> I don't really see the point. this wastes some disk space to be > compatible with old, past-legacy bootloaders and OS'es. > why exactly would we want this? "some cases" ? As far as I can tell, if you install GRUB to the MBR it also lives in this empty space (between the first sector of the disk and the first sector of the first cylinder, typically LBA sector 63). Besides, the wasted space is not that much, you waste more at the end of the disk if you align partitions with cylinder boundaries.
