Problem with UUID for hard disk partitions.

[rozen]

I recently installed Feisty Fawn and ran into problems with UUID's in fstab.

I have several partitions on /dev/hda which I use for several versions of Linux - Dapper, Edgy, Feisty, and Knoppix and I was thrown for a loop when I reformatted a partition to reinstall Dapper on it. Feisty would not boot because the UUID had changed on the reformatted system and as a result e2fsck failed. After I realized the problem, I went into /etc/fsab and /boot/grub/menu.lst and replaced all the UUID stuff with the corresponding /dev/hda's. I see several downsides to the UUID stuff, (1) I have to change entries when I reformat a partition, (2) Replacing my /dev/hdb disk which I use for backup would require changing fstab entries.

Obviously, the extra obfuscation of the UUID was added to solve some problem. My questions are (1) "What was the problem that the usage of UUID's was meant to solve?" and (2) "To whom Is that problem or set of problems likely to be important?"

Thanks in Advance,
Don

[Qqmike]

Re: Problem with UUID for hard disk partitions.

I'm with you on this issue, and am still learning/sorting it out.

I ripped this from the Kubuntu forum here somewhere not too long ago.
Some more info/detail/aspects of this UUID subject.

http://www.penguin.ch/dokuwiki/doku....:k_0704:revert
and USB tacking (interesting):
http://www.penguin.ch/dokuwiki/doku....ab#usb_tacking
reasoning:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibAtaForAtaDisks

Of course, that's just some more reading material.

Herman at bigpond may have added some stuff on it (or may do so soon ? )
Bigpond, home: http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/
(under Filesystems and Mounting)