creating new /boot partition

[tatoniss]

I accidentally erased my /boot partion, so i can no longer boot ubuntu. Is it possible to create a new one with out formating and reinstalling my whole system
I have hardy 8.04
Your help would be greatly apperciated.

[mikewhatever]

Boot partitions usually contain the kernel and files needed to boot. I'd be quite surprised if there was an easy way to recover that.

[tatoniss]

I was making a new bigger /boot partion and i copyed them to it, it just is not being reconized by the computer but i have the files backed up, they were from the boot folder. So can i use those to make a new one without erasing my system

[sisco311]

All you need is to boot up a live cd, create the new /boot partition,
copy the files from the old one and reinstall grub.

EDIT: and edit the fstab and change the uuid of the /boot partition.

HowTo reinstall grub.

[sisco311]

Boot partitions usually contain the kernel and files needed to boot. I'd be quite surprised if there was an easy way to recover that.

I don't know if this is easy or not, but it works.
Just for fun, the steps:

i.) boot the live cd

ii.) mount the boot partition(/mnt/boot)

iii.) copy the kernel from the live cd:

cp -r /boot/* /mnt/boot/

iv) create the grub directory and copy the needed files:

mkdir /mnt/boot/grub
cp -r /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-pc/* /mnt/boot/grub

v.) reinstall grub

vi.) create the menu.lst file

vii) reboot

[tatoniss]

What if the partion is not mounted as boot, or called boot, how do i mount it, how do i make a menu.lst file.

sorry Im pretty new to ubuntu, i would just reinstall it but it took me forever to figure out how to install drivers for d-link wirless uunless i could copy the drivers and all the configureation to put on the fresh install

[sisco311]

What if the partion is not mounted as boot, or called boot, how do i mount it, how do i make a menu.lst file.

sorry Im pretty new to ubuntu, i would just reinstall it but it took me forever to figure out how to install drivers for d-link wirless uunless i could copy the drivers and all the configureation to put on the fresh install

Boot the live cd and open the Partition Editor (gparted).
Find the name of your root partition ("/") and boot partition ("/boot").

Assuming the root partition is /dev/sda1 and the boot partition is /dev/sda2 run this commands from the terminal
(Note: You will need to change sda1 and sda2 from the commands):

sudo mkdir /mnt/root
sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /mnt/root
sudo mount -t ext3  /dev/sda2 /mnt/root/boot

open the file browser:

gksudo nautilus

and copy the backup files to the /mnt/root/boot directory.

in the terminal:

ls /mnt/root/boot

the output should be something like:

abi-2.6.24-16-generic initrd.img-2.6.24-17-generic.bak
abi-2.6.24-17-generic initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic
abi-2.6.24-18-generic initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic.bak
config-2.6.24-16-generic memtest86+.bin
config-2.6.24-17-generic System.map-2.6.24-16-generic
config-2.6.24-18-generic System.map-2.6.24-17-generic
grub System.map-2.6.24-18-generic
initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic
initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic.bak vmlinuz-2.6.24-17-generic
initrd.img-2.6.24-17-generic vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic

reinstall grub:

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/root /dev/sda

You need to change the uuid of the partition in the menu.lst and fstab.

To get the uuid:

sudo blkid /dev/sda2

the output:

/dev/sda2: UUID="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx" TYPE="ext3

where x is a digit.

edit the files:

gksu gedit /mnt/root/boot/grub/menu.lst
gksu gedit /mnt/root/etc/fstab

in the menu.lst

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

in the fstab:

# /dev/sda2
UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx /boot ext3 relatime,defaults 0 2

reboot.