dual-boot 14.04.x on laptop with SSD

[Skaperen]

I have a System 76 Kudu Pro (https://system76.com/laptops/kudu) with 120G of SSD (and 2x 1TB spinners). It came with nothing installed on the SSD (it boots from the 1st spinner at /dev/sda with 14.04 factory installed and since upgraded to current). The SSD is /dev/sdb. I am using /dev/sdc as a repository of my old files (uses most of the 1TB). I am thinking of doing a fresh install of 14.04.3 LTS on the SSD. that would make a dual-boot with both systems being Ubuntu 14.04.x (i have no need for any other OS). has anyone done this kind of thing before? any suggestions (besides not formatting anything on /dev/sda or /dev/sdc)? as a disabled person, killing the laptop would be a bad thing for me. yes, i do make backups of /dev/sda to an external drive (2TB) (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983293-REG/western_digital_wdbmwv0020bbk_nesn_2tb_my_passport _ultra.html). i want to be sure it gets any drivers needed for the Kudu Pro (user interface) before i try to boot it.

[Dennis N]

There is no problem with having two 14.04 systems being installed on the same computer. I and many others have done it. They could even be of the same release.

Since there is no Windows installed, you have a relatively easy time of it. It's important to know how the system on sda was installed - UEFI or BIOS to describe how to proceed and what to expect.

[oldfred]

It looks new enough that it could be UEFI.
Post this to confirm:
sudo parted -l

If UEFI drives need to be gpt partitioned. And best to have the ESP - efi system partition on each drive. But grub does not correctly install to second drive with UEFI. My second & third test installs of Ubuntu on sdb overwrote the /EFI/ubuntu folder on sda, even when using Something Else and specifying grub boot loader to be installed to sdb's ESP. Installer even said installing grub to sdb but overwrote my sda. I quickly learned to backup my ESP on sda, but if same version of grub, the only difference is the tiny configfile grub in /EFI/ubuntu that has the UUID of the actual grub.cfg in your install.

[Dennis N]

I use this little test to see if a system is installed in uefi mode:

In terminal:

ls -dl /boot/efi

If system was installed in UEFI mode:


dmn@Sydney:~$ ls -dl /boot/efi
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 /boot/efi

If system was not Installed in UEFI mode:


dmn@Daphne:~$ ls -dl /boot/efi
ls: cannot access /boot/efi: No such file or directory

Is it foolproof? Or not?

I am thinking parted can be ambiguous as a UEFI detector? Case in point:


dmn@Roxanne:~$ sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for dmn:
Model: ATA WDC WD7500BPVX-2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 84.9MB 83.9MB fat32 boot
2 84.9MB 87.0MB 2097kB bios_grub
3 87.0MB 63.0GB 62.9GB ext4
4 63.0GB 86.1GB 23.1GB ext4
5 86.1GB 90.3GB 4194MB linux-swap(v1)
6 90.3GB 113GB 23.1GB ext4
7 113GB 136GB 23.1GB ext4
8 136GB 159GB 23.1GB ext4
9 159GB 183GB 23.1GB ext4
10 183GB 206GB 23.1GB ext4
11 206GB 229GB 23.1GB ext4
12 229GB 252GB 23.1GB ext4
13 252GB 275GB 23.1GB ext4
14 275GB 298GB 23.1GB ext4


How can we tell?

ON the other hand, I think GPT partition table with proper EFI system partition and no bios_grub flagged partition => UEFI with certainty?

[Skaperen]

laptop2/root /root 3# ls -dl /boot/efi
ls: cannot access /boot/efi: No such file or directory
laptop2/root /root 4#


laptop2/root /root 4# parted -l
Model: ATA HGST HTS721010A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 996GB 996GB primary ext4 boot
2 996GB 1000GB 4295MB primary linux-swap(v1)


Model: ATA Samsung SSD 840 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 120GB 120GB ext4 primary


Model: ATA HGST HTS721010A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 1000GB 1000GB ext4 primary


Model: WD My Passport 0748 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
121 17.4kB 2097kB 2080kB
120 2097kB 4194kB 2097kB bios_grub
1 4194kB 537MB 533MB ext2
2 537MB 8590MB 8053MB
10 8590MB 17.2GB 8590MB
11 17.2GB 30.1GB 12.9GB
12 30.1GB 42.9GB 12.9GB
20 42.9GB 51.5GB 8590MB
21 51.5GB 64.4GB 12.9GB
22 64.4GB 77.3GB 12.9GB
30 77.3GB 85.9GB 8590MB
31 85.9GB 98.8GB 12.9GB
32 98.8GB 112GB 12.9GB
40 112GB 120GB 8590MB
41 120GB 133GB 12.9GB
42 133GB 146GB 12.9GB
50 146GB 155GB 8590MB
51 155GB 168GB 12.9GB
52 168GB 180GB 12.9GB
60 180GB 189GB 8590MB
61 189GB 202GB 12.9GB
62 202GB 215GB 12.9GB
70 215GB 223GB 8590MB
71 223GB 236GB 12.9GB
72 236GB 249GB 12.9GB
80 249GB 258GB 8590MB
81 258GB 271GB 12.9GB
82 271GB 283GB 12.9GB
90 283GB 292GB 8590MB
91 292GB 305GB 12.9GB
92 305GB 318GB 12.9GB
8 318GB 326GB 8590MB
9 326GB 1947GB 1620GB btrfs
100 1947GB 1990GB 42.9GB
101 1990GB 1998GB 8590MB
102 1999GB 2000GB 537MB
103 2000GB 2000GB 537MB
127 2000GB 2000GB 253MB
128 2000GB 2000GB 512B


Model: SD (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 4194kB 32.0GB 32.0GB primary ext2


laptop2/root /root 5#

/dev/sdd is my backup drive. backups are in /dev/sdd9. i may try to put a bootable system on it later.

that last one is the 32GB SD card/slot. i have a 2nd 32GB card not in the slot and a 3rd 4GB card. but the laptop won't boot from it:(

[Dennis N]

Looks like an easy job. From your display, existing installation is not in UEFI mode. So new install should not be in UEFI mode either.

