[Mageia-discuss] Boot loader advice please

Anne Wilson annew at kde.org
Wed Aug 29 11:08:38 CEST 2012


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On 29/08/12 09:03, blind Pete wrote:
> Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:37:54 +0100 Anne Wilson <annew at kde.org>
>> wrote:
>> 
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>>> On 28/08/12 13:12, Renaud (Ron) Olgiati wrote:
>>>> On Tuesday 28 Aug 2012 07:01 my mailbox was graced by a
>>>> message from Anne Wilson who 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 :-)
>>>> 
>>>> Can you change the boot order in BIOS ?
>>>> 
>>> That sounded a good idea.  It's so long since I did things like
>>> this that I had forgotten it altogether.  However....
>>> 
>>>> I have installed M1 on an EeePC, with MSW on the bult-in HD
>>>> and M1 on a SD; just reassigned the HD order and the boot
>>>> order, and all is well, boots from the SD and offers me the
>>>> choices.
>>>> 
>>>> The only complication is when I change SD to install and try
>>>> out another OS, I then have to remember to reset the HD and
>>>> boot order in the BIOS or it directly boots Windows from the
>>>> HD ;-3(.
>>>> 
>>> Mageia appeared to be starting up, but when it came to logging
>>> in, it couldn't find the home directories (separate
>>> partition).
>> 
>> AFAIR, on some PCs, changing boot order will also change drive
>> naming (the BIOS really changes the enumeration order of
>> devices). So if you didn't use a "smart" scheme for your
>> /etc/fstab entries, like UUID= or LABEL= mounting, mounting those
>> partitions will fail.
> 
> Just to be horribly awkward, installers, boot loaders and operating
>  systems can discover things in different orders.  This can be much
>  worse if you connect and disconnect bits of hardware.  There might
>  even be spinup delays depending on whether there is a hot boot or
>  a cold boot.  (Some BIOSes allow for a time delay on some hard
> drives to lessen the startup current.)
> 
> Worst case is you have to arrange the hardware then install, but if
> you know which boot sector the BIOS is going to look at you can 
> problably sort out fstab and the boot loader after installation.
> 
That's what I'm going to do.  I'm following Gary's advice, and
re-installing with only the new drive attached - which is what I had
to do to get Windows installed.  I'll mount the others from fstab
later if I need to.  Other than that, I have a dock and usb HD
enclosures, so I've plenty ways of getting to the data.  It's just not
worth fighting to do it a particular way.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Anne
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