Debian 6 / Grub 2 problem

Discussion:

2011-08-27 10:58:56 UTC

I can't get Debian 6 to work, and several questions arise.

Background: My system has several drives, viz.
hda: Seagate 40GB
hdb: LG DVD writer
hdc: Seagate 160GB
sda: WD 500GB Sata
scd0: LG DVD writer Sata

Currently I'm running Debian 5 (Lenny) booting off hda8.
I thought to install Debian 6.0 (off the DVD's) in /hda5, with /usr in /hda6,
and when it works OK then I'll swap to using that. As I usually do.

First strange thing was the Debian partitioner insisted on calling my 40GB
Seagate 'sdb' - why? It isn't SCSI or SATA. I assumed it would still
work anyway, so carried on with the install, when the basic install was
finished and reboot time came up, my old Grub menu (on /hda8) appeared.
Tried reinstalling (rescue mode on the DVD) and the new Grub failed to
install again. I'm reluctant to make strong efforts to make Grub install in
case it breaks my existing setup.

I've tried booting the new install using my existing Grub by modifying
menu.lst in /hda8. After remembering to change 'root=/dev/hda5'
to 'root=/dev/sdb5', thus:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/sdb5 ro quiet
it booted and got as far as
'mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: no such file or directory'
(ditto for /sys and /proc)
'Target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init
No init found'
Then it drops to busybox (ash shell)

So my question is - should Grub (original) be able to boot Debian 6? (I
have to say the Grub 2 grub.cfg entry generated by the installer was full
of 'insmod's and similar gobbledygook, not to mention UUID's that look like
MAC addresses on steroids - does Debian 6 demand this? The grub 2 manual
suggests it should be as simple as:
set (root directory)
linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 acpi=off
initrd /initrd
boot

Does the fact that Debian 6 seems to think all my drives are SCSI / SATA (and
gets them out of order) matter?

cr

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Glenn Enright

2011-08-27 11:19:26 UTC

Permalink

Most modern linuxs' dont care what the drive signifier is now, be it
sda or sdb etc, I beleive the assumption is that since UUIDs are
easier to distinguish (they are hard coded to a filesystem) if the
UUID is the same its probably the same disk. So UUIDs are safer,
especially where there are a lot of hotswp drives used, such as usb
devices. And not much effort is made to keep drive signifiers
consistent any more.

One option that may help is to chainload into the grub2 install
(presumably grub2 is installed on the mbr of the deb6 drive or
partition).

Else to help identify that you can grab the target device UUID and use
root=UUID=<your UUID> instead of root=/dev/sdwhatever

Some discussion on that is at
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/uuid-grub-and-fstab-669905/

Hope that helps. Regards, Glenn

Post by cr
I can't get Debian 6 to work, and several questions arise.
Background: My system has several drives, viz.
hda: Seagate 40GB
hdb: LG DVD writer
hdc: Seagate 160GB
sda: WD 500GB Sata
scd0: LG DVD writer Sata
Currently I'm running Debian 5 (Lenny) booting off hda8.
I thought to install Debian 6.0 (off the DVD's) in /hda5, with /usr in /hda6,
and when it works OK then I'll swap to using that. As I usually do.
First strange thing was the Debian partitioner insisted on calling my 40GB
Seagate 'sdb' - why? It isn't SCSI or SATA. I assumed it would still
work anyway, so carried on with the install, when the basic install was
finished and reboot time came up, my old Grub menu (on /hda8) appeared.
Tried reinstalling (rescue mode on the DVD) and the new Grub failed to
install again. I'm reluctant to make strong efforts to make Grub install in
case it breaks my existing setup.
I've tried booting the new install using my existing Grub by modifying
menu.lst in /hda8. After remembering to change 'root=/dev/hda5'
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/sdb5 ro quiet
it booted and got as far as
'mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: no such file or directory'
(ditto for /sys and /proc)
'Target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init
No init found'
Then it drops to busybox (ash shell)
So my question is - should Grub (original) be able to boot Debian 6? (I
have to say the Grub 2 grub.cfg entry generated by the installer was full
of 'insmod's and similar gobbledygook, not to mention UUID's that look like
MAC addresses on steroids - does Debian 6 demand this? The grub 2 manual
set (root directory)
linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 acpi=off
initrd /initrd
boot
Does the fact that Debian 6 seems to think all my drives are SCSI / SATA (and
gets them out of order) matter?
cr
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2011-08-29 10:20:51 UTC

Permalink

Thanks. That helps a bit.

