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There is a way to indicate to grub to install on a device MBR by UUID instead of using /dev/sdX ? I'm setting a external eSATA hard disk with NixOS, and obviusly, the hard disk not would be always the same /dev/sdX device ?
I see that I can config it with boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/sdX", but could set it to something like "/dev/disk/by-uuid/...." ??
Zardoz89
Posted 2015-02-05T09:37:30.340
Reputation: 131
1
grub-install /dev/by-uuid/XXX not would work becasue the whole hard disk not gets a UUID (at least on my machine). Instead, we could use /dev/by-id/XXX that is generated using the serial number of the hard disk.
On NixOS configuration file would be :
boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/by-id/XXXX"
Zardoz89
Posted 2015-02-05T09:37:30.340
Reputation: 131
0
try grub-install "UUID=700C663F-4183-4A8D-BAC2-EE34E5518B9C" /dev/sda0 UUID is "/" partition sda0 is "/" device Source is grub2 manual /dev/disk/by-uuid/ does not work because this directory does not exist until is booted it is preferred to use partuuid as this dos not change with reformatting- uuid changes with formatting
Murdock-Slacker
Posted 2015-02-05T09:37:30.340
Reputation: 1
As I said "not would work becasue the whole hard disk not gets a UUID (at least on my machine).". Using /dev/by-id/XXXXX just works fine on my case. Also, I'm configuring nixos, so I need to setup it on text config file, not run directly grub with a parameter. – Zardoz89 – 2015-05-13T07:07:07.290
-1
Yes, modify /boot/grub/menu.cfg
root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/whatever-blkid-outputs-placed-here
...give it a whirl.
For example
set root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/'3a2adf19-8685-483c-9889-1b4d56788486'
Nodak
Posted 2015-02-05T09:37:30.340
Reputation: 124
I was thinking this is useful for the times you use a LiveCD to recover an installation and for some reason the LiveCD become /dev/sda1, and the internal HD is assigned /dev/sdbX...except when you re-boot and it re-verts to the re-verse. Assign a UUID and be done with it. – Nodak – 2015-02-05T10:16:08.660
No no no .. You don't understand me. I don't asking if I can set the /boot partition by UUID (I did... piece of cake!). I'm asking how INSTALL GRUB on a disk using the disk drive UUID ... on other words ... I could do "grub-install /dev/disk/by-uuid/...." ? – Zardoz89 – 2015-02-05T10:45:57.910
Oops, sorry. Then I'll echo Michael Kjörling, above...did you try it? The worst that can happen is you would learn something. – Nodak – 2015-02-05T10:55:08.570
-1
No, you cannot grub-install /dev/disk/by-uuid/foo. This is not saying it is impossible, one might concoct a method, but it is impractical at the least.
UUIDs (universally unique identifier) are practically unique identifiers for partitions, and not the device itself. That is partitions have a UUID, but the location of the MBR that grub-install addresses does not have a UUID.
If you generate a UUID for the device (e.g.,uuidgen /dev/sdb) you then encounter a device.map problem within GRUB. grub-mkdevicemap fails to rectify the problem automagically.
If you grub-install /dev/disk/by-uuid/de305d54-75b4-431b-adb2-eb6b9e546013, for example, you will receive errors like
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. <blah, blah, blah>
...and so it goes.
More info can be found https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/174206/warning-file-system-ext2-doesnt-support-embedding-but-my-system-isnt-emb
This was a fun experiment. Thanks.
Nodak
Posted 2015-02-05T09:37:30.340
Reputation: 124
Did you try it? What were the results? – a CVn – 2015-02-05T09:42:25.250
I'm just trying it ... /dev/disk/by-uuid/XXX not would work as on my case, the hard disk alone not have a UUID. But /dev/disk/by-id/XXX looks that could work. nixos-rebuild dry-run don't output any error, so I would try it now. – Zardoz89 – 2015-02-05T18:15:00.730