Triple boot with MacOS X Yosemite + Ubuntu 14.04 + FreeBSD 10.1

[Marcin Nowrot]

Refs to https://sourceforge.net/p/refind/discussion/general/thread/28e3a9fe/#0b5c

This is what I've done so far:
1) Tried the UEFI but immediately hit this bug https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=193745 - it seems that FreeBSD UEFI boot will not work on Macs at least for some time.
2) Regarding the hybrid MBR, my plans are the following:
a) create three FreeBSD GPT partitions (freebsd-boot, freebsd-ufs, freebsd-swap)
b) install FreeBSD there
c) and move only these partitions to the hybrid MBR (+ the protective EFI partition as first).

My question is would the absence of my MacOS X partition in the hybrid MBR prevent me from booting it? Also, is it possible to back up my current partition setup so I can restore it when something goes wrong?

and possibly remove the extra Linux boot option that might (or might not) appear alongside the FreeBSD option.

Could you please post/point me to instructions on how to do that? Currently I have two hdbios icons in the main menu of rEFInd I'd gladly get rid of.

[Predatux]

Hello , sorry for my English is not very good.

I have installed Mac, Windows and Linux in my MacMini with MBR partition table.
By doing it this way, i avoid problems.

With a Linux distribution, you can create a primary partition for Windows, partitioning the remaining space as you like .

Install windows first normally.

Now, you can install Linux, but installing the bootloader on your root partition, (not in the MBR).

I don't know how FreeBSD works, but I imagine you may install its bootloader on its own partition, like linux. At this point, the computer should begin only with windows .

Now we go to install MacOS to an external hard disk or pendrive formatted in GUID.

Now we start the computer from the external hard drive where MacOS is.

Once started, we connect to Internet and download CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner). Install the software, select the trial option and clone your actual MacOS installation to the new partition on the internal hard disk (MBR). You need to format the new one particion to Mac OS Plus with reg first. The program shows you an advice than you can't boot from the new system, but ignore it.

Once all is finished, shutdown the computer, remove the external disk, and start again the computer normally. Now should start only Mac.

Finally, you need to install rEFInd as follows:

sudo sh install.sh --notesp

Now you should be able to boot from any operating system installed.

I have in a 1TB disk:

.- 2x primary partitions for windows and windows clone (using HD Clone 5)
.- 1 primary partition for Yosemite
.- 1 extended partition with all the rest of the space.
.- 1x logical for Kubuntu (root partition)
.- 1x logical for Home Kubuntu
.- 1x logical for Linux swap
.- 1x logical for Yosemite Clone (using carbon copy cloner)
.- 1x logical NTFS for sharing and Steam

All working perfectly...

Hope it helps.

[Roderick W. Smith]

Marcin,

I'm sorry you're having problems with the FreeBSD EFI boot loader. It's new, so you're running into teething problems; no doubt they'll fix it sooner or later. As to your questions....

Predatux's procedure would probably work, but it's a bit tedious to set up and is definitely non-standard. As such, it might create problems down the road, like when it comes time to upgrade OS X.

Your suggested course of action should also work. It's a little more standard, but of course entails use of a hybrid MBR, which is ugly and dangerous. OS X does not need to be in a hybridized partition in order to boot, so don't be concerned that you'll have nothing but FreeBSD partitions there. In fact, you probably need only the FreeBSD boot partition in the hybrid MBR.

You can use my GPT fdisk (gdisk) to back up your partition table. It's the b option on the main menu. (Restoration is done via the l option from the recovery & transformation menu.)

There are several ways to hide boot loaders in rEFInd. The dont_scan_files, dont_scan_dirs, and dont_scan_volumes tokens in refind.conf can all do this. You can also hide entire classes of boot loaders (BIOS-mode disk-based or EFI CD-based, say) by uncommenting scanfor and adjusting its contents. You can also delete a boot loader. This is easiest with EFI boot loaders, which exist as ordinary files. To delete an MBR boot loader, you must adjust the boot sector of the disk or partition, which can be dangerous, so I recommend doing this only if you're comfortable with such operations.

[Marcin Nowrot]

Roderick,

thanks for confirming - it has indeed worked and now I'm able to boot into FreeBSD.

Best Regards,

Marcin

PS. I'd like to have a manual stanza for booting FreeBSD in (non-EFI mode), so later on I can hide the hdbios icons. I'll open a separate thread for that.