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    #1

    Is my boot drive mis-named?

    Kubuntu 12.10 KDE 4.9.3

    Recently, when I was having trouble with my boot sequence, I was told that the boot partition should be named sda1.

    My computer consists of an SSD and two HDD's. At the moment, the drives are identified as follows:

    SSD SATA III (sdc1) contains the Operating System
    HDD (sdb1) SATA contains a TV movie series called Stargate SG1. It is a 500gb drive with 351.15gb used.
    HDD (sda1) SATA II contains my /home/partition and is used for storage.

    While tuning up my computer, I noticed this info this morning.

    Memory suggests that the SATA III SSD drive should be named sda1 and the others renamed sdb1 and sdc1. Of the few little idiosyncrasies that occur from time to time on my computer, I thought perhaps this might be an error that confuses the logical operating of my computer and should be corrected.

    Actually, my computer runs quite good, so if it is not something to concern myself with, I would keep it as is. I just thought perhaps it might calm the few troublesome quirks of my OS.

    Can this renaming be safely and simply done? Thanks!
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    #2
    I don't know who said that "that the boot partition should be named sda1" but either you misunderstood what the point was or they were totally unfamiliar with linux and how it works.

    First of all; the device names for hard drives are assigned by the system at boot up, usually in the order they are set up by the computer BIOS. You can't easily just rename them. You may (most likely) change the order of the drives and thus the device names by changing the drive cable connections. Some more advanced BIOS' may allow re-ordering in the BIOS without cable changes.

    Secondly; Unless you changed it after installation, your Kubuntu install doesn't use the device names to mount your file systems. It uses UUIDs. One of the primary reasons for using UUIDs is so drives can be moved or replaced or relocated without disrupting the ability to mount or locate the correct partitions (actually file systems).

    Not withstanding all that: Linux could care less what order your drives are in, how the partitions are arranged or where they are located, or in some cases even if they are actually attached to your computer by a cable or by the network. I can't imagine any "idiosyncrasies" that would be caused or solved by the device name of a hard drive.

    If you're simply rather obsessive (like me) about certain details then by all means, rearrange away. However, the one detail that will need to be attended to is the GRUB boot record will have to be installed to the drive your system boots to initially. Again - depending on your BIOS - the drive with GRUB in the Master Boot Record. This is usually the first drive (sda) but some BIOS' allow booting to any drive.

    If you want my advice; don't mess with it because there is no real reason to. If you really want things in a certain order, wait for your next new install and rearrange the drive just prior to doing the install.

    Please Read Me
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      #3
      Thats very wrong. My laptop boots off sdb1. Run this:
      Code:
      cat /etc/fstab
      My output is:
      Code:
      daniel@linux-w365:~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part1 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part5 /home                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 2
/dev/sda3 /other                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 3
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
      Yours will probably be very very different depending on your hardware and personal configuration.
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        #4
        Thanks friend. I recently made a dual-boot on a laptop my daughter gave me. Would that relationship have anything to do with a dual-boot situation. Needless to say, I am not going to mess with it, it is just that I usually forget stuff, not remember stuff, anymore. Frankly, I have been having a lot of fun fixing little problems this past week. My computer is running better than ever. It seems the only project that will evade me is getting a working virtual machine. I can't believe how many times I have tried and failed. And it all seems so easy for the rest of you. By the way, I was a California resident for over 40 years, mostly in San Diego; wish I was there now. Cudos and thanks.
        Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post
        I don't know who said that "that the boot partition should be named sda1" but either you misunderstood what the point was or they were totally unfamiliar with linux and how it works.

        First of all; the device names for hard drives are assigned by the system at boot up, usually in the order they are set up by the computer BIOS. You can't easily just rename them. You may (most likely) change the order of the drives and thus the device names by changing the drive cable connections. Some more advanced BIOS' may allow re-ordering in the BIOS without cable changes.

        Secondly; Unless you changed it after installation, your Kubuntu install doesn't use the device names to mount your file systems. It uses UUIDs. One of the primary reasons for using UUIDs is so drives can be moved or replaced or relocated without disrupting the ability to mount or locate the correct partitions (actually file systems).

        Not withstanding all that: Linux could care less what order your drives are in, how the partitions are arranged or where they are located, or in some cases even if they are actually attached to your computer by a cable or by the network. I can't imagine any "idiosyncrasies" that would be caused or solved by the device name of a hard drive.

        If you're simply rather obsessive (like me) about certain details then by all means, rearrange away. However, the one detail that will need to be attended to is the GRUB boot record will have to be installed to the drive your system boots to initially. Again - depending on your BIOS - the drive with GRUB in the Master Boot Record. This is usually the first drive (sda) but some BIOS' allow booting to any drive.

        If you want my advice; don't mess with it because there is no real reason to. If you really want things in a certain order, wait for your next new install and rearrange the drive just prior to doing the install.
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          #5
          Both you and oshnluvr have made me a believer. I will remember your advice and let this question pass as solved. Thanks for the help!
          Originally posted by dmeyer View Post
          Thats very wrong. My laptop boots off sdb1. Run this:
          Code:
          cat /etc/fstab
          My output is:
          Code:
          daniel@linux-w365:~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part1 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part5 /home                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 2
/dev/sda3 /other                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 3
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
          Yours will probably be very very different depending on your hardware and personal configuration.
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            #6
            Originally posted by dmeyer View Post
            My output is:
            Code:
            daniel@linux-w365:~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part1 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Corsair_Force_GT_1203820000000990045A-part5 /home                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 2
/dev/sda3 /other                ext4       defaults,noatime,discard              1 3
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
            I'm curious why you have those entries for /proc, /sys, /sys/kernel/debug, and /dev/pts specifically listed in your /etc/fstab? Generally they're managed automatically and don't need explicit definitions.
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              #7
              Nor is disk-by-id the default filesystem mount.

              Please Read Me
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                #8
                Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post
                Nor is disk-by-id the default filesystem mount.
                Yeah, that creates an unnecessary linkage of the software to the hardware. If you dd your installation from one drive to another, those lines in fstab will cause a certain degree of consternation
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