On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 11:26 PM, Neil Bothwick<[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:16:26 +1000, [email protected] wrote: > >> In grub, it is located first as hd1 (/dev/sdb) and then as >> /dev/sda5. That is where I want it to be. > > Those are two different things. the first is GRUB's root directory, the > place where is will find its configuration and stage files (i.e. the > location of /boot). The root argument on the kernel line is tell the > kernel the location of your root filesystem - /. >
I need to have the second drive (SATA #2) as the first boot drive because that's the drive with the grub setup in the MBR, for Gentoo. /boot is found on SATA #1, actually /dev/sda1 after all is said and done. But until the system boots, it is called (hd1) (same as /dev/sda2). As the kernel boots from /boot, it finds / and mounts it. It is actually on /dev/sda1, and it is now identified as /dev/sda1. So this is what must be in the kernel line. I had /dev/sdb5 as / in /dev/fstab, but that was wrong, because by that time, it is /dev/sda5. I also had /dev/sdb5 as another partition, mounted as an archive, in my /dev/fstab. I thought this was causing a problem. Not sure even now. So I changed the fstab to reflect /dev/sdb5 as / . This problem has been a central issue over two to three weeks. Now the system is working. I'd like to rectify the boot priority so this drive is booted first, but that requires grub to install the MBR on that drive. Not sure why I had so much trouble with that. It's a 500GB drive. Is that an issue? It's all too complicated. Once it is clear enough in my own head, I will try to install grub on that drive and set it as the first priority at boot, in the BIOS. In 15 years of installing all manner of GNU/Linux, it has only been the past year or two I've encounted any of this. It started with having PATA drives suddently named /dev/sda1, while the former /dev/sda1 became /dev/sda2. It was first on Ubuntu. Now I'm not sure anymore. Thanks. I think that aspect of the problem has been sorted out, or at least recognized. It's dizzying. Alan
