Re: how to make hda become hdb? (not a hardware question)
> > I have debian installed on /dev/hda, how can I switch this hard drive
> > to
> > become /dev/hdb?
> >
> > What I know:
> >
> > edit lilo.conf, run lilo
> > edit fstab
> >
> > What about the partition table though?
Apologies for my vague question. I know how to do the physical switch, but
it's making sure it will boot after the switch that I'm not sure about.
(This odd situation came about from installing Debian on a soon-to-be dual
boot laptop where I wasn't able to boot off the CD, and the secondary HD
can't be in at the same time as the floppy. So I had to temporarily put the
Debian HD in the primary position for the install, now switch it back.
Currently, this is my plan:
Before the switch,
-change fstab references from hda to hdb
-in lilo.conf, change the root filesystem to root=/dev/hdb1 but leave
boot=/dev/hda
-run lilo
-Put the HD in the secondary position and the win HD back in its primary
position. Set up the win bootloader to give an option to point to the
secondary HD. When this is chosen it should run the lilo MBR on the second
HD, and I think boot up properly. Then I change in lilo.conf boot=/dev/hdb
so future "lilo" executions will happen on its own hard drive, unless my
friend who I'm doing all this for decides he's ready to let lilo write to the
mbr of his win disk.
The reason I'm being cautious is that if, after making the switch I just get
a "LI" error or something like that, to fix it I guess I'll have to put it
back in the primary position so I can use the floppy, use a linux
micro-distribution to boot entirely off the floppy (root fs on floppy as
well), then mount the debian hd, fix up whatever mistake I made, and chroot
lilo to fix it. Not the end of the world, but I'd rather just get it right
the first time. Does my procedure look sound?
Reply to: