Manual partitioning is really unfriendly

[lnicola]

1. every partition starts the the beginning of the drive, instead of right after the previous partition

Notice how the two partitions overlap. You can spot this if you're paying attention, but you have to go back to figure out where the previous partition ends, then write down the sector number and try again.

2. you can't specify a partition size (relative end). So if you make a:
   • 0 start / 1 GB end
   • 1 GB start / 10 GB end
   • 10 GB start / 50 GB end

You get a 1 GB, a 9 GB and a 40 GB partition. gdisk supports both 10G (ends at 10 GB) and +10G (has size of 10 GB).

https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues/1213 suggests this is actually the size, but it doesn't match my experience.

3. the "format" option disappears after toggling it and it's not clear when it's going to format the partition or not
4. this might be intentional, but if you delete an existing partition, it gets marked as deleted; then if you delete it again, it disappears from the list. Now if you try to create a new partition, you can't use the whole disk. I don't have a screenshot unfortumately.

[Jazztache]

I second this. I am attempting to install Arch with manual partitioning right now, and it fails even with the best-fit partition scheme. It's consistently frustrating to deal with this and it would be a huge help if what is described above was implemented.

[lnicola]

@Jazztache I suggest using gdisk instead, and formatting the partitions. I did manage to make the installer work (with existing partitions), but it took me about four tries to get right.

[Jazztache]

@Jazztache I suggest using gdisk instead, and formatting the partitions. I did manage to name the installer work (with existing partitions), but it took me about four tries to get right.

Oh yeah it always takes me multiple tries to get Arch running by messing with the partitions. Gonna read the gdisk documentation to see if you can specify mountpoints.

[lnicola]

You can create the partitions using gdisk (or parted), format them, then specify the mount points in archinstall. That part seems to work fine.

[Jazztache]

Just tested this out. It thinks my third partition is encrypted somehow. I cannot get into the partitions screen of my disk encryption... Edit: I used gparted to make the partitions and they are the correct sizes.

[arlsdk]

For manual partitioning, you could use cfdisk. More user-friendly and easier. Make sure you partition the disk using cfdisk before attepting to run archinstall, cfdisk is a seperate tool.

[KieranCrossland]

Yeah cfdisk is the easiest command line partitioning tool.

[lnicola]

I mean, we're not discussing about the best non-GUI partitioning tool (gdisk is good enough for me), we're discussing what I believe to be a couple of bugs in arch-install.

[alexng353]

I agree. The Arch install partition manager is very difficult to use, and there aren't any good online tools to help you configure it properly. I was considering making an online partition helper, but I lack a lot of experience in partition management. That lack of experience also makes installing Arch a lot more difficult.

When I created my current partitions, which are weird sizes, I just used some rough math to make it happen.

Does anyone know any guides for making partitions with gdisk and then mounting them with archinstall?

[tony-sol]

Also, “Suggest partition layout” suggests overlapped partitions by default e.g.

40-409640 /boot 409640-12345678 / 12345678-123456789

And there’s no way to change them except delete and create manually