danellisuk
January 6th, 2012, 12:39 AM
This is a simple guide for installing a new SSD drive using a Guid Partition Table. I thought I would share my result after doing this for the first time today. Useful information on the subject was obtained from the Arch Linux wiki.
I choose not to put a swap partition on my new SSD drive. I can either go without (as my machine has plenty of RAM), or I can manually put the swap partition on a traditional rotary disk (if I want my system to be able to hibernate).
To keep things simple, unplug any additional drives leaving just the SSD attached and boot from either a USB stick or live CD. You don't want to accidentally wipe any other drives. Your SSD should then be /dev/sda.
First install gdisk which is like fdisk but for managing GPT disk layouts.
sudo apt-get install gdisk
Run gdisk and specify the drive to manage.
sudo gdisk /dev/sda
The following is a transcript of the operation to create three partitions (with the elements you need to type in bold). The first partition is a special "Bios boot partition", which is required by grub to install itself in, (note the special code ef02). The second is a small boot partition for the kernel. The third is the root partition which will use the remaining space.
Command (? for help): o <enter>
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y <enter>
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (1-128, default 1): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 34) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Information: Moved requested sector from 34 to 2048 in
order to align on 2048-sector boundaries.
Use 'l' on the experts' menu to adjust alignment
Last sector (2048-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +1M <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): ef02 <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'BIOS boot partition'
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (2-128, default 2): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 4096) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Last sector (4096-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +500M <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'Linux/Windows data'
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (3-128, default 3): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 1028096) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Last sector (1028096-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'Linux/Windows data'
Command (? for help): w <enter>
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING PARTITIONS!!
Do you want to proceed, possibly destroying your data? (Y/N): y <enter>
Finally when installing Ubuntu select custom partitioning and map the following:
sda2 to be used as /boot
sda3 to be used as /
The grub boot loader can be installed to /dev/sda.
Notice how sda1 is not mapped to anything here. However, it will be used by grub. Without the special "Bios boot partition", grub installation will fail.
I choose not to put a swap partition on my new SSD drive. I can either go without (as my machine has plenty of RAM), or I can manually put the swap partition on a traditional rotary disk (if I want my system to be able to hibernate).
To keep things simple, unplug any additional drives leaving just the SSD attached and boot from either a USB stick or live CD. You don't want to accidentally wipe any other drives. Your SSD should then be /dev/sda.
First install gdisk which is like fdisk but for managing GPT disk layouts.
sudo apt-get install gdisk
Run gdisk and specify the drive to manage.
sudo gdisk /dev/sda
The following is a transcript of the operation to create three partitions (with the elements you need to type in bold). The first partition is a special "Bios boot partition", which is required by grub to install itself in, (note the special code ef02). The second is a small boot partition for the kernel. The third is the root partition which will use the remaining space.
Command (? for help): o <enter>
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y <enter>
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (1-128, default 1): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 34) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Information: Moved requested sector from 34 to 2048 in
order to align on 2048-sector boundaries.
Use 'l' on the experts' menu to adjust alignment
Last sector (2048-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +1M <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): ef02 <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'BIOS boot partition'
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (2-128, default 2): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 4096) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Last sector (4096-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +500M <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'Linux/Windows data'
Command (? for help): n <enter>
Partition number (3-128, default 3): <enter>
First sector (34-30093806, default = 1028096) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Last sector (1028096-30093806, default = 30093806) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <enter>
Current type is 'Linux/Windows data'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 0700): <enter>
Changed type of partition to 'Linux/Windows data'
Command (? for help): w <enter>
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING PARTITIONS!!
Do you want to proceed, possibly destroying your data? (Y/N): y <enter>
Finally when installing Ubuntu select custom partitioning and map the following:
sda2 to be used as /boot
sda3 to be used as /
The grub boot loader can be installed to /dev/sda.
Notice how sda1 is not mapped to anything here. However, it will be used by grub. Without the special "Bios boot partition", grub installation will fail.