[Mageia-discuss] Boot loader advice please

Tue Aug 28 13:49:37 CEST 2012

On 08/28/2012 07:01 PM, Anne Wilson wrote:
+> On 28/08/12 11:32, Anne Wilson wrote:
+>> >  On 28/08/12 11:16, Anne Wilson wrote:
+>>> >>  I'm currently installing M2 as a dual boot onto sdd.  When all
+>>> >>  data is transferred to the new disk, sda, sdb and sdc will be
+>>> >>  removed. I assume that writing the boot loader (language fails
+>>> >>  me, at the moment) to sdd is fine?  I know it's a very basic
+>>> >>  question - brain is only half-functioning just now due to
+>>> >>  external pressures.
+>> >
+>>> >>  (sda has the old entry.)
+>> >
+>> >  Just wanting confirmation that the existence of the old grub won't
+>> >    cause any problems:-)
+>> >
+> Unfortunately, it does cause problems - of course sda is checked
+> before sdd.  I assume that I will now need somehow get rid of the grub
+> on sda - what's the best way to do that?
+>
+> Faint bells are ringing - about re-ordering disks, but in these days
+> of using disk IDs I'm not sure whether the old ways are still valid,
+> and I really don't want to screw things up to the point where recovery
+> is a very big job.  I'd appreciate thoughts from a mind that is calmer
+> and clearer than mine:-)
+>
+> Anne
+
+
+Assuming you're installing and not cloning (dd) M2 to sdd, there should 
+not be any problem with bootloader/grub. However there are 2 things you 
+need to watch out for.
+
+o when installing boot loader, you're asked to confirm installing to 
+'sda', make sure that is the 'master drive'. To confirm disks, at root 
+terminal, "fdisk -lu" or "blkid" or "parted -l", If the 'master drive' 
+is not sda, but something else, go to MCC and reinstall boot loader to 
+the right one, ie., specify 'sdb' or 'sdc' (the right one).
+
+o The grub entry for grub-legacy contains
+kernel (hdx,y)/boot/......
+initrd (hdx,y)/boot/.......
+even as it has ROOT=LABEL  or ROOT=UUID..
+So the entry (hdx,y) {x and y are numbers} may change with BIOS and if 
+Mageia don't boot up, you need to manually change this x figure to make 
+sure it uses the right one. (grub2 don't have this problem)
+
+
+Finally, should you remove sda, sdb or sdc, watch out for the above 2 
+points again.
+
+Hope this would somehow convince the need for grub2 in Mageia
+(besides btrfs, UEFI, etc....)
+
+Regards - Goh Lip
+
+
+
+