On Thu, 31 Jul 2025 13:18:07 -0400 Eben King <[email protected]> wrote: > I recently got some SSDs, and decided to use one of them (a 256G > model) to boot from. I want the change to be undetectable, in that > from a user perspective, nothing seems different, just faster. > > I currently have a 2T HD, partitioned with GPT but booting by MBR. > Yes, that's probably weird. When I installed Debian I was unaware > that the installer would only install grub to boot using the method > that the installer booted. My BIOS/firmware will boot using either > method, but defaults to MBR if both methods work. You can force it > to use UEFI on a one-time basis. I want the SSD to boot using UEFI. > Is that possible, and if so, what's the best method to go about it? > > My ideas are: > 1. dd / onto the SSD, then modify it to boot UEFI. This sounds hard. > 2. Install Debian (the same version I run) onto the SSD, then modify > /etc and whatever else so stuff works. This sounds error-prone. > 3. Wait until I upgrade to Trixie, then let the installer hash it out. >
I suggest you install trixie, as the Debian installer seems to be more robust than that for bookworm. I would try switching to UEFI when you go to boot the installer. That should give you a system that will boot to UEFI. I would do a new installion on the SSD. Get that running as you want it. This may include copying over configuration files from the old /etc, or diffing them, or similar. Copy over some or all of the old /home. If you let the installer partition the drive for you, you will get /, /boot. /boot/efi partitions. I would then add the rest manually after the installation. -- Does anybody read signatures any more? https://charlescurley.com https://charlescurley.com/blog/
