From: Scott Silva Sent: October 10, 2007 15:15 > on 10/10/2007 2:46 PM Hugh E Cruickshank spake the following: > > From: Les Mikesell > >> Hugh E Cruickshank wrote: > >>> From: Les Mikesell Sent: October 7, 2007 18:53 > >>> > >>>> Then reinstall grub on the drive. > >>> Now I have some questions: > >>> > >>> 1. Since the /boot partition was mirrored and will be restored on the > >>> new sda drive I do not really want to do a full grub install. From > >>> what I have read that will overwrite existing /boot/grub/grub.conf > >>> file. So I just want to write the MBR on the drive. How to I do > >>> that (the docs I have found were rather unclear on that aspect)? > >>> > >>> 2. Can a install grub on the replaced boot drive with the system still > >>> running? > >> Yes, after the /boot partition re-sync has completed, execute grub and: > >> > >> root (hd0,0) > >> setup (hd0) > >> quit > >> > >> If you aren't able to keep the system running while doing the swap, you > >> can also do this from the rescue mode boot, but you should have the > >> contents on the /boot partition first. > >> > > > > Sorry to be obtuse here but I just want to make very sure of what I am > > doing before I do it. Will the "setup" command only write the MBR? > > > >>From my reading the GNU GRUB manual I got the distinct impression that > > the "setup" command will also write/rewrite the /boot partition (which > > I would like to avoid). The documentation for the setup command states: > > > > Set up the installation of GRUB automatically. This command uses > > the more flexible command install (see Section 13.3.18 [install], > > page 44) in the backend and installs Chapter 13: The list of > > available commands 49 GRUB into the device install device. If > > image device is specified, then find the GRUB images (see Chapter > > 10 [Images], page 29) in the device image device, otherwise use the > > current root device, which can be set by the command root. If > > install device is a hard disk, then embed a Stage 1.5 in the disk > > if possible. > > > > The option �--prefix� specifies the directory under which GRUB > > images are put. If it is not specified, GRUB automatically > > searches them in �/boot/grub� and �/grub�. > > > > The options �--force-lba� and �--stage2� are just passed to install > > if specified. See Section 13.3.18 [install], page 44, for more > > information. > > > > The second paragraph tends to imply that /boot/grub will be written > > to by default and I do not think that this is what I want to happen. > > > > Thanks again for everyone's input (especially Les). It is greatly > > appreciated. > What "setup" command? That would be the grub setup command. > You boot from a rescue disk if your system isn't running already. > If booting from rescue disk chroot to your installed files. > execute grub > at its prompt run the following; > root (hd0,0) > setup (hd0) > quit > That should let you boot into your stuff. I know that will let me boot but that was not what I was asking about. As per the documentation I quoted it appears that the grub setup command will overwrite the /boot partition that has been restored from the mirror drive. As far as I can see that is not desirable. All I want to do is install the GRUB MBR and leave the contents of the /boot partition intact. My question is basically will the grub setup command only install the MBR or will it also overwrite the /boot partition as well? Regards, Hugh -- Hugh E Cruickshank, Forward Software, www.forward-software.com