# install FreeBSD on a specific partition?



## LPSLEIPZIG (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi there,

I´m thinking about trying FreeBSD for the first time, atm at the moment I´m using a multiboot system with ArchLinux, Lubuntu and Windows 7 with a total of 12 partitions on one physical drive. This is my partition table made with gparted under Linux (I don't know if this is a MBR or GPT, because both seems to be present)

```
/dev/sda1: LABEL="Win7" UUID="6E74686B746837CB" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-01" 
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Arch" UUID="c1e15365-5e7d-4088-9be2-715f1ed4a7b0" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="1056aa24-05" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="53c17105-435b-46f5-a0ef-fb07187ecc4e" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="1056aa24-06" 
/dev/sda7: LABEL="Arbeit" UUID="F284FB4984FB0F3B" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-07" 
/dev/sda8: LABEL="Downloadz" UUID="A6CA872BCA86F739" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-08" 
/dev/sda9: LABEL="Musik" UUID="0AC499FCC499EA69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-09" 
/dev/sda10: LABEL="Tests" UUID="8EEAAA8FEAAA72DF" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0a" 
/dev/sda11: LABEL="Video" UUID="9450BC7550BC6022" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0b" 
/dev/sda12: LABEL="Save" UUID="BEA8D4BBA8D472FF" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0c" 
/dev/sda13: LABEL="Temp" UUID="BAE2096AE2092BE7" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0d" 
/dev/sda14: UUID="2dc6f7f7-5c3d-49a9-be1d-04aa3f068909" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0e" 
/dev/sda15: LABEL="Lin" UUID="1ECAFCEECAFCC2D7" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1056aa24-0f"
```

I intend to use /dev/sda14 for a test install of a lightweight FreeBSD with LXDE, at the moment this partition has Lubuntu on it, 14 GB of disc space available and GRUB2 in the MBR to boot the other OS´s.

My questions are: 
Is it possible to direct the bsdinstall(8) tool to use this specific partition, replacing the Lubuntu installation with the FreeBSD installation? 
Is it possible to use the same swap partition for Linux and FreeBSD?
How much disc space would a basic installation with FreeBSD+LXDE need (estimated)?

I don't want to use one of the other partitions, because they are not for testing purpose. I have used the search function here but did not found answers to these questions and before I ruin my partition table and system, I prefer to ask a noob question.

Thanks in advance!


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## SirDice (Mar 11, 2014)

Make sure the disk is GPT. If it is it shouldn't be a problem installing FreeBSD there. You may need to change the partition type to freebsd-ufs or freebsd-zfs. If it's an MBR disk the sda14 partition is most likely in an extended partition. You cannot install FreeBSD in an extended partition, it must be a primary.

NB A GPT scheme also creates a 'fake' MBR for backwards compatibility. So be sure to check correctly. On FreeBSD you can do `gpart show`.


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## LPSLEIPZIG (Mar 11, 2014)

Bedankt! for the quick answer. Unfortunately, it is an extended partition. 
I have checked it with the gnome-disc-utility, it says, one primary (win7) partition and one extended partition containing the logical partitions. I have another option, a 500gb usb drive, i will try installing FreeBSD there.


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## wblock@ (Mar 11, 2014)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Make sure the disk is GPT. If it is it shouldn't be a problem installing FreeBSD there.



Actually, FreeBSD can be installed in an extended partition, and will work from there.  It's the FreeBSD bootcode that does not like extended partitions.  Usually that is not a problem, because these multi-boot systems typically do not use FreeBSD's boot0 but something like Grub.

However, I do not know what bsdinstall(8) will do about bootcode.  As always, back up everything first, including bootcode.  And consider the usefulness of multiboot, where only one OS can be used at a time, versus VMs, where multiple OSs can be run at the same time.


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## LPSLEIPZIG (Mar 11, 2014)

Thank you for the hints. I´m using Virtualbox for ISO testing only, because I have only 3 GB of RAM on this machine. Anyway, I think I have to do some more reading about the FreeBSD installation process. The installation from a boot CD to the USB drive did not work.


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