From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Mon, 12/16/2024 12:21 PM, TJ wrote:   
   > On 2024-12-14 21:52, bad sector wrote:   
   >>   
   >> Since Intel have decided to fianally kill legacy BIOS in 2025 I have no   
   choice left. Knowing this day would come I've already created an EFI #1   
   partition, formatted with   
   >>   
   >> # mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> The current OS partitions are 10-17   
   >>   
   >> Device          Start        End   Sectors  Size Type   
   >> /dev/sda1        2048    2099199   2097152    1G EFI System   
   >> /dev/sda2  1348483072 1350580223   2097152    1G BIOS boot   
   >> /dev/sda3     4196352   16779263  12582912    6G Linux swap   
   >> /dev/sda4    16779264   16781311      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda5    16781312   16783359      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda6    16783360   16785407      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda7    16785408   16787455      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda8    16787456   16789503      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda9    16789504   16791551      2048    1M Linux   
   filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda10   16791552  593508351 576716800  275G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda11  593508352  761280511 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda12  761280512  929052671 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda13  929052672 1096824831 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda14 1096824832 1264596991 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda15 1350580224 1518352383 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda16 1518352384 1686124543 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >> /dev/sda17 1686124544 1853896703 167772160   80G Linux filesystem   
   >>   
   >> My current motherboard supports Legacy BIOS only but I'm getting a new   
   board that supports EFI (only I think). How do I get the new motherboard   
   started up using my existing boot disk above?   
   >>   
   >> What happens when the disk fails? What's the BIOS and boot recovery after I   
   restore all partitions form images? Can I also keep an image of the EFI   
   partition and run again with that after a recovery?   
   >>   
   >> TIA   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   > Being of limited financial resources, I usually buy used and/or refurbished   
   hardware. I find it fills my needs more than adequately, at a much lower cost.   
   It's not for everybody, but I also like the idea of taking someone else's   
   castoff and returning    
   it to useful life. I suppose my experience isn't really relevant to your   
   questions about a new motherboard, but I'm going to post them anyway.   
   >   
   > My first EFI machine was an HP Pavilion laptop that I found at a yard sale   
   for $20 US. It was a Windows 8.1 machine, my first look at that mess. (I'm   
   sure it was never released - it escaped!)   
   >   
   > The BIOS on that machine is the most limited I've ever seen, with "Boot   
   options" being about the only thing that can be set by the user. Since my plan   
   was to replace that horrible concoction with Mageia Linux, the first thing I   
   did was disable secure    
   boot so I could boot a Mageia Live usb stick, just to see if Mageia would even   
   work on it. That enabled "Legacy support," and I was able to boot into   
   something non-Microsoft.   
   >   
   > There was then more to do before it would be usable. I doubled the RAM to   
   the 16GB max, and replaced the rust hard drive with an SSD. Now, I *could*   
   have researched how to clone an existing legacy system and convert it to EFI,   
   but it took considerably    
   less time and effort to just install Mageia using our netinstall iso. The   
   installer took care of any partitioning needs for me. Transferring wanted   
   data(documents, pictures, music, videos, etc.) from backups was next. Easy.   
   >   
   > My second EFI hardware was/is an Asus motherboard for a 7th-generation Intel   
   processor, an upgrade for my existing production motherboard. It was used,   
   pulled from a running system by a recycler and sold on eBay. It has two M.2   
   slots, where my old    
   board only had SATA ports, so I bought two NVME drives on Amazon to populate   
   them. The RAM is three times that of the old one.   
   >   
   > My old one had been set up with / and /home on an SSD, with data on a second   
   rust drive. All I had to do was install Mageia once more on one of the NVME   
   drives, and transfer the data from the old rust drive to the other NVME drive.   
   Again, easy, and    
   while not exactly fast, was less time-consuming than learning how to fully   
   convert a legacy system to EFI, catching all the potential gotchas waiting to   
   trip me up.   
   >   
   > I love it. Of course, YMMV.   
   >   
   > TJ   
      
   But some day, the Intel plan is, that motherboards only have UEFI   
   and they will have Secure Boot. And everyone else will have to   
   clean up the mess. That's the plan. When you get your gently used   
   equipment, that is going to be the configuration available to you.   
   No more legacy boot.   
      
   It's like Ford announcing in 2028, vehicles will no longer   
   ship with steering wheels. Just a shaft with a nut on the end,   
   and a pair of Vice Grips clamped on the nut.   
      
   This is why we are practicing with our Vice Grips today,   
   so we are ready for the shaft with a nut.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)