To recap, I have Lenny (deb5) on /hda8, I installed deb6 to /hda5 (or sdb5).

I note the Grub2 grub.cfg on /hda5 says this:
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian --class
gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set
13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
root=UUID=13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}

so obviously Grub's '(hd1,msdos5)' is equivalent to Linux sdb5.
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

However, Grub2 did not (I think) install to the MBR, because when I reboot the
old Grub comes up.

Until I'm sure Deb 6 is going to work properly, I'm very wary of breaking my
current Grub legacy install and losing the ability to boot my present system.
Which is why I'd like to boot Deb6 off my current Grub (by modifying menu.lst
appropriately) and give Deb6 a good trial run.

cr

Post by Glenn Enright
Most modern linuxs' dont care what the drive signifier is now, be it
sda or sdb etc, I beleive the assumption is that since UUIDs are
easier to distinguish (they are hard coded to a filesystem) if the
UUID is the same its probably the same disk. So UUIDs are safer,
especially where there are a lot of hotswp drives used, such as usb
devices. And not much effort is made to keep drive signifiers
consistent any more.
One option that may help is to chainload into the grub2 install
(presumably grub2 is installed on the mbr of the deb6 drive or
partition).
Else to help identify that you can grab the target device UUID and use
root=UUID=<your UUID> instead of root=/dev/sdwhatever
Some discussion on that is at
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/uuid-grub-and-fstab-66990
5/
Hope that helps. Regards, Glenn

Post by cr
I can't get Debian 6 to work, and several questions arise.
Background: My system has several drives, viz.
hda: Seagate 40GB
hdb: LG DVD writer
hdc: Seagate 160GB
sda: WD 500GB Sata
scd0: LG DVD writer Sata
Currently I'm running Debian 5 (Lenny) booting off hda8.
I thought to install Debian 6.0 (off the DVD's) in /hda5, with /usr in
/hda6, and when it works OK then I'll swap to using that. As I usually
do..
First strange thing was the Debian partitioner insisted on calling my
40GB Seagate 'sdb' - why? It isn't SCSI or SATA. I assumed it would
still work anyway, so carried on with the install, when the basic install
was finished and reboot time came up, my old Grub menu (on /hda8)
appeared. Tried reinstalling (rescue mode on the DVD) and the new Grub
failed to install again. I'm reluctant to make strong efforts to make
Grub install in case it breaks my existing setup.
I've tried booting the new install using my existing Grub by modifying
menu.lst in /hda8. After remembering to change 'root=/dev/hda5'
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/sdb5 ro quiet
it booted and got as far as
'mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: no such file or directory'
(ditto for /sys and /proc)
'Target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init
No init found'
Then it drops to busybox (ash shell)
So my question is - should Grub (original) be able to boot Debian 6?
(I have to say the Grub 2 grub.cfg entry generated by the installer
was full of 'insmod's and similar gobbledygook, not to mention UUID's
that look like MAC addresses on steroids - does Debian 6 demand this?
set (root directory)
linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 acpi=off
initrd /initrd
boot
Does the fact that Debian 6 seems to think all my drives are SCSI / SATA
(and gets them out of order) matter?
cr
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Daniel Reurich

2011-08-29 23:48:17 UTC

Permalink

Post by cr
Thanks. That helps a bit.
To recap, I have Lenny (deb5) on /hda8, I installed deb6 to /hda5 (or sdb5).
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian --class
gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set
13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
root=UUID=13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
so obviously Grub's '(hd1,msdos5)' is equivalent to Linux sdb5.
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

Grub2 refers to msdos as the partition table type. It's to help clarify
the disks and I think allows some level of nesting of partitioning schemes.

Post by cr
However, Grub2 did not (I think) install to the MBR, because when I reboot the
old Grub comes up.

That all depends on the choices you made with regards to where it put grub.

Post by cr
Until I'm sure Deb 6 is going to work properly, I'm very wary of breaking my
current Grub legacy install and losing the ability to boot my present system.
Which is why I'd like to boot Deb6 off my current Grub (by modifying menu.lst
appropriately) and give Deb6 a good trial run.

I suspect you told it to install grub2 into boot sector of /dev/[hs]da5
in which case you should be able to get grub-legacy to chainload /dev/hda5.

