Re: [List] EFI partition size

On 04/12/2025 18:09, Michael Grimm wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I used to set the EFI partition size to 100 M for the past years.
>
> Today I tested the installer on Hetzner's FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE image athttps://www.hetzner.com/cloud/  and found the installer setting this EFI partition size to be about 260 M.
>
> Well disk size is cheap nowadays, but what would be a reasonable partition size for the next years to come?
>
> Thanks and regards,
> Michael

Hi Michael,

FreeBSD used to use a relatively small EFI partition: <1Mb. I've noticed 
it getting larger. The only reason I can think of is so you can store 
more stuff on it like firmware update tools and alternative bootloaders 
(for other operating systems) - they've got to go somewhere outside the 
OS partitions.

It's a good question. My guess is you don't need nearly as much if 
you're using the disk for nothing but FreeBSD. There's still time for 
someone who knows the inside story to answer.

You can look at the EFI partition easily enough, being FAT. There's 
usually about 1-2Mb in there. I'd say allow 4Mb to be safe. Maybe 8Mb to 
be extremely safe. The worst that can happen is you need to install more 
bootloaders and have to expand it, which would be a PITA but you'd also 
need space on the disk for more operating systems and you're probably 
setting the whole drive up for FreeBSD anyway.

Regards, Frank.