Fw: Grub cannot see my new hard drive
name=Matthew%20Campbell&email=trenix25%40pm.me
-------- Original Message --------
On Jun 12, 2020, 8:32 PM, elvis < elvis@dogonfire.com> wrote:
On 13/6/20 10:58 am, Matthew Campbell wrote:
> I hope I don't create a fight with this.
>
> I booted the Debian netinst disc and installed Linux on /dev/sdb1 as
> the root partition. My computer is old. The system BIOS does not see
> this hard drive, nor does Grub, but the Linux kernel does. I'm running
> the 4.19.0-9-686-pae kernel, #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2 and Buster 10.4.0.
>
> The installation program tried to set up Grub on /dev/sda, but since
> Grub cannot see /dev/sdb the system gets stuck in rescue mode. It sees
> two hard drives hd0 and hd1, but says both have unknown filesystems. I
> had to install Linux on a 32 GB USB flash drive just to get my
> computer to boot. Now I can boot Windows again too. The flash drive is
> _really_ slow.
>
> Grub has /dev/sdb1 listed as an option, but says the disk does not
> exist and to load the kernel first, which of course is on the new hard
> drive partition /dev/sdb1 which I can access just fine after starting
> the kernel. The catch is that I have to boot the flash drive /dev/sdc1
> to do so thus making it the root filesystem.
>
> 1) How can I help Grub see and use /dev/sdb1 ?
>
> 2) Can I create a CD or USB flash drive with which to boot the
> computer so it loads the kernel and mounts /dev/sdb1 as the root file
> system?
This is what you want.
The kernel and initrd can be on a separate partition to the root
filesystem. Append root=/dev/sdb1 to change the root from the ramdisk.
Or as on my Debian system, it ignores the kernel line and seems to find
the root filesystem anyhow. Handy when I mess up the order of the disks
and sdc1 becomes sdb1. No idea how it does it, magic I guess.
Response: It finds the correct disk/partition because each has a unique identifier UUID which Grub looks for. Grub can't see my /dev/sdb so telling it to boot /dev/sdb1 won't help because it can't see the hard drive. It will claim that the drive or partition does not exist.
>
> 3) How long is my flash drive likely to last? Will it wear out as I
> continue to use it? Will reading from it damage it, or just writing to it?
>
> 4) How exactly does Grub work? What is the process, step by step? How
> do I configure Grub to do what I want? The installation program seems
> determined to do everything its own way.
>
> Thank you for your assistance in these matters.
>
> name=Matthew%20Campbell&email=trenix25%40pm.me
>
>
>
>
--
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