On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 03:27:36PM -0800, Randy Goldenberg wrote: > On Sunday November 17, 2019, Chris Green wrote: > > [...] > > > I want to add a new SSD to my current desktop system. This in itself > > isn't a major problem, I've done similar things before without > > problems (in fact I did this already with the current small and > > relatively slow SATA SSD that has the / filesystem on it). The issue > > is that I suspect the motherboard won't be able to boot from the new > > NVME/PCIe SSD so I'm aiming to have a small, bootable drive to just > > provide the boot files and have everything except for /boot on the > > new, fast, SSD. > > > > So, I can move all the required OS files to the new hard disk but how > > do I get grub installed on whatever I have as a 'small' boot disk? > > Someone willing to help would need to know if you're using legacy BIOS > booting, or UEFI.
Ah, oops, yes a rather basic piece of information. It's traditional BIOS. Doesn't the BIOS need to be 'UEFI aware' if one is going UEFI? > > > > Basic questions:- > > > > Presumably the disk where the /boot filesystem is has to be marked > > bootable using fdisk. > > That depends on how you're booting. Legacy, or UEFI? Legacy. > > > > How do grub-install and grub-mkconfig relate to each other? Which > > do I run first? Do I need to run both? What do I need to tell > > them (parameter-wise)? > > grub-install installs grub. grub-mkconfig writes a grub.cfg file, read by > grub at boot time. Parameters are explained in "info grub". Yes, I have worked through "info grub" quite a bit, the details are there but there's not much overview as it were. > > > > Is there anything else I need to do? > > > > I guess I need to run grub-install and grub-mkconfig on the system > > as I want it configured, i.e. with the new/small disk waiting for > > grub to be installed on /boot. So, this feels a bit risky as, > > until grub has been installed there the system won't [re]boot. > > What's the best way to make sure I have a 'get out' if it all goes > > pear shaped? > > Back up your system. > > https://www.clonezilla.org/ My data is well backed up, if it all goes *really* pear shaped I will simply re-install the OS from scratch and restore all my data. I was hoping for 'intermediate' disaster recovery to get back to a bootable system without having to restore everything. > > > > Yes, I know that question about grub-install and grub-mkconfig seems > > rather naive but I have to say none of the tutorials, man pages or > > other help that I could find actually clarified this. > > See "info grub". > See above! :-) > Your description of your situation suggests that you are using legacy BIOS > booting. If that is the case, in the absence of limiting circumstances, I > strongly recommend moving to UEFI. > As I asked above, does the BIOS have to be UEFI aware to move to UEFI? -- Chris Green
