Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 02:15:29 -0600 From: "James R. Van Artsdalen" <james-freebsd-fs2@jrv.org> To: Borja Marcos <borjam@sarenet.es> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BIOS booting from disks > 2TB Message-ID: <546DA321.8050403@jrv.org> In-Reply-To: <FF60956B-BF1F-4A1A-840E-489C549304EF@sarenet.es> References: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es> <alpine.BSF.2.11.1411191024540.55133@wonkity.com> <FF60956B-BF1F-4A1A-840E-489C549304EF@sarenet.es>
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The extended BIOS disk functions, introduced onto PCs almost 20 years ago= , allowing for addressing LBAs beyond 2TB. FreeBSD will use these BIOS f= unctions when present. This is usually not a problem. If a disk controller card of some kind is installed then the option ROM o= n that card must support the extended BIOS disk functions for this to wor= k. This is usually not a problem. The error messages shown only pertained to the backup header, not primary= , and looking at the code it implies to me that the primary header and ta= ble were read OK, and that these will be used even if the backup cannot b= e found. I think "invalid backup GPT header" is a warning in this case, = not a fatal error. I think the real problem is here: =20 Can't work out which disk we are booting from. Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to disk0: 1. If you replace the 3TB disk with a disk 2TB or smaller and make no oth= er change, does this error still happen? 2. How are the disks connected to the system? What disk controllers are = used? What is the system BIOS boot disk setting set to? On 11/20/2014 12:53 AM, Borja Marcos wrote: > > On Nov 19, 2014, at 6:29 PM, Warren Block wrote: > >> On Wed, 19 Nov 2014, Jos=E9 Mar=EDa Alcaide wrote: >> >>> On Nov 19, 2014, at 8:06 AM, Pokala, Ravi wrote: >>> >>>> When you perform your installation, just make sure to select the GPT >>>> option for partitioning. The installer (either `bsdinstall' (for sto= ck >>>> FreeBSD), or `pc-sysinstall' (for PC-BSD / FreeNAS)) should create b= oth >>>> primary (near start-of-disk) and backup (at end-of-disk) GPT tables,= and >>>> install the appropriate bootstrap code in the proper locations. >>>> >>> >>> Yes, bsdinstall flawlessly creates both primary and backup GPT tables= even using disks > 2 TB, by virtue of the FreeBSD kernel. The problem ar= ises at the first stages of booting, when gptboot tries to compare the pr= imary and backup tables *using the BIOS disk services*, which are not abl= e to reach anything after the 2 TB limit. As a consequence gptboot fails,= stating that it did not find the GPT backup table. >> >> Maybe kern.geom.part.check_integrity=3D0 will allow it to boot. Howev= er, this sounds like a bug in gptboot. Maybe not easy to fix, but increa= singly important as disks > 2TB become common. > > I did a manual install on a 3 TB disk, creating a small partition for t= he OS, around 4 GB. > > The booot sequence was: > > Attempting Boot From Hard Drive (C:) > gptboot: invalid backup GPT header > > BTX loader 1.00 BTW version is 1.02 > Consoles: internal video/keyboard > BIOS drive C: is disk0 > BIOS 614kB/3961744kB available memory > > FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1 > (root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org...) > Can't work out which disk we are booting from. > Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to disk0= : > > can't load 'kernel' > > > > And that's it. It would be nice indeed if FreeBSD could boot from >2TB = disks on BIOS machines. What > I wonder is, is this just some brain dead bug in this machine (HP Proli= ant Microserver Gen8 with the latest > BIOS version) or a widespread problem? > > It's not a pressing issue for myself, as anyway I intended to boot from= a memstick and use the disks > just for a ZFS pool, but anyone trying to set up a ZFS on root boot wil= l run into problems. > > > > > > > > Borja. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-fs@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-fs > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-fs-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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