This can be done by adding the following to /boot/menu.lst (on your old
deb5 install) either before or after the auto-generated entry list:

title Debian 6 in (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

--
Daniel Reurich
Centurion Computer Technology (2005) Ltd
Ph: 021 797 722

2011-09-03 09:58:05 UTC

Permalink

After a short break I thought I'd try fiddling with Debian 6 again...

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
Thanks. That helps a bit.
To recap, I have Lenny (deb5) on /hda8, I installed deb6 to /hda5 (or sdb5).
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian
--class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set
13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
root=UUID=13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
so obviously Grub's '(hd1,msdos5)' is equivalent to Linux sdb5.
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

Grub2 refers to msdos as the partition table type. It's to help clarify
the disks and I think allows some level of nesting of partitioning schemes.

OK, thanks, I guessed it was something like that. (Though I thought DOS
partitioning went C: , D: , E: ...... )

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
However, Grub2 did not (I think) install to the MBR, because when I
reboot the old Grub comes up.

That all depends on the choices you made with regards to where it put grub.

I'm fairly sure I told it to install Grub to the MBR

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
Until I'm sure Deb 6 is going to work properly, I'm very wary of breaking
my current Grub legacy install and losing the ability to boot my present
system. Which is why I'd like to boot Deb6 off my current Grub (by
modifying menu.lst appropriately) and give Deb6 a good trial run.

I suspect you told it to install grub2 into boot sector of /dev/[hs]da5
in which case you should be able to get grub-legacy to chainload /dev/hda5.
This can be done by adding the following to /boot/menu.lst (on your old
title Debian 6 in (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

Well, I just tried that, I just got
Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format.

I think, for some reason, Grub failed to install (certainly the second time,
when I was using the Deb6 DVD in 'rescue' mode, I got an error message to
that effect).

I was going to ask what the Grub file is called, but I guess if it's installed
to the boot sector an 'ls' wouldn't show it up anyway.

Anyway thanks for the help, I think I might try a Deb6 install on one of my
laptops (which don't have vital data on them) and get a 'feel' for it before
I attack my big box again.

Regards

cr

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Ross

2011-09-07 02:29:04 UTC

Permalink

Post by cr
After a short break I thought I'd try fiddling with Debian 6 again...

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
Thanks. That helps a bit.
To recap, I have Lenny (deb5) on /hda8, I installed deb6 to /hda5 (or sdb5).
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian
--class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set
13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
root=UUID=13a4fc47-d6fc-4393-839e-02c4af56a548 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
so obviously Grub's '(hd1,msdos5)' is equivalent to Linux sdb5.
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

Grub2 refers to msdos as the partition table type. It's to help clarify
the disks and I think allows some level of nesting of partitioning schemes.

OK, thanks, I guessed it was something like that. (Though I thought DOS
partitioning went C: , D: , E: ...... )

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
However, Grub2 did not (I think) install to the MBR, because when I
reboot the old Grub comes up.

That all depends on the choices you made with regards to where it put grub.

I'm fairly sure I told it to install Grub to the MBR

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
Until I'm sure Deb 6 is going to work properly, I'm very wary of breaking
my current Grub legacy install and losing the ability to boot my present
system. Which is why I'd like to boot Deb6 off my current Grub (by
modifying menu.lst appropriately) and give Deb6 a good trial run.

I suspect you told it to install grub2 into boot sector of /dev/[hs]da5
in which case you should be able to get grub-legacy to chainload /dev/hda5.
This can be done by adding the following to /boot/menu.lst (on your old
title Debian 6 in (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

Well, I just tried that, I just got
Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format.
I think, for some reason, Grub failed to install (certainly the second time,
when I was using the Deb6 DVD in 'rescue' mode, I got an error message to
that effect).
I was going to ask what the Grub file is called, but I guess if it's installed
to the boot sector an 'ls' wouldn't show it up anyway.
Anyway thanks for the help, I think I might try a Deb6 install on one of my
laptops (which don't have vital data on them) and get a 'feel' for it before
I attack my big box again.

I think you have two MBRs, one on each drive.

You could try changing your BIOS disk boot order in CMOS setup if that
option is available to see if mbr is on other drive and bootable. As
long as you note the original order it should be simple to switch back
if it is unsuccessful.
You could also try using a Super Grub Disk or similar to boot the mbr
from the other drive.

Ross.