Do you plan to:

a) continue using the existing Ubuntu grub menu and add the new install on sdb to it, or
b) do you plan to use the SSD to boot from?

[Dennis N]

Since I need to log out, I will add this: You need to do a little work on the SSD. You need to have a little partition (1-2 MB), unformatted, with a bios_grub flag. It is partition 2 in my display in #4. (You won't need the FAT 32 partition with the boot flag - it's for UEFI.) Even if I planned to continue booting to sda, I believe you need it or grub will not install to sdb at all (see par. 3). You would also then be able to boot to sdb through the one time boot option at startup, or switch the boot drive if you decide later to boot from the SSD.

To do this, I would delete the existing 120 GB partition, them make the partition described above, then another partition for the OS. You can do this first with gparted before using the installer if you want - I usually do.

When installing from the Ubuntu installer, choose "Something Else" in the "Preparing to Install" screen. to get to the partition selector/editor screen where you select the drive and partition to install to. On the bottom, it's important to install GRUB to sdb.

When you reboot, computer will still boot to the old OS on sda (unless you changed to sdb in the firmware) and you need to run sudo update-grub to add the new OS to the existing grub menu.

[iulian X]

has anyone done this kind of thing before? any suggestions (besides not formatting anything on /dev/sda or /dev/sdc)? as a disabled person, killing the laptop would be a bad thing for me. yes, i do make backups of /dev/sda to an external drive (2TB) (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983293-REG/western_digital_wdbmwv0020bbk_nesn_2tb_my_passport _ultra.html). i want to be sure it gets any drivers needed for the Kudu Pro (user interface) before i try to boot it.

Did you leave some free space on the SSD for over-provisioning ?

http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/overprovisioning

PS: I am using a SSD but i also have a 500 GB Hard drive.
On the SSD i have Ubuntu Mate and on the Hard drive another Ubuntu Mate + Ubuntu 14.04 with Gnome Clasic Desktop.

When i start my pc i can choose between those 3 Ubuntu instalation.

[Skaperen]

the SSD is currently empty.

i am thinking to use the SSD most of the time, and use the hard drive install to pre-test upgrades to make sure things keep working. i upgrade regularly (daily on weekdays) and backup weekly (USB 3.0 2TB harddrive).

i want to be sure i have something that works in case an upgrade breaks. so i would upgrade the SSD regularly and upgrade the hard drive later. i would look into replicating the SSD to the hard drive so it is a genuine backup so my config changes are more easily copied. i have had an upgrade break before.

[oldfred]

My system is UEFI, but I also included a bios_grub partition so I could install in BIOS mode.
My SSD & HDD using gpt partitioning.


Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 1026047 500.0 MiB EF00 efi
2 1026048 1030143 2.0 MiB EF02
3 1030144 52229362 24.4 GiB 8300 trusty
4 246163456 250068991 1.9 GiB 8200
5 236079104 246163455 4.8 GiB 8300 iso_ssd
6 52230144 103429362 24.4 GiB 8300

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 1025484 499.7 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
2 1026048 1030143 2.0 MiB EF02
3 1030144 52229362 24.4 GiB 8300 vivid
4 52230144 871430143 390.6 GiB 8300 data
5 871430144 929863679 27.9 GiB 8300 backup
6 1939193856 1953523711 6.8 GiB 8300 iso_hdd
7 1392136192 1939193855 260.9 GiB 8300 homerun
8 1388230656 1392136191 1.9 GiB 8200
9 929863680 978692095 23.3 GiB 8300 wily_b
10 978692096 1029891314 24.4 GiB 8300 trusty_3


I was testing homerun on this PC, but it will now become more data or other installs or ?.

[Dennis N]

My system is UEFI, but I also included a bios_grub partition so I could install in BIOS mode.
My SSD & HDD using gpt partitioning.


@oldfred,

I have a question for you. My gdisk -l output (below) doesn't show labels like yours. How do you get them to display? Here, partitions 1,3, and 4 have labels that display in gparted and file manager, but not in gdisk or parted.


Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 1050623 512.0 MiB EF00
2 1050624 82970623 39.1 GiB 8300
3 82970624 91162623 3.9 GiB 8200
4 91162624 304154623 101.6 GiB 8300

[oldfred]

With gpt there are two labels. I add them to both places and try to be consistent.

In Disks you can add both labels.
Click on the little gears for more actions under the partition screen.
Edit filesystem & edit partition.

I am not sure which tools use which label when showing labels.

I was not totally consistent.

In Disks, filesystem shows efi for sdb1
from sudo blkid

/dev/sdb1: LABEL="efi" UUID="68CD-3368" TYPE="vfat"

from sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdb
In Disks partition shows EFI System Partition for sdb1

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 1025484 499.7 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

[Dennis N]

O.K. thanks. I will hit the books tonight and see what I can learn about this.

[Dennis N]

With gpt there are two labels. I add them to both places and try to be consistent. In Disks you can add both labels.

In addition to Disks, I find that the newer gparted (version 0.23.0) can create partition names in gpt partitioning, and file system labels. The current version (0.19.0) cannot do partition names, so this is a welcome new feature.