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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 10.10 installer sees internal HD as sdb and external drive as sda?



utherpendragonfly
December 21st, 2010, 03:45 PM
Yesterday I booted from the 10.10 Live CD to install (currently using 10.04).
When I got to manual configuration, device for boot loader installation showed my external HD as /dev/sda, and my internal ATA drive as /dev/sdb. Shouldn't this be the other way around? I did not opt to unmount the external drive this time or previously. I'm pretty sure when I installed 10.04 it showed my internal ATA drive as sda. Also, I have /home on a separate partition.
So I cancelled the install. Any idea why it read the drives that way?
I'm afraid to continue and screw things up.

PRC09
December 21st, 2010, 04:03 PM
Maybe the hard drive order in the bios has changed.If you have done any drive moves or additions the order could change.

psusi
December 21st, 2010, 04:33 PM
The order the device names are assigned is the order the drives are detected in, which can not be relied on. In other words, this is normal, it happens sometimes, don't worry about it.

utherpendragonfly
December 21st, 2010, 05:03 PM
Maybe the hard drive order in the bios has changed.If you have done any drive moves or additions the order could change.

I haven't messed with the bios in quite some time.

utherpendragonfly
December 21st, 2010, 05:05 PM
The order the device names are assigned is the order the drives are detected in, which can not be relied on. In other words, this is normal, it happens sometimes, don't worry about it.

I definitely don't want to boot from the external drive. So I should just go with internal ATA drive, even though it says it's sdb?

psusi
December 21st, 2010, 08:37 PM
I definitely don't want to boot from the external drive. So I should just go with internal ATA drive, even though it says it's sdb?

Yes.

utherpendragonfly
December 21st, 2010, 09:53 PM
I decided to unmount my external HD before booting the Live CD, and then the installer saw my internal drive as sda. All went well.
Thanks for the help.