Re: What is the partition scheme good for?

[hansbkk]

On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 8:48 PM, Karl Schock <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> in the the grub manual I read:
>
> "2 Naming convention ...
>
> (hd0,msdos2) ...
>
> the string 'msdos' indicates the partition scheme ..."
>
> "11.1 How to specify devices ...
>
> (device[,part-num][,bsd-subpart-letter]) ...
>
> part-num represents the partition number of device ..."
>
> So I guess the partition scheme is not necessary and I ask myself what is it 
> good for?
>
> Are there other schemes in addition to msdos? If so: Which ones and when do I 
> use them?


In the context of partitioning drives, "msdos" refers to traditional
MBR-style partitions, as created by fdisk et al, and used by all OSs,
not just that one.

The alternative is the new-fangled GPT type, appropriate for newer OSs
and larger hard drives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table