helllo and good evening - dear Linux-experts,

Can I erase all partitions including EFI and install only OpenSuse?

background: on a Akoya-notebook - see the signature - i have freshly installed OpenSuse Leap42.1
how to check the partition-table - and how to optimize it: We could start with getting:

the technical data of the notebook.
Display: 15.6" solution: 1366 x 768 ( WXGA )
cpu AMD Athlon II X2 P320 /2.1 GHz
Grafic: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
HDD 500 GB RAM: 4 GB
the notebook was sold with: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

but i never ever used this microsoft things - you will see that the hdd is partitioned accordingly.

so i guess that i can optimize all a bit ...

well i want to create a easy partition-table - something like the following:

 /dev/sda, Load MBR with Grub
1. /dev/sda1, Primary SWAP (4 GB)
2. /dev/sda2, Primary EXT4 "/" openSUSE Partition zum booten (36-60 GB)
3. /dev/sda3, Primary EXT4 "/home" das home directory (Rest of the hard disk)

see the partitions that can be seen on the notebook at this moment - with all the things... that can be wiped...


sudo fdisk -l

martin@linux-0f5x:~> sudo fdisk -l

Festplatte /dev/sda: 465,8 GiB, 500107862016 Bytes, 976773168 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 512 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 512 Bytes / 512 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: dos
Festplattenbezeichner: 0xb8fa3ecd

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1              63   8385929   8385867     4G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2  *      8385930   8594774    208845   102M 83 Linux
/dev/sda4         8803620 976768064 967964445 461,6G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5        21382578  42347339  20964762    10G 83 Linux
/dev/sda6       159768576 976766975 816998400 389,6G 83 Linux
/dev/sda7        42348544  91121663  48773120  23,3G 83 Linux
/dev/sda8        91123712 159766527  68642816  32,7G 83 Linux

Partitionstabelleneinträge sind nicht in Festplatten-Reihenfolge.

Festplatte /dev/mmcblk0: 7,4 GiB, 7948206080 Bytes, 15523840 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 512 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 512 Bytes / 512 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: dos
Festplattenbezeichner: 0x00000000

Device         Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1       8192 15523839 15515648  7,4G  b W95 FAT32

martin@linux-0f5x:~>

sudo sfdisk -l -uM
martin@linux-0f5x:~> sudo sfdisk -l -uM

Festplatte /dev/sda: 60801 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Einheiten: 1MiB = 1024*1024 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung
beginnt bei 0

   Gerät  boot. Anfang Ende   MiB    #Blöcke   Id  System
/dev/sda1         0+  4094-  4095-   4192933+  82  Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *  4094+  4196-   102-    104422+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/sda4      4298+ 476937- 472639- 483982222+   5  Erweiterte
/dev/sda5     10440+ 20677- 10237-  10482381   83  Linux
/dev/sda6     78012  476936  398925  408499200   83  Linux
/dev/sda7     20678  44492  23815   24386560   83  Linux
/dev/sda8     44494  78010  33517   34321408   83  Linux

Festplatte /dev/mmcblk0: 242560 Zylinder, 4 Köpfe, 16 Sektoren/Spur
sfdisk: Warnung: Die Partitionstabelle sieht aus, als wäre sie für
  C/H/S=*/81/10 (anstelle von 242560/4/16) erstellt worden.
Für diese Auflistung wird diese Geometrie angenommen.
Einheiten: 1MiB = 1024*1024 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung
beginnt bei 0

   Gerät  boot. Anfang Ende   MiB    #Blöcke   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1         4   7579   7576    7757824    b  W95 FAT32
                Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (10,9,3) gefunden (0,130,3)
                Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,80,10) gefunden (966,80,10)
/dev/mmcblk0p2         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/mmcblk0p3         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/mmcblk0p4         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
martin@linux-0f5x:~>

sudo parted -l

martin@linux-0f5x:~> sudo parted -l
root's password:
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32,3kB  4294MB  4294MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)  type=82
 2      4294MB  4401MB  107MB   primary   ext3            boot, type=83
 4      4507MB  500GB   496GB   extended                  type=05
 5      10,9GB  21,7GB  10,7GB  logical   ext3            type=83
 7      21,7GB  46,7GB  25,0GB  logical   btrfs           type=83
 8      46,7GB  81,8GB  35,1GB  logical   xfs             type=83
 6      81,8GB  500GB   418GB   logical   ext4            type=83


