Linux format in diskutil

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Linux format in diskutil

Hello all,

I'm trying to dual boot (Mac Linux) an early 2008 MacBook Pro. There are many tutorials on the web (google for mac triple boot), and most state that OSX's diskutil command has knowledge of Linux partitions. As of 10.5.4 (I know I need to upgrade...), it apparently doesn't.

Is this a Tiger-only feature of diskutil ?
If so, if there a way to find Tiger's diskutil and use it on Leopard (other than configuring the MacBook Pro in disk mode and connecting it through FireWire to a separate Mac running Tiger) ?
Would an early 2008 MacBook Pro boot if started with a Tiger boot CD/DVD ?
Any other GPT-friendly partitionner you could recommend (ok, this one is not that relevant in an apple forum).

Thanks,

JMR

Posted on Nov 20, 2008 9:13 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 20, 2008 9:39 PM in response to jmranger

try this:

diskutil partitionDisk "device" 1 MBRFormat ufs partitionname 100%

That will partition the disk with 1 partition, using the Master Boot Record partition scheme and format it with UFS and name it "partitionname". The partition will take up 100% of the drive.

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Answer 2

jmranger Author

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Nov 22, 2008 7:37 AM in response to Topher Kessler

Thanks for the hint, but this wouldn't do it. In part because I don't wan to wipe the existing HFS partition.

Maybe I haven't been clear. Looking at http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCamp, the "diskutil resizeVolume command used to be aware of a "Linux" partition type. This seems no longer to be present in current diskutil.

Also, while UFS is a "standard" unix filesystem, it's not mainstream in the Linux world. Looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUIDPartitionTable, the GUID in the GPT partition table are quite different for the various Linux types and UFS.

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2008 3:41 PM in response to jmranger

Well, if you're looking for ext3 support in disk utility you wont get it. To get a dual boot setup going you'll have to resize your OS X partition, and then use the linux utilities to set up an ext3 or other type of filesystem on the free space. I'm not sure about boot options though, and whether or not things like the options key would recognize other partitions as valid boot drives. I know Yellow Dog Linux works fine, but I think they use HFS+ or UFS and not ext3...not sure though.

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Answer 4

jmranger Author

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Nov 22, 2008 9:35 PM in response to Topher Kessler

Thanks again for your input.

I'm really looking for a partitionning tool that's Linux-aware, and I belive Tiger's diskutil was, while Leopard's isn't. I'm not looking for a formatting tool - I know Linux's will do it. It's really about putting a few bytes with the right values in the GPT and MBR tables, no more. Linux tools may do it, I just have't found that info yet. Everybody that documented what I'm trying to do now appear to have tried it with Tiger.

I just got a Tiger boot disk, but it's an old, PowerPC only one. No luck... One thing that could help would be the output of "diskutil partitionVolume" on an Tiger/Intel system. I'll post that request in Tiger's forum.

Oh, and in case you're curious, here are the answers to some of your "not sure" questions:
- There's a tool that changes the behavior of holding the option key down while booting, it's called rEFIt, and allows to select between Linux and MacOS.
- YellowDogLinux is no longer relevant for Apple hardware, since they're PowerPC only. Can't tell which FS they use, though.

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