two efi partitions on two different drives possible?

[bartNL]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to linux, and to uefi as well so my question is: is it possible and advisable to have two efi partitions?(on two different drives)
Because i'm using win8.1 on my internal ssd and i want linux on my ext.hdd which is also used by windows.

Then if this is possible, does it matter if the efi partition is not the first partition in line on the drive?
I thought i heard you can have as much efi partitions as you want, but i'm not sure of the reliability of my source. Also, what should i do: create a /boot partition during linux installation and mark this as efi boot partition and as target for bootloader installation?
Thanks!

 

[CompGee]

You can have up to 4 primary partitions. Also, you can have 1 filesystem (e.g. L:\) marked as /boot and another filesystem (e.g. F:\) marked as /home. I have 5 partitions on one drive. 1 partition is under a extended partition, and the 4 other are primary.

 

[bartNL]

You can have up to 4 primary partitions. Also, you can have 1 filesystem (e.g. L:\) marked as /boot and another filesystem (e.g. F:\) marked as /home. I have 5 partitions on one drive. 1 partition is under a extended partition, and the 4 other are primary.

But the disk has a gpt partition style, so i can create as may primary partitions as i want. the thing i want to know is if it's possible to have two efi partitions, on two different drives. But anyway thanks for your effort.

 

[CompGee]

You can. Just have Linux flag the internal drive as /boot and have the external drive as /home.

 

[bartNL]

You can. Just have Linux flag the internal drive as /boot and have the external drive as /home.

flag? you mean create a /boot partition on internal ssd and select that as target for bootloader installation?

 

[CompGee]

Right. Create 1 partition spanning the entire drive and format it to ext4. Tell Linux to install the bootloader to that partition. Create a new partition on the external hard drive and format it to NTFS. Tell Linux to put the /home directory on that partition.

 

[bartNL]

Right. Create 1 partition spanning the entire drive and format it to ext4. Tell Linux to install the bootloader to that partition. Create a new partition on the external hard drive and format it to NTFS. Tell Linux to put the /home directory on that partition.

So i'll have to store the ext.drive's data temporary elsewhere, then i'll create an ext4 partition (as root?) and select this as the target for bootloader instalaltion. i'll try it and mark you as best answer if it works, thanks for your help.

 

[CompGee]

The ext4 partition is root and root is the /boot partition. The NTFS partition is your /home partition and your personal data goes on that partition, and the /boot partition has GRUB and all that stuff on it.