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2011-10-16 05:54:57 UTC

Permalink

Post by Ross

Post by cr
I think, for some reason, Grub failed to install (certainly the second
time, when I was using the Deb6 DVD in 'rescue' mode, I got an error
message to that effect).
I was going to ask what the Grub file is called, but I guess if it's
installed to the boot sector an 'ls' wouldn't show it up anyway.
Anyway thanks for the help, I think I might try a Deb6 install on one of
my laptops (which don't have vital data on them) and get a 'feel' for it
before I attack my big box again.

I think you have two MBRs, one on each drive.
You could try changing your BIOS disk boot order in CMOS setup if that
option is available to see if mbr is on other drive and bootable. As
long as you note the original order it should be simple to switch back
if it is unsuccessful.
You could also try using a Super Grub Disk or similar to boot the mbr
from the other drive.
Ross.

I think you might be right :)

After a successful install of Deb 6.0.2.1 Squeeze (32-bit) on my laptop, I
thought I'd try 6.0.2.1 (AMD64) on the desktop. And the same thing happened
as with 6.0 previously - an apparently successful install, then it rebooted
into my old (Lenny) grub menu.

I've got three hard disks, a 40GB Seagate (which I use for Linux distros), a
160GB Seagate for data, and a 500GB WD SATA for data. The BIOS sees them in
that order.

And yes, changing my boot sequence in the BIOS found the new Grub2 menu, on
the 500GB WD SATA.

Complications persist though -

Debian Lenny sees them as /dev/hda, /dev/hdc and /dev/sda, whether booted
from Grub on /hda or Grub2 on sda.

Debian Squeeze, if booted from Grub, sees them as /dev/sda (40GB), /dev/sdb
(160GB), and /dev/sdc in that order. If booted from Grub2, it sees them as
/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc and /dev/sda. I assume Squeeze gets its drive ID's from
Grub.
This obviously leads to complications in Squeeze with identifying my data
partitions in /etc/fstab, since it changes according to which Grub I boot it
off. I was hoping to shun UUID's which look like digital garbage.
I suppose I shall have to bite the bullet and fill my /etc/fstab with UUID's
(why do they have to be so damn _long_ - I could tolerate 12 digits like MAC
addresses!).
Can somebody confirm, do these UUID's remain the same no matter which drive
the system was booted from?

Then I'll hafta try and get Grub2 installed on the MBR of my 40GB drive (since
booting a system on one drive off the MBR of another seems like setting up for
trouble next time I shuffle drives around).
Which raises the question, why did Debian install the system on one hard drive
and the Grub boot stage on another anyway?

cr

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Bruce Kingsbury

2011-10-16 06:15:13 UTC

Permalink

Yes, the UUID is part of the filesystem. Same filesystem, same UUID. That's
the whole point of uuids.

And who cares how long they are? If you're typing them by hand you're "doing
it wrong" .. learn to cut and paste.

Post by cr

Post by Ross

Post by cr
my laptops (which don't have vital data on them) and get a 'feel' for

Post by Ross

Post by cr
before I attack my big box again.

I think you have two MBRs, one on each drive.
You could try changing your BIOS disk boot order in CMOS setup if that
option is available to see if mbr is on other drive and bootable. As
long as you note the original order it should be simple to switch back
if it is unsuccessful.
You could also try using a Super Grub Disk or similar to boot the mbr
from the other drive.
Ross.

I think you might be right :)
After a successful install of Deb 6.0.2.1 Squeeze (32-bit) on my laptop, I
thought I'd try 6.0.2.1 (AMD64) on the desktop. And the same thing happened
as with 6.0 previously - an apparently successful install, then it rebooted
into my old (Lenny) grub menu.
I've got three hard disks, a 40GB Seagate (which I use for Linux distros), a
160GB Seagate for data, and a 500GB WD SATA for data. The BIOS sees them in
that order.
And yes, changing my boot sequence in the BIOS found the new Grub2 menu, on
the 500GB WD SATA.
Complications persist though -
Debian Lenny sees them as /dev/hda, /dev/hdc and /dev/sda, whether booted
from Grub on /hda or Grub2 on sda.
Debian Squeeze, if booted from Grub, sees them as /dev/sda (40GB), /dev/sdb
(160GB), and /dev/sdc in that order. If booted from Grub2, it sees them as
/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc and /dev/sda. I assume Squeeze gets its drive ID's from
Grub.
This obviously leads to complications in Squeeze with identifying my data
partitions in /etc/fstab, since it changes according to which Grub I boot it
off. I was hoping to shun UUID's which look like digital garbage.
I suppose I shall have to bite the bullet and fill my /etc/fstab with UUID's
(why do they have to be so damn _long_ - I could tolerate 12 digits like MAC
addresses!).
Can somebody confirm, do these UUID's remain the same no matter which drive
the system was booted from?
Then I'll hafta try and get Grub2 installed on the MBR of my 40GB drive (since
booting a system on one drive off the MBR of another seems like setting up for
trouble next time I shuffle drives around).
Which raises the question, why did Debian install the system on one hard drive
and the Grub boot stage on another anyway?
cr
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Ross

2011-10-16 22:23:45 UTC

Permalink

.....

