Bug report: libparted leaves MBR and GPT tables unsynchronised on Apple Mac

[Richard Cavell]

Hi,

I tried to add a ticket with this text but I keep getting an internal server error, so here it is:

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=586910

Sometimes when GParted is used to modify partitions on a Mac, it changes the
GPT but not the MBR.  So the MBR does not correctly reflect the new partition
map.  Since the GRUB bootloader relies on the MBR being correct, this renders
Linux completely unable to boot.  It also makes Windows incapable of booting. 
This bug is well documented on Apple architectures.  I don't know whether it
exists outside of Apple.  After using GParted, it is necessary to run a utility
program to 'resync' the MBR and GPT records of the partition map.

Steps to reproduce:
1.  Modify the partition map using GParted
2.  Attempt to reboot into any partition that has been modified using GParted.
3.  Get an error.
4.  Examine GPT and MBR records using gptsync.efi within rEFIt.
5.  Notice that they are different.

See here for rEFIt's discussion of these concepts, particularly at the very
bottom: http://refit.sourceforge.net/myths/

See also http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=586910

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