On Thu, Mar 08, 2012 at 02:43:46PM +0400, Mo Libden wrote: > 08 P<P0QQP0 2012, 14:22 P>Q "Dmitrij D. Czarkoff" <czark...@gmail.com>: > > On Wed, 2012-03-07 at 16:23 +0000, Dennis den Brok wrote: > > > > > > "Use (W)hole disk (writes to disk immediately) or (E)dit the MBR? [whole]" > > > > > > While the FAQ is indeed clear, the installer's simplicity appears > > > at that point a little deceptive, in that one (I know I was) is > > > tempted to think that such a user-friendly installer would not harm > > > one so easily... > > > > Don't you think it all gets too far? One should generally expect that > > choosing "use the whole disk" means that all the data on disk will be > > lost. If the user doesn't pay attention to installer, this wording won't > > help. Furthermore, the more chatty installer is, the less amount of > > newcomers would be reading the messages. > > my sentiments exactly. if they don't think about what's written, will > it make it better to write some more? > > besides, what does exactly "writes to disk immediately" mean? > ok, it writes, so what? will it change MBR? will it change > something else? or will it just read sector and write it back > (i.e. no actual change)?
The point is that when you choose [W] or [Enter] the MBR is overwritten with new content erasing all existing partitions but if you choose [E] you get to the MBR editor, where you will have to explicitly order it to write to the MBR. And the immediate action of the first choice is not obvious from the installer dialogue. This I think shows better what your choices are: (W)rite the MBR to use the whole disk or (E)dit the MBR? [write] Where the two operations Write and Edit have a clear contrasting meaning, or: Write the MBR to use the (W)hole disk or (E)dit the MBR? [whole] to not having to change an installer script variable name (a lesser change) -- / Raimo Niskanen, Erlang/OTP, Ericsson AB