Post by cr
I've got three hard disks, a 40GB Seagate (which I use for Linux distros), a
160GB Seagate for data, and a 500GB WD SATA for data. The BIOS sees them in
that order.

Are 40GB and 160GB drives PATA?

Post by cr
And yes, changing my boot sequence in the BIOS found the new Grub2 menu, on
the 500GB WD SATA.
Complications persist though -
Debian Lenny sees them as /dev/hda, /dev/hdc and /dev/sda, whether booted
from Grub on /hda or Grub2 on sda.
Debian Squeeze, if booted from Grub, sees them as /dev/sda (40GB), /dev/sdb
(160GB), and /dev/sdc in that order.

IIRC between lenny and squeeze the way PATA/SATA/SCSI drives are
detected changed so they are all detected as scsi in squeeze (and other
current distros too) whereas lenny used older detection system, that is
why the difference I think.

Post by cr
If booted from Grub2, it sees them as
/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc and /dev/sda. I assume Squeeze gets its drive ID's from
Grub.

You could try (Squeeze from grub1, sda is 40GB sdc is SATA 500GB). Look
in /boot/grub/device.map to check grub's drive mappings, if necessary
run grub-install --recheck /dev/sdc to update the mappings then check
/boot/grub/device.map again. Post back if the mappings are not updated
correctly as per bios order. You can also manually change drive mappings
by editing /boot/grub/device.map
If device.map correct run grub-install /dev/sda to activate -- Beware,
this will replace your current grub1 mbr with grub2, it would pay to
backup your mbr before running above. You could also test without
affecting default boot order by installing to /dev/sdc and changing bios
boot order or select 500GB SATA from bios Boot menu.

Post by cr
This obviously leads to complications in Squeeze with identifying my data
partitions in /etc/fstab, since it changes according to which Grub I boot it
off. I was hoping to shun UUID's which look like digital garbage.
I suppose I shall have to bite the bullet and fill my /etc/fstab with UUID's
(why do they have to be so damn _long_ - I could tolerate 12 digits like MAC
addresses!).
Can somebody confirm, do these UUID's remain the same no matter which drive
the system was booted from?

They will only change if the filesystem changes, eg you format it. UUIDs
are the way forward I think so might as well get used to them now.

Post by cr
Then I'll hafta try and get Grub2 installed on the MBR of my 40GB drive (since
booting a system on one drive off the MBR of another seems like setting up for
trouble next time I shuffle drives around).
Which raises the question, why did Debian install the system on one hard drive
and the Grub boot stage on another anyway?

Debian installed system and grub where it was told to like a good OS
should. ;) There should be no problems booting one drive off another's
mbr that is how the mbr system works, but I think you are right about
grub2 being part of the solution to this problem (see above).

HTH
Ross.

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Cliff Pratt

2011-09-07 07:40:20 UTC

Permalink

Post by cr

Post by Daniel Reurich

Post by cr
so obviously Grub's '(hd1,msdos5)' is equivalent to Linux sdb5.
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

Grub2 refers to msdos as the partition table type. It's to help clarify
the disks and I think allows some level of nesting of partitioning schemes.

OK, thanks, I guessed it was something like that. (Though I thought DOS
partitioning went C: , D: , E: ...... )

Those are just labels, just like 'msdos5'. You can have unlabelled
partitions in MS OSes, but I don't think that you can directly access
them. MS OSes make guesses when they label partitions which more or less
work.

Cheers,

Cliff

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Ross

2011-08-30 02:08:09 UTC

Permalink

.....

They changed kernel to detect IDE PATA devices as scsi devices sometime
ago. That is why the "changed" drive order.

Post by cr
(Aside: what's this 'msdos5'? It's never seen DOS in its life).

'msdos5' refers to partition 5 on a drive using legacy MSDOS style
MBR/partition table as opposed to the newer GPT, or other partitioning
scheme.

HTH
Ross.

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