Flash Drive and Grub2

[Taco.22]

I really don't know what the problem is here.  Grub2 has nothing to do with whether an ISO will boot or or not - it is up to the system itself and the hardware it is aimed at.  If the system has been built properly and the hardware it is to be installed on is set up properly, then there shouldn't be an issue.  i'm no fan of Grub2 but I've never been able to blame it for a failed install.  Currently the testing version of VillageBox is sitting on a usb stick.  Has been for the last couple of remasters.  I can update, fiddle about and remaster off that stick - no problems.  It was installed off another stick that was "dd'ed" off the computer.  VillageBox runs Grub2 - yes, it's a complete PITA to configure, but it's not why things don't work.

The fallback method is to burn to a cd and try booting from that.  If that works then the system itself is fine - Grub2 included - and the problem lies somewhere else.  Unetbootin is often used to "burn" a usb stick, but that is usually because the ISO does not have syslinux installed.  Remastersys does, so any remaster from that stable simply needs a "dd" command to put it on a usb stick.  I have over half a dozen USB sticks - three are dedicated to "dd"; they are new and specifically for the task - I don't trust the others and for good reason.  That is the nature of flash drives.   

As an aside, why anyone would go to Windows to set up a bootable Linux system is beyond me.  I have never had Windows on a computer - never had to, never intend to.  Windows to me doesn't exist.  So why use a system which is the antithesis of Linux to install Linux to a device?  Yes, at times I've had to reformat USB sticks through a Windows machine because we live in a small town and that was all we could get.  Caught out on the hop trying live-ISOs! Have since bought other non-compromised sticks!!

Anyway, not that this is helping anyone's problems, other than to say that the obvious isn't always, and always check the hardware -  and don't trust flash drives!


Sorry - I think I got stuck in rant-mode!  Gotta do something about that.

[melodie]

I still have a pair of Windows install not just because it came with the machine but because it allows me to test things (free software most often) to help other people. The other reason why someone would use a Windows app to create a bootable USB with it would be if they don't have a GNU/Linux box yet. The last reason which is as good as any, is keeping the Fat32 format which does not bother with rights and permissions on files, and have at same time the desired persistent mode = persistant, fat32, and possibility to have personal data added besides as on any usb stick.

So Lili USB, which I have tried before, is a very interesting little tool.

[Taco.22]

You're right, Lili looks to be a neat tool.  One way around using Windows to set up a Linux system is to "burn" the ISO to a cd or stick, boot the computer off that and then install on to another stick.  Of course, in the process of playing around with things like that last night I managed to accidentally reformat the usb stick with the current VillageBox remaster!!!  That's what happens when you have four identical sticks lying around, and the so-called "indelible" ink used for labelling is not!  Doh!!  No wonder I was feeling crabby last night.  Anyway, all part of the fun of computing.  Will undo the damage today!

[patrick013]

Ah well...........

When I transferred my Debian Testing to a different flash drive
I didn't do grub-install right.   Forgot to change the device map.
But I got to learn how to use grub rescue and a few other things.
Beginner to expert in 2 days.    Not bad once it's done.

Bought some Transcend JetFlash 8 GB'ers off Google.   Write at
10 MB/s, alot better than the new Kingston's they have.   

All's well that ends well.


Patrick

[Taco.22]

Patrick - amazing what and how fast you learn when things don't go right!!  Are things now working out with your new usb drives?

BTW, if you edit /etc/mke2fs.conf and add   "  ,extent    "    to the ext3 line it works, before starting installation.    You get an ext3 fs plus extent.    As good as xfs if xfs is not available,  just at a slightly smaller scale.

Could you please explain what advantage this file system set up is giving, and what xfs has to offer.  I think djohnston is also a fan of  xfs.

EDIT - also you mention somewhere else that ext3 works better for usb - could you please expand on that.

[patrick013]

Patrick - amazing what and how fast you learn when things don't go right!!  Are things now working out with your new usb drives?
Could you please explain what advantage this file system set up is giving, and what xfs has to offer.  I think djohnston is also a fan of  xfs.

EDIT - also you mention somewhere else that ext3 works better for usb - could you please expand on that.

First time I tackled a grub2 hangup full steam, so I'm confident I can proceed using these flash
drives and not cluttering up my already somewhat full hard drive(s).

The Transcend JetFlash 300's I bought are the fastest yet I've bought, so probably be installing,
backing up, remastering, not super fast but at least at a usable speed.

The problem with filesystems is the flex_bg option in ext4.   Makes the drive crawl looking
for blocks used without a drive cache.   ext3 and xfs just look at the front of the drive for
block locations.   Don't need a drive cache to do that.   

I've got another question for a new thread.

thanks for the response.

patrick

[patrick013]

Amazing this Grub2 thing.

On my LV transfer I ran dd to transfer grub2 then I had to run grub-install.

On my Debian Testing LXDE I just ran grub-install at the MBR and it didn't
work, but when I dd'd grub2 over it started working just fine.

These new JetFlash 300 flash drives appear to be OK .    What works will
keep working I guess,   Maybe you have to do it twice.   

[Taco.22]

What command are you running when doing "dd"?

[patrick013]

What command are you running when doing "dd"?

dd if=/dev/sdc of=dev/sdd bs=440 count=1

After some thought I think the reason grub-install didn't work
is because both sdc and sdd were the same UUID's.   Before,
when I did this they were both different, the OS on sdc and the OS
on sdd.   

I wanted to and expected to get to grubrescue prompt, and from there I know exactly
what to do.     Force boot, fix the device map, run grub-install, run update-grub,
done, reboot.

Good topic for discussion, tho.

thanks for the response,

Patrick

[Taco.22]

Sorry, now I get it - you are dd-ing an OS, not an ISO.  Can I suggest you have a look at this link.
Archwiki - the font of all knowledge!

[patrick013]

Sorry, now I get it - you are dd-ing an OS, not an ISO.  Can I suggest you have a look at this link.
Archwiki - the font of all knowledge!

Some use bs=440, arch uses bs=446

I wish they'd make up their minds.

BTW bs=440 actually works.

[patrick013]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/files/

The above is an iso that installs grub2, if needed.


It's also in this repo :

# Boot-Repair-Disk
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu lucid main


Tested it today, for basic grub2 install.

FYI