SSD migration boot option problem

[lazer100]

On 26-Feb-13 03:11:17 Nils Kassube wrote:
>Am Montag, 25. Februar 2013, 20:52:15 schrieb lazer100:
>> On 25-Feb-13 21:59:18 Nils Kassube wrote:
>> >Am Montag, 25. Februar 2013, 11:52:57 schrieb lazer100:
>> >> I just wonder if they could put all the boot partitions, with
>> >> the ones they dont want active commented out with #
>> >
>> >What do you mean with "they"? The automagic kernel list is generated
>> >by update-grub which is run by installation scripts e.g. for
>> >installing new kernel packages. Your problem seems to be that the
>> >update-grub script only finds a single Windows partition.
>> 
>> what I meant was the people who wrote the scripts that generate
>> /boot/grub/menu.lst

>Ah, OK - I suppose they just include every OS found. But as that old 
>grub version with menu.lst is obsolete, I wouldn't expect any future 
>changes to that script.

>> >> titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
>> >
>> >I hope you are aware that this is an ancient Ubuntu version for which
>> >the support has ended nearly 3 years ago ...
>> 
>> yes, but I prefer it to later versions, and it has everything that I
>> need!
>> 
>> later versions are becoming more like Windows,

>:)

>Actually I think, Ubuntu tries to become more like MacOS than Windows. 
>Perhaps you should have a look at the other Ubuntu flavours: Kubuntu, 
>Lubuntu, Xubuntu.

what is the idea of these versus the standard Ubuntu?

>> By the way can I attach files on this list, or do they have to be
>> included in the text?

>Yes, it would work but there is a size limit of about 30k.

I'll attach text files in the future if not too big,
as YAM for some reason is mangling the contents, its quite
an ancient version of YAM.


>> what happens now, is that the new boot option appears, but when
>> I boot from it, I get the following error:
>> 
>> Error 12: Invalid device requested
>> press any key to continue...
>> 
>> which then returns back to the boot options.
>>
>> I think the problem is that I have installed Windows XP to
>> a logical partition, and grub probably only recognizes
>> OS's in the 3 or 4 top level partitions.

>Hmm, maybe (the old) grub can't boot Windows from a logical partition? 
>That would at least explain why it wasn't included automatically. But 
>I'm no expert for grub, so maybe someone else has an idea?

>However grub knows how to boot Linux from any logical partition, not 
>only from a primary partition. In the past I had a machine with only 
>logical partitions for several Linux versions and it worked with the old 
>grub version.

but what is the earliest Ubuntu you could instal to a logical partition?


>> But Windows XP installation accepted a logical volume for the
>> installation, and it booted fine from this.

>Sure, but that was not via grub but the original Windows boot loader. 
>Like I wrote above, maybe that grub version can't boot Windows from a 
>logical partition.

different things happen when I reinstall the same Windows,

sometimes it includes Ubuntu and sometimes it doesnt!

maybe it depends on how XP is installed, eg to the same directory
as an earlier XP, or to a new top level partition, or to a new
logical partition.

this last install was to a new logical partition, and it didnt
supply the option to boot to the earlier XP, but with other
XP installs in the past, it supplied alternative XP boots,
and sometimes supplies Ubuntu also.


>> the reason I installed XP from a logical partition, is
>> that would allow me to have 3 Ubuntus and several XP's installed
>> from one drive. Ubuntu I think can only be installed
>> from a top level partition.
>> 
>> as there are a maximum of 4 top level partitions, and
>> a swap partition is necessary for Linux, if you
>> only use top level partitions you can only have at most
>> 3 OS's.

>Well, first you can install Linux into logical partitions (see above). 
>Second, a swap partition is not vital, if you have a lot of RAM. The 
>installer may complain but if you tell it not to create a swap 
>partition, the it will happily continue without one.

I didnt know you could opt out of the swap partition,
currently I have 4G of ram, 


>> I probably have to reinstall everything from scratch
>> with the OS's all to top level partitions, right now
>> I have lost the solid state logical drive XP installation

>You could repair Windows from the install disk (rewrite the MBR), but 
>then you would lose Linux - so yes, it looks like some work ahead. I 
>would suggest to install Windows in a primary partition and Linux in 
>logical partitions.

the other thing I thought was if I install a current version of Ubuntu
to say a logical partition, would that create boot options for
the earlier Ubuntu and logical partition XP?


luckily installation to a solid state drive is considerably faster
than installing to magnetic drive, the main cost now is the 
accessing of the installation CD which isnt fast.