Any way to "reallocate" rEFInd after upgrade to 10.9?

[este.el.paz]

Folks:

I had rEFInd 7.0.4??? installed in front of Disk 2 of a triple boot system; disk 2 had 10.8.6 and I was able to get the rEFInd log manager using the option key so I could choose 10.8 or the disk3 Linux Mint 16 system . . . all was good.

Yesterday I upgraded the 10.8 disk to 10.9 and after that the rEFInd window is gone. I booted into LM16 using a SuperGrub2 CD and opened GParted . . . it shows an "unallocated" 128MB in front of the second OSX disk, so I'm assuming that is the rEFInd data . . . it didn't show how much space was being used . . . somehow for sure it isn't "being accessed" anymore . . . .

Is there a simple Terminal command to "re-allocate" the rEFInd data that may be there? Or, is this a erase the 128MB and re-install? The folder doesn't show up in OSX Disk Utility, it only shows in GParted from LM16, so I don't know if OSX will allow LM to erase what is there??? Or, is there a GUI file in OSX that can be re-tweaked so that 10.9 will recognize rEFInd, somewhere in Library/xxx??? Or, if doing a re-install of rEFInd by dragging the file into the Terminal as I did the first time, would that make a second 128MB folder, or just piggyback into the first one, the one that is now "unallocated"?

Thanks kindly,

e.e.p.

[Roderick W. Smith]

rEFInd installs to the EFI System Partition (ESP) or (on Macs) OS X root (/) partition of a disk. This is true of all EFI boot loaders, and contrasts with the situation under BIOS, in which the boot loader installs to the Master Boot Record (MBR), the Partition Boot Record (PBR), and often in officially-unallocated parts of the disk, such as the gap between the MBR and the first partition. The 128MiB gap you found between two partitions has nothing to do with rEFInd; it's there because Apple's partitioning tools create such gaps so that they can be used as "scratch space" for future partitioning operations.

The easiest way to re-enable rEFInd is to re-install it, as if you were doing it for the first time. This will cause it to overwrite its original files (although it will keep your original configuration file, in case you've made changes to it) and re-register it with the firmware. If you prefer, you can manually issue the bless command, as described in step 8 of the rEFInd OS X manual installation instructions. Note that the current version is 0.7.8, so if you were running 0.7.4, you might want to upgrade. See the revision notes to learn what's changed.

[este.el.paz]

Mr Smith:

Thanks for the reply and the links . . . the first install was very easy after some download glitches . . . rEFInd has been trouble free. I think I used the "install.sh" method . . . which went well--I like simple, I'll have to read through your wiki again for the finer points.

I guess if I upgrade to 0.7.8 I would want to offload or trash the old 0.7.4 file which is still in Downloads, because that might make for some "conflict" for Mr Darwin, deciding which .sh file to choose from???

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

Success on the install rEFInd front . . . did the drag the "install .sh" file from the 0.7.9 folder and drop to Terminal window . . . method . . . and it went well. Got the rEFInd boot manager window . . . now the only issue seems like the OSX install "messed" with the Linux system so it's asking for a "boot disc" . . . probably have to do a re-install . . . it's just about time for the 14.04 upgrade, so no big deal. OSX doesn't play well with strangers . . . .

Thanks kindly,

e.e.p.