Re: Stretch installation: thumb drive recognized as /dev/sda
I've assumed the OP is not subscribed to the list.
On Wed 06 Sep 2017 at 16:07:55 (+0300), gentooman@runbox.com wrote:
> I installed Stretch on my Thinkpad from a USB flash drive. Only after the
> installation, during the first boot did I notice that something was wrong. GRUB
> failed to load the kernel and after a short diagnosis I learned that for some
> reason, the Debian installer saw my USB thumb drive as /dev/sda and the SSD as
> /deb/sdb. This caused GRUB config to be wrong when I removed the flash drive
> after installation.
>
> I did some testing and apparently, if I booted the Debian installer from my
> Thinkpad X220's only USB3 port[1], it would be recognized as /dev/sda, and if I
> used a USB2 port, it would be /dev/sdb.
This forms a nice counter-example to those here who maintain that
this doesn't/shouldn't happen. Or perhaps they will blame "defects"
of some sort.
> Doesn't the Debian Installer/GRUB not use UUID?
Yes, both in grub.cfg and fstab, as you can check on your successful
installation. The last comment line in fstab also gives the /dev
name of the root filesystem at installation time.
> What caused the problem here?
> I've never experienced such a fail before or since but it did cause some
> confusion and made me reinstall.
Having reinstalled already, it might be difficult to prove a cause.
In view of the fact that the SSD's being labelled /dev/sdb took you
unawares, perhaps a possible explanation is in this screen:
┌───────────────┤ [!] Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk ├───────────────┐
│ │
│ You need to make the newly installed system bootable, by installing the GRUB │
│ boot loader on a bootable device. The usual way to do this is to install GRUB │
│ on the master boot record of your first hard drive. If you prefer, you can │
│ install GRUB elsewhere on the drive, or to another drive, or even to a │
│ floppy. │
│ │
│ Device for boot loader installation: │
│ │
│ Enter device manually │
│ /dev/sda (usb-tweedledum) │
│ /dev/sdb (ata-tweedledee) │
│ │
│ <Go Back> │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
As a user of "expert install" myself, I don't know if you saw this
screen, but it might be easy to accidently type /dev/sda in response
on the first occasion you see it. This could then leave an out-of-date
Grub configuration (or anything else) in place on /dev/sdb.
Cheers,
David.
Reply to: