The /dev/sdb1 is my persistent bootable USB key. It was working perfectly with xubuntu 9.04.
here is the info:
Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010
============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for /boot/grub.
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM
sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext2
Boot sector type: Grub
Boot sector info: Grub is installed in the boot sector of sdb1 and looks
at sector 2080847 of the same hard drive for the
stage2 file, but no stage2 files can be found at this
location.
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40016019456 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78156288 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x64656469
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 69,770,294 69,770,232 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 69,770,295 78,156,224 8,385,930 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdb: 8019 MB, 8019509248 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 974 cylinders, total 15663104 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc3072e18
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 13,542,794 13,542,732 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 13,542,795 15,647,309 2,104,515 82 Linux swap / Solaris
blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/sda1 666806DD6806ABBD ntfs
/dev/sda2 1ec54139-37f5-44a1-8f01-2108d05e3977 swap
/dev/sdb1 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 ext2
/dev/sdb2 51668974-02d2-4212-8ca6-c5deceaf8f6c swap
============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/sdb1 / ext2 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat (rw)
================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================
[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="xxxxxxx" /noexecute=alwaysoff /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-22-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-generic root=UUID=363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-22-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-generic root=UUID=363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.28-18-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-18-generic root=UUID=363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-18-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.28-18-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-18-generic root=UUID=363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-18-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 666806dd6806abbd
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
=============================== sdb1/etc/fstab: ===============================
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# USB Key Linux
UUID=363af5fd-f749-45c8-9c09-9c4e1432f3b6 / ext2 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
UUID=51668974-02d2-4212-8ca6-c5deceaf8f6c none swap sw,pri=254 0 0
# periphiriques
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
# PC #1
UUID=b1cfd930-48d5-4977-9e9c-d2504ac3e222 none swap sw,pri=255 0 0
# PC #2
# swap on sda2 (PC)
UUID=61706242-40cf-49d8-889e-d29b7faf54e2 none swap sw,pri=253 0 0
=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================
1.0GB: boot/grub/core.img
.9GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
.9GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-18-generic
1.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-generic
.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-18-generic
.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-generic
1.0GB: initrd.img
.9GB: initrd.img.old
.9GB: vmlinuz
.9GB: vmlinuz.old
Since it took like 2 hours to upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 on this key, I think I will simply directly install 10.04 on it (like I did with 9.04). Probably would be a whole lot less problems and quicker.