Model: SD SD08G (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 7948MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      4194kB  7948MB  7944MB  primary  fat32        type=0b

martin@linux-0f5x:~>

martin@linux-0f5x:~> lsblk --output NAME,KNAME,TYPE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL,UUID,PARTLABEL,PARTUUID,SIZE
NAME        KNAME     TYPE MOUNTPOINT             LABEL UUID PARTLABEL PARTUUID   SIZE
sda         sda       disk                                                      465,8G
├─sda1      sda1      part [SWAP]                                                   4G
├─sda2      sda2      part                                                        102M
├─sda4      sda4      part                                                          1K
├─sda5      sda5      part                                                         10G
├─sda6      sda6      part                                                      389,6G
├─sda7      sda7      part /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi                                23,3G
└─sda8      sda8      part /home                                                 32,7G
sr0         sr0       rom                                                        1024M
mmcblk0     mmcblk0   disk                                                        7,4G
└─mmcblk0p1 mmcblk0p1 part                                                        7,4G
martin@linux-0f5x:~>

well - i am no expert in partitioning things but as i am only interested in installing linux i think that i can wipe lots of things. especially this part:

/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624  84951039  83900416    40G Microsoft basic data
linux-vkhz:/home/martin

.....which is derived from this longer part:

Festplatte /dev/sda: 465,8 GiB, 500107862016 Bytes, 976773168 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 4096 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: gpt
Festplattenbezeichner: 6229C7C4-758C-450E-9D59-F59E2AE3CB11

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624  84951039  83900416    40G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3  968617984 976771071   8153088   3,9G Linux swap
/dev/sda4   84951040 968617983 883666944 421,4G Microsoft basic data

background: well i do not need to have any microsoft things - and i want to install linux with BIOS - not with EFI nor UEFI

so conclusion: i am able to erase

  1. all the EFI-System part
  2. all the Mircosoft basic-Data

is this possible. If i do so then i install the OpenSuse with BIOS mode.

can i do so!?

love to hear from you
dilbert2010

see here the thread that i have learned from
system installation - Can I erase all partitions including EFI and install only Ubuntu? - Ask Ubuntu

question: Can I erase all partitions including EFI and install only OpenSuse / or Ubuntu?

answer:

Yes, when you completely erase the disk, you can install ubuntu as the single operating system. When you can disable UEFI in BIOS (mostly you can) you even can install ubuntu in mbr mode. Boot from ubuntu install media, open GParted and create a new partition table - choose mbr. In case you can not disable UEFI and/or secure boot you as well can install ubuntu in EFI mode. Then the installer will create a new EFI partition where the GRUB boot loader will be installed.
You question is not completely clear to me. If you want to install Ubuntu in UEFI mode here is what you need to do : You will need to set your BIOS in UEFI mode and to create an UEFI bootable Ubuntu USB key. Follow this guide to create a UEFI bootable USB. Then simply run the Ubuntu installer; at step Installation Type, select Something Else and partition your disk as explained in this answer. If boot mode (UEFI or Legacy) does not matter for you simply install Ubuntu as usual. (Refer to this guide if needed)
You need to keep UEFI mode only if you want to install Ubuntu in UEFI mode. –

furthermore: The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), or its 2.x version, the Unified EFI (UEFI), is a type of firmware. The EFI is not a partition. That said, there is a partition called the EFI System Partition (ESP), which holds boot loaders. Chances are that lapisdecor meant "ESP" rather than "EFI" in the original question.

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