the basicmbr.h source code file and recom‐
565              piling;   however,   such   a   change   will  require  using  a
566              larger-than-normal partition table. (The limit of 128 partitions
567              was  chosen  because  that number equals the 128 partitions sup‐
568              ported by the most common partition table size.)
569
570
571       *      Converting from MBR format sometimes fails because  of  insuffi‐
572              cient space at the start or (more commonly) the end of the disk.
573              Resizing the partition table (using the 's' option  in  the  ex‐
574              perts'  menu)  can  sometimes overcome this problem; however, in
575              extreme cases it may be necessary to resize  a  partition  using
576              GNU Parted or a similar tool prior to conversion with gdisk.
577
578
579       *      MBR  conversions work only if the disk has correct LBA partition
580              descriptors. These descriptors should be  present  on  any  disk
581              over  8 GiB in size or on smaller disks partitioned with any but
582              very ancient software.
583
584
585       *      BSD disklabel support can create first  and/or  last  partitions
586              that overlap with the GPT data structures. This can sometimes be
587              compensated by adjusting the partition table size,  but  in  ex‐
588              treme cases the affected partition(s) may need to be deleted.
589
590
591       *      Because  of  the  highly variable nature of BSD disklabel struc‐
592              tures, conversions from this form may be  unreliable  --  parti‐
593              tions  may  be dropped, converted in a way that creates overlaps
594              with other partitions, or converted with incorrect start or  end
595              values. Use this feature with caution!
596
597
598       *      Booting  after converting an MBR or BSD disklabel disk is likely
599              to be disrupted. Sometimes re-installing a boot loader will  fix
600              the  problem,  but other times you may need to switch boot load‐
601              ers. Except on EFI-based platforms,  Windows  through  at  least
602              Windows  7 RC doesn't support booting from GPT disks. Creating a
603              hybrid MBR (using the 'h' option on the recovery  &  transforma‐
604              tion  menu)  or  abandoning GPT in favor of MBR may be your only
605              options in this case.
606
607

AUTHORS

609       Primary author: Roderick W. Smith (rodsmith@rodsbooks.com)
610
611       Contributors:
612
613       * Yves Blusseau (1otnwmz02@sneakemail.com)
614
615       * David Hubbard (david.c.hubbard@gmail.com)
616
617       * Justin Maggard (justin.maggard@netgear.com)
618
619       * Dwight Schauer (das@teegra.net)
620
621       * Florian Zumbiehl (florz@florz.de)
622
623
624

SEE ALSO

626       cfdisk(8),   cgdisk(8),   fdisk(8),   gdisk(8),   mkfs(8),   parted(8),
627       sfdisk(8), fixparts(8).
628
629       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
630
631       http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html
632
633       http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/
634
635

AVAILABILITY

637       The  sgdisk  command  is part of the GPT fdisk package and is available
638       from Rod Smith.
639
640
641
642Roderick W. Smith                    1.0.8                           SGDISK(8)
Impressum