J de Boyne Pollard
2007-10-23 01:42:31 UTC
B> I am reading throught the NTFS technical reference and it says that
B> GPT is only for Itanium based computers. Is this really true?
No. One can use the EFI partitioning scheme with any processor. The
processor type is not a factor. The important two considerations are:
* The operating system itself (and its supporting utility softwares)
must understand the EFI partitioning scheme, so that it is capable of
making sense of what is on the disc.
* The machine must be bootable. Either the machine firmware must be
capable of bootstrapping the machine using EFI boot loaders, which you
have in an EFI System partition somewhere; or you must have another
disc that is partitioned with the MBR partitioning scheme and that
contains a bootable MBR and an operating system's VBR and other boot
loaders.
In Windows-centric terms, these are:
* The version of Windows NT that you are using must understand the EFI
partitioning scheme. It must be capable of processing that style of
partition table in order to locate disc partitions. Understanding of
this partitioning scheme was initially introduced in IA64 versions of
Windows NT (because IA64 systems use EFI firmwares and so that is how
discs on IA64 systems are partitioned as standard), but has since made
its way into the x86 versions too.
* Either the machine is an IA64 machine (which has EFI firmware as
standard) or is an x86 machine that has EFI firmware (such as an Intel
Macintosh), and the version of Windows NT that you have has an EFI
boot loader program (for the processor type); or the machine has PC98
or PC/AT firmware, and you have another disc partitioned with the MBR
partitioning scheme, where a bootable MBR and Windows NT's VBR and
secondary boot loaders are located.
<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/efi-boot-
process.html>
<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/windows-nt-6-
boot-process.html>
B> GPT is only for Itanium based computers. Is this really true?
No. One can use the EFI partitioning scheme with any processor. The
processor type is not a factor. The important two considerations are:
* The operating system itself (and its supporting utility softwares)
must understand the EFI partitioning scheme, so that it is capable of
making sense of what is on the disc.
* The machine must be bootable. Either the machine firmware must be
capable of bootstrapping the machine using EFI boot loaders, which you
have in an EFI System partition somewhere; or you must have another
disc that is partitioned with the MBR partitioning scheme and that
contains a bootable MBR and an operating system's VBR and other boot
loaders.
In Windows-centric terms, these are:
* The version of Windows NT that you are using must understand the EFI
partitioning scheme. It must be capable of processing that style of
partition table in order to locate disc partitions. Understanding of
this partitioning scheme was initially introduced in IA64 versions of
Windows NT (because IA64 systems use EFI firmwares and so that is how
discs on IA64 systems are partitioned as standard), but has since made
its way into the x86 versions too.
* Either the machine is an IA64 machine (which has EFI firmware as
standard) or is an x86 machine that has EFI firmware (such as an Intel
Macintosh), and the version of Windows NT that you have has an EFI
boot loader program (for the processor type); or the machine has PC98
or PC/AT firmware, and you have another disc partitioned with the MBR
partitioning scheme, where a bootable MBR and Windows NT's VBR and
secondary boot loaders are located.
<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/efi-boot-
process.html>
<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/windows-nt-6-
boot-process.html>