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Flip the fixed bit on a USB HDD (removable disk)?

Started by Guest_AnonVendetta_* , Apr 07 2016 01:42 AM

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#1 Guest_AnonVendetta_*

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Posted 07 April 2016 - 01:42 AM

I just bought a Seagate 4TB USB HDD, and I know I need to use the GPT partition table to get the full use of it, as opposed to MBR. I was asking in Steve6375's Easy2Boot development discussion thread awhile back, and he recommended using MBR.

I don't see why I cant just as easily use a GPT drive for booting with E2B. Maybe I need to create a hybrid MBR/GPT on the disk? I want to use it for booting as well as storing static data, with dedicated partitions for each.

If the removable bit can be "flipped", then surely the fixed bit can be "flipped" too? I'm also not sure whether the drive would be classified as a fixed disk or a removable disk, since it is a HDD rather than USB flash.

Any such methods would probably only be relevant to Windows, any other OS would have its' own way of determining this?

If this won't work, I'll probably just buy a 128GB USB flash as well.

Thanks!

#2 Wonko the Sane

The Finder

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Posted 07 April 2016 - 07:21 AM

Rules of the thumb:

ALL (100%) of USB hard disk are FIXED (and 99.99% of them CANNOT be changed because the needed tool is not available)
MOST (98%) of USB sticks are REMOVABLE (and MOST (80%) of them CAN be changed because the needed tool is available), a few (fastest ones) are actually a USB bridge+a SSD and thus they are Fixed
ONLY Windows will care if device is Fixed or Removable

You normally want to have a Fixed device.

MBR (properly partitioned/formatted) will normally work on both BIOS and UEFI, GPT needs a workaround to work on BIOS, which can be a Hybrid MBR or another solution/ workaround, two are here:

http://reboot.pro/to...o-gpt/?p=193659

http://reboot.pro/to...o-gpt/?p=197690

